Here is another story about Ganesha’-  Ganesha’s Oil bath!

In South Indian Temples, often we see Ganesha as a bachelor, and smeared with oil; Hanuman with his right hand lifted, and Nandi in squatting position. You may wonder why?. You may find a plausible answer in the story below!

 Shiva and Parvati, parents of Ganesha, wanted to celebrate Ganesha’s wedding in a grand manner. Parvati asked one of her assistants to send invitations to all Devas, the celestial beings. On the wedding day morning, Ganesha was to have an oil bath. Parvati lovingly smeared Ganesha with perfumed oil from head to foot. He was then to have bath in Holy Water of Ganga before going to the marriage hall, well-dressed as a bride-groom.       Ganga is the personification of the Holy River Ganges whose water is used on all auspicious occasions ,and in this case, for bathing Ganesha. .Parvati and Ganga are wives of Lord Shiva , and are rivals, and  jealous of each-other.

All the invited guests had assembled in the Marriage hall, eagerly waiting for the bridegroom to come well dressed for Varapooja.

While Ganesha was in the bathroom smeared with oil, Parvati was searching for Ganga for the holy water for bath, but Ganga could not be found anywhere. Shiva called his steed, the bull Nandi, to search for Ganga and fetch her immediately and provide water for bath of Ganesha.

Nandi searched for Ganga all over the heaven and at last located her in a cave, dejected and full of anger. When Nandi asked her to ride on her to come to marriage hall immediately to provide holy water for Ganesha’s bath, she said “Although everybody in Heaven is invited to the wedding, I alone have been excluded. Now why should I come?” Nandi realized that by oversight she had been left out of the invitation! He begged her to overlook the mistake and come immediately, as Muhurtha, the auspicious time fixed for marriage, was approaching and every one was waiting for Ganesha to finish bath and come to the marriage hall. But Ganga refused to come! Shiva had ordered that Ganga should be brought. So, Nandi sat down, and managed to take her on his back. But he could not get on to his feet- Ganga had made herself so heavy!

At the marriage hall everybody was getting anxious as the Muhurtha was nearing. Ganesha was still in bathroom, smeared with oil! Shiva called Hanuman, the strongest and swiftest, to fetch Nandi and Ganga immediately.

Hanuman was also annoyed at the delay and came flying with his right hand lifted to thrash Nandi for his negligence. But when he found poor Nandi with tears in his eyes, struggling but unable to get up carrying Ganga, he stood spellbound.

       The auspicious Muhurtha, time fixed for marriage, was past,  with Ganesha still smeared with oil, waiting for his bath!

Before commencing any auspicious work, Ganesha is worshiped first to ward off any ‘Vighna’ or obstacles. But poor Ganesha, the Lord of Vighnas or obstacles , himself becomes a victim of Vighna to his own marriage!!

Ganesh Chaturthi

HI, children:  Today is Ganesh Chaturthi. You are busy worshiping Ganesha (Vinayaka,Gajaanana .. are a few of his other names ) , and consuming his favorite prasadams- Modaka and Laadu! And Elders in your house may be warning  you,not to see the crescent Chouti- moon, lest you get a false blame! There is a story of Ganesha connected with this Chouti-moon!

The story  is  briefly as below::-

Ganesha is very fond of modaka and Laadu. On one Ganesh Chouti day,he visited a number of his worshipers and he consumed a large quantity of these delicacies  and was slowly returning home by night. His belly was bulged and his dhoti was slipping down and he had difficulty holding it.! He heard someone laughing   He looked up and found a bright crescent moon looking down at him and giggling!! Ganesha was embarrassed and upset. He found a snake crawling towards the mouse he was riding on .He grabbed the snake and tied it on to his belly as a belt.This made the moon burst with laughter! Ganesha was furious, he cursed the crescent moon, that “anyone who sees this Chaturthi moon will get the blame of being a thief ,though he may be innocent “ Moon was very sorry that he would be the cause for many innocent persons getting blame of being  thief. He begged Ganesha to pardon him for his indiscretion and take back the curse. Ganesha relented He said “,Even Lord Krishna could not escape from the curse and had to struggle to prove that he was not a thief !  In future ,if any person who has seen the Chouti Moon, can get rid of the curse only if he or she listens to the story of Shyamantaka Mani and Krishna.” Called “Shyamantakopaakhyana.”

     .That story is very briefly as follows.

