Fifth head of Brahma

[Guest guest]

On the fifth head of Brahma,

 

Shri Sadagopan wrote:

 

Now returning to our story , Lord ShivA wandered

with stuck skull in hand and ultimately reached

KandiyUr divya Desam ( Kantana Puram in Sanskrit).

Here Rudran did penance and offered His worship

to Sriman NaarayaNan and took a dip in the PushkariNi

and with the Lord's blessing , the stuck kapAlam

eased itself from his hand . As a result , the

BhagavAn here is known today as Hara Saapa VimOchana

PerumAL and the PushkariNi is recognized as Kapaala

ThIrtham .There are two versions on how the kapAlam

got unstuck. One in which , Bhagavan makes a cut

in His chest and directs the blood pouirng out into

the Kapaalam until it is full and that did it.

In another version, MahA Lakshmi poured some grains

as you described."

 

Dear Shri sadagopan:

 

Is the above story from Linga Puranam or from the the Sthala puranam of

Kandiyur Divya desam.

 

Vijayaraghavan

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs : Sri Rengarajan has kindly forwarded me

his two year old posting on ThirukkandiyUr PeruMAl and the removal

of KapAlam from the hands of Lord SivA .There are a lot of

other related items here that you may enjoy .

V.Sadagopan

**********************

 

"Sampath Rengarajan" <srengara

>Thu, 17 Sep 1998 11:45:13 -0400

>References: <199809171248.FAA20918

>Vijay_Srinivasan, sgopan

>Re: Fifth head of Brahma

>

***************************************

>The following was written by adiyEn

>two years ago in this list.

>

>It sheds some more efforts of Lord shivA

>(asking agni to blow it off) prior to

>seeking the advsie of Sri Parvathi.

>It was said that Sri pArvathi asked Lord Shiva

>to goto mahAlakshmi and pray for removal of

>the kapAlam.

>

>

>*******the follwing is a repeat*******************

>

>

>Lord Shiva according to Sri vaishnava position is the "second

>derivative" of the "Param Purushaa" the Lord Naraayanaa who is

>ever prevading and above the laws of karma, time etc. The story

>of Lord Shivaa certainly implies that he did contract brahma hathi

>dhosham by removing one of the heads of Brahmaa.. I want to also

>present a little bit of mythology as presented in Srivaishnava

>tradition and literatures. (Literary proof is available through

>vedic interpretaion and "4000" for this.)

>

>Ahuthan created Brahmaa when he was in yoga nishtai with five

>heads. It was a specific creation that later on one of the head

>would be removed by Shiva in a feud between shivaa and brahmaa.

>After the creation of brhmaa, "rudraa" and other devaas were

>created out through HIS FACE. The Lord wanted to teach a lesson

>to Both Brahmaa and SHiva who were already covered by HIS MAAYAA

>(VISHNU MAYAA, noone is free from this including Shivaa, and that

>is another reason that puts Lord NArrayaanaa as the Supreme)

>started to fight for supremacy among themselves due to the

>ignorance created by Vishnu Mayaa. Shivaa could remove one of his

>head, but then the kapaalam of brahmaa got struck in his palm and

>would not go. Lord Shiva "wandered" around the whole world

>looking for remedy. He was told by paarvathi that if he takes

>"bikshai" from SRI he will be qualified to continue his "tapas"

>and then as the next step, he must meditate on Lord Vishnu to seek

>relief for this dhOsham. He did so at "Thiruk karambanoor", (also

>known as uththamar koil due to the reference given by aazhwaar"

>thirumangai" on HIM in one of the paasuram as "Uththaman"), one of

>the 108 DD, and obtained "bikshai" from "SRI" there and hence this

>temple is also known as " Bikshaandavan" temple. He later went on

>to meditate on LORD VIshnu and sought HIS blessing at "Thiruk

>Kandiyoor". In thiruka kandiyoor, you can visit this temple and

>see the proof.

>

>Aazhwaar in "Thirukkurunthaandakam" says this

>

>"piNdiyaar "maNdaiyEnthi" piRarmanai thirinthuunNNum

>uNdiyaan "saapan theerntha" Oruvanoor, ulakamEnththum,

>kaNdiyoora rangam kachchi pEr mallai yenRu

>maNdinaar kuyallaal maRRai yOrkkuuyyaalaamE (2050)

>

>Again on thirupEr nagar perumal (nearby temple also one of 108

>DD), Thirumangai sings,

>

>oonamar thalaiyon REnthi

>ulakellaam thiriyu meesan

>'eenamar saaapam neekkaay',

>enna, oN punalai yeenthaan

>thEnamar pozhilkaL soozhntha

>seRivayal then thirup pEr

>vaanavar thalaivan naamam

>vaazhththi, naan uynthavaarE

> (Periya thirumozhi, 9.4)

>

>The perumaal in "thiruka kaNdiyoor" is also known as " hara saaba

>vimochanap perumaal". Since shivan is also known as

>kandeechwaran, later days this was coined as "thiruk kaNdiyoor"

>indicating SHivan's penance on VIshnu. Periyapuraanam and sundara

>puraaNam cites about the skull being "struck" in SHivaa's palm.