Once Sri Krishna happened to see the moon of Ganesh Chouti, Soon, he was accused of stealing the Shyamantaka Mani , a jewel belonging to prince Prasena’s brother. .Krishna had to go in search of the lost jewel and restore it, to get himself free from being called a thief of the Jewel’

    He found that it was last seen with Prince  Prasena wearing it and going to forest for hunting. He found that a lion had killed Prasena and carried away his body. He pursued the pug-marks of lion and soon found that a big bear had attacked and killed the lion. But the jewel was not there. So he pursued the foot-prints of bear which led him to its den. There he saw the bright jewel dangling over the cradle. As he entered the den, a big bear came out. When Krishna claimed the jewel, the bear said. I am Jambavan, the bear, and my daughter in the cradle is Jambavati. I have fought with a lion and secured this jewel and my daughter likes it very much. I cannot give this to you. When Krishna could not persuade Jambavan to give the jewel, he challenged the bear for a fight. A fierce fight ensued for forty days and nights ,yet neither could win.

 Krishna knew that Jambavanta was none other than the friend of Raama Bhakta  Hanumaan and  a devotee of Rama. So Krishna appeared before Jambavant  in the form of Rama which was his previous  Avatar . As soon as Jambavanta realized that the person he is fighting is none other than Rama himself, whom he worships, he stopped the fight and surrendered to Krishna. He gave away the Shyamantaka Mani and also offered his daughter Jaambavati in marriage to Krishna.

 At last, Krishna could restore the jewel to its owner and prove he was not a thief!

  This Shyamantakopakhyana story, if told or listened to, will ward off the  effect of seeing Chouti Moon .

Shiva Dhanush that broke!

INCIDENTS FROM RAMAYANA AS INTERPRETED BY’ WALKILEAKS’

  

(Fictitious, but plausible interpretations of well-known incidents in Ramayana, concocted by me)

‘Wikileaks’ unearthing the secret correspondences of governments is hot news now-a-days.

Here is an imaginary ‘Walkileaks’- a fore-runner of present day Wikileaks. Walkileaks is a collection of secret documents and messages from kings and queens of Ramayana and Mahabharata period transmitted in the format of written, verbal and thought medium,. These had been leaked out by Wakileaks, but the decency of that era prevented them from being published lest they tarnish the fair names of our revered heroes of that time... Based on the segment recently decoded, an incident of Ramayana not recorded by Valmiki or others is given below. The accuracy or authenticity is not guaranteed. These may not offend any religious or sectarian sentiments, but enjoyed for their plausibility

Now the story:  WHY SHIVA DHANUSH  BROKE ?

Shiva Dhanush:

Vishwakarma, the celestial craftsman forged out three Bows for the Three Gods:  1) Vijaya Dhanush for Vishnu, Shiva Dhanush for Shiva, and Gaandeeva for Brahma. After their use, they passed them on to other lower gods or very famous humans. Thus Vijaya Dhanush was inherited by Parasurama . Shiva dhanush was inherited by Janaka’s fore fathers.  Gandeeva was inherited by Agni and then given to Arjuna.   

Janaka is worried about finding a match for Jaanaki (Seeta). He wants to find a strong and well educated person as a groom. So he declares that whoever lifts and strings the Heavenly Bow –Shiva Dhanush, (lying in a corner of his stores for centuries being un-used but  worshipped daily with Dhoopa and Deepa), would win the hand of Jaanaki. It was only after his giving wide publicity that he realizes that the specifications for the groom were not drawn by his Home minister correctly. He should have specified ineligibility clause also, to prevent undesirable persons from contesting.

On the appointed day, a large number of aspirants are assembled to try their hand to win Seeta, among them is the demon,  Ravana. also. A large crowd of sages and commoners have gathered to watch the grand spectacle of ‘Swayamvara’, Sage Vishwamitra is  taking Rama and Laxmana,the two sons of Dasharatha,back to Ayodhya after completion of their work of protecting his Yagnya. On way, he has stopped over at Mithila to entertain the two boys with the sight of groom-selection. (Swayam-vara) of Seeta.

Seeta almost faints when she sees Ravana, a strong but grotesque person with ten heads among the contenders. Janaka also does not relish the possibility of having Ravana as his son-in-law, and is praying that somehow Ravana should fail. He heaves a sigh of relief when Ravana lifted the bow and pulled the string hard but it slipped from his grip and the bow hit him in the chin sending him reeling. Since all who had responded had failed, the groom-selection is about to be called off.