>Hopefully this is enough a proof that this incident is portrayed

>"incorrectlyly" in some of the other literatures which may want

>to still prove the superiority of Shivaa. It was suggested that

>Lord Shivaa and Brahmaa thus learned their lesson, and in all

>possible ways. Both of them pray in their mind on Lord Vishnu as

>the supreme Lord. Unfortunately there were many of the stories

>were twisted and many of the others may not even care to track the

>continuation and the core aspect of these "mythological

>incidents", as there were only one side of the story presented in some

>literatures. I am sure

>you will take my views as a sambaashanaa and not as a "personal"

>argument against you or any specific individual .

>

>

>SRi mahAlakshim thAyar samEtha Sri hara sabba vimochnanap perumaal

>thiruvadikalE saraNAm

>Sri BoomidEvi thAyAr samEtha Sri Oppiliappan thiruvadikalE saraNAM

>

>The Position of Sri as a mediatrix is also evident from the fact

>that Lord Shiva has to seek "Sri's" mercy and her offering of

>bikshai in Bikshaandaar koil or Uththamar kOil prior to seeking

>the final refuge or relief from Lord Vishnu in Thiruk kandiyoor.

>The following is the compelling evidence that Lord Shiva had no

>other go than to seek the relief from the ultimate couple and in

>the order that Srivaishnavam follows (ie Sri as mediatrix). It

>was observed that Lord Shiva not only wandered around the universe

>to get rid of the "kapaalam" that was struck in his palm and the

>brahma hathi thOsham, he had also asked "Agni" (who is the media

>for the Homam and the source for "purification", and also known as

>"agnirvai sarva thEvaa", due to Agni's unique position as a

>substitute for all the Devaas) to burn away this kapaalam. In

>attempting to do so it was stated that the holiest "Agni" not only

>failed to do so but also got the "Brahma hathi thOsham" for going

>hands along with Shiva (who was having brahma hathi dOsham at that

>time) in his attempts. Finally "Agni" was asked to do penance and

>pray the Lord at "Thiru aathanoor" (also one of the 108 DD) and

>get the dOsham removed.

>

>

> Besides Agni, kaamadEnu also sought Lord's blessings in this

>shekthram (Thiru aathanoor). It is beleived that there are "two

>pillars" known as "MaNath thooNgaL" in parama patham. It is a

>customary that who gets to go to "parama patham" hugs and embraces

>these pillars before becoming "nitya sooris". There are two such

>pillars in boo lOgam, only in two of the 108 DD's ie .. Sri

>rangam and this temple in thiru aathanoor.

>

> This and other narrations on this temple is observed from the

>following note on this temple

>

>aathi rangEchwaram vanthE paadali vana samasthitham Brigu, agni,

>kaamathEnubyaa thaththaapeetham thayaanthiram vimaanE praNava

>ranga naayaakyaa soosu maasaritham soorya pushkarni thirE seShasyO

>pari saayinam

>

> Though this temple is compared on par with Srirangam on some

>aspects, the original dual and second only is thiruk kudanthai

>(due to its vimaanam). Thirukkudanthai is also included in the

>club of the five holy rangams popularly known as "Pancha ranga

>shekthram".

>

>The 5 arangams popularly known as "Pancha Rangams" are

>

>1. Aathi Rangam - Sri Rangap pattinam

>2. Appaala Rangam - Thirup pEr nagar

>3. Madhya Rangam - Sri rangam

>4. Sathurth tharangam - (Kumabakonam) thiruk kudanthai

>5. anthima (or pancha) rangam - Thiru inthaloor (maayavaram)

>

>

>It is also noted that the order of the all these shekthrams are

>arranged in direction of the flow of (downstream line ) "kauveri"

>from moolam to sangamam, which merges with sea in maayavaram.

>

>Sri Boomi DEvi samEtha Sri Oppiliappan thriuvadikaLE saraNam

>

>Sampath Rengarajan

>

>