It is then that Vishwamitra asks Rama to go and have a look at the Celestial Bow. Rama rose from the crowd and walked to the Shiva Dhanush. Seeta sitting in the Zanana saw Rama and it was ‘Love at First Sight’!

Then you know all that happened, Vishwamitra introduced Rama to Janaka, as the son of Dasharatha, Rama bowed in reverence to the Bow, and lifted it, and while attempting to string it, the Bow broke into two with a shattering sound. Everybody stood up to praise Rama for his superhuman strength and skill. Janaka was overjoyed to have Rama, an accomplished and eligible boy from a famous Royal family as his son-in-law. So,’ all was well that ended well’, and then you know the famous ‘ Seetha Kalyanam’ as described by Valmiki and its grandeur, sung over and over again by all “Seeta kalyanam  .. Vaibhogamay”!.

It was after the marriage that Janaka started thinking how and why the famous Shiva Dhanush broke into pieces rendering itself useless.  He ordered for a secret inquiry into the incident by his Scientific Adviser. The report came in 3 months. The summery of the report (which ran into several volumes,) is given below.   Quote.

“After microscopic examination of fracture and also the history of the Bow, the Inquiry committee gave a unanimous report. It traced the past history of the various wars and battles where the Bow was used. During the Great War between Lord Shiva and the demon Thripurasura, the demon threw  an axe at Shiva. Shiva dodged it but the axe hit the Bow in the middle and left a big dent. Since the Bow was functional, neither Shiva nor any body bothered about it. But there was a minor crack and a Zone of Stress Concentration (commonly known as ZSC) at the place of dent. Subsequently, every time the Bow was used and the string pulled, a little stress was added. Further, as the Bow was bent and then suddenly released. reversal of stress took place and’ Fatigue’ set in. This helped the dormant crack to develop slowly. Since it was still below the threshold limit, it had not attained criticality. After a long time of disuse while it was lying in the corner of Janaka’s store, When it was brought out during Seeta Swayamvara ,for the demonstration of strength by the competitors, the stress began accumulating. When Ravana bent it for stringing, he over stressed it then from the compression state the Bow sprang back when the string slipped from the grip of Ravana causing a sudden reversal of stress. The crack had gathered momentum, yet holding. When Sri Rama lifted it and bent it for stringing, it was the proverbial ‘ last straw on the camel’s back’ All the minor cracks rushed together And all-in-a-sudden, the Mighty Shiva Dhanus broke unexpectedly and with terrible bang, shaking the earth!

Conclusion:

This was a typical case of crack formation, stress concentration and Fatigue failure, aggravated by ageing, ultimately resulting in unexpected and sudden failure.”

When this report reached the hand of Janaka, he was at a loss to decide whether to publicize it or shelve it. He thought it may harm the good image of his son-in-law.

 

   **On second thought, he felt, the breaking of Shiva Dhanush might have been willed by Lord Shiva himself!

Ravana was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. But as all the Devas complained that he was a Loka Kantaka (menace to the world), Lord Vishnu had come down to earth as Rama, to fight with Ravana and kill him. On stringing the Shiva Dhanush and winning the hand of Seeta, Janaka would have     naturally gifted the celestial Bow to his son-in-law. And the Shiva Dhanush would have been used against Ravana, a devotee of Shiva, which would cause Him embarrassment!  So it was better if the Bow broke at the hand of Rama, rendering it use-less.! Thus, Lord Shiva might have willed it to break after serving the purpose of Seeta marrying Rama.**

 So he decided that the report be shelved and the case closed.

Now Walkileaks have come out with this report which is logical and plausible, they have also hastened to emphasize that it meant no disrespect to Rama as he did not depend on this Shivadhanush incident to prove his strength. The breaking of Bow and Sita’s marriage to Rama were all predestined!    

** This is an after-thought added on 20/08/2014!)

Much that well may be thought...

  Much That Well May Be Thought- Cannot Wisely Be Said !

Many a time, as I open my mouth to speak, I remember the above saying, and stop.
There was a poem in my 4th std. text in which this saying occurred.
This has stuck in my memory.
 I reproduce it below
   

Ran Chod Rai of Dakor

KRISHNA WHO RAN AWAY FROM BATTLE!

When I joined service in Gujarat I worked near a famous pilgrimage town- Dakor. The God there was called Rana-Chod-rai, meaning: the king who ran away from battle field. The idol was of Krishna. I was wondering why this name to Krishna who taught Geeta to Arjuna to dissuade him from running away from the battle field!

A photo of the Deity of Ranchor Raya, a form of Lord Krishna who left the battlefield. This famous Deity is located in the town of Dakor, Gujarat.

We all know that Bhagawat Geeta begins with Krishna telling Arjuna not to run away from Kurukshetra battle field during Mahabharata war. I wondered how and when he himself ran away from battlefield.

I got an interesting reply to this from a TV Program which I wish to share with you.

As you know, Krishna fought with his uncle Kamsa the wicked king of Mathura,and killed him  to punish him for his cruel deeds. The mighty Jaraasandha, another wicked king became very angry on Krishna when his daughters who had married Kamsa became widows .Jaraasandha vowed to avenge the death of his son-in law,Kamsa and came with a huge army and sieged Mathura. He vowed that he would punish Krishna by defeating him in battle. But Krishna wanted to avoid bloodshed and killing of a number of innocent soldiers in the battle. So he hid himself inside the fort. After a long wait Jarasandha had to go back as no war could take place. This siege of Mathura was repeated 17 times. People of Mathura were put to a lot of difficulty because of this frequent siege as they could not go out of their town.

Now, who is this Jaraasandha?

 Brihadratha was a king of Maghada kingdom. He had two wives. He ruled his kingdom for a number of years, and was getting old, yet he had no children. So, he went to the forest and served a sage. The sage was pleased and asked if he had any wish. When the king told of his desire to have a child, the sage crated a fruit with his magical powers and gave him the fruit ,telling that on eating the fruit his wife would give birth to a strong boy. The king could not favour either of his two wives .So he cut the fruit into two and gave one half to each. After a period of eager expectation, both the queens gave birth, but to their horror, two separate halves of a child, each with one hand one leg and half head and body. The king was very sad and reluctantly abandoned the two halves in a forest. There, a daemon called Jaraa, wanted to eat the two pieces of meat, She took the two halves and put them together to eat. Immediately the two halves joined together and a strong boy emerged. She had no heart to eat such a nice boy, and took him to the king. The king was overjoyed to get back his son and named the child Jaraa-sandha i.e. joined by Jaraa .The boy grew to become a very strong but wicked king of Maghada. Jarasandha captured a number of kings and put them in prison,

Krishna sent word that since Jarasandha’s enmity was with Sri Krishn he could settle the issue by personal combat and thus avoid the loss of innocent lives during war. Jarasandha could select any one of three, Bheema, Arjuna, and Krishna Himself to fight in personal combat. Jarasandha said it was below his dignity to fight with a cowherd (Krishna), Arjuna was too frail and only Bheema could be a match. A combat between Bheema and Jarasandha took place. Krishna and Arjuna were standing below a tree and watching the combat. During the fight several times Bheema grabbed Jarasandha by legs and pulled them apart so that he was split in two. But each time, the two halves would spring back to unite and Jarasandha came back to life. At last, Krishna who was watching, wanted to give a clue. He plucked a leaf from the tree, split it to two halves and put top of one half with bottom of another. Bheema took the hint and next time, tore Jarasandha in two and put leg of one half with head of other half. Jarasandha could not come back to life this time. Thus Jarasandha was killed, and all the kings he had imprisoned were freed.

But in the meanwhile, another cruel king’Kaala Yavana’, an ally of Jarasandha, attacked Mathura with a formidable army.  This time Krishna decided that people of Mathura were put to a lot of in convenience of frequent attacks because of His presence and hence he should leave Mathura and settle at a far off place. He left Mathura secretly and headed towards a new Fort in the west coast-Dwaraka. When Kaala Yavana learnt of this, he abandoned the siege of Mathura and went in pursuit of Krishna. That is how Krishna left a battlefield!

Kaala Yavna caught up with Krishna at a lake called Gomati, a little south of present day Ahmedabad. Seeing the Yavana pursuing him, Krishna entered a deep and dark cave and hid himself.

Tired after his assisting Gods in their war with Asuras, Muchukunda a prince of Ikshwaku dynasty had been taking rest sleeping in this dark cave. Kaalia yavana, pursuing Krishna, rushed into the cave and stumbled on the sleeping Muchukunda. When Muchukunda opened his eyes in anger and saw the Yavana king, Kaala Yavana was burnt to ashes. Thus another cruel king was also eliminated.

People of nearby Dakor village saw Lord Krishna emerging out of the cave.They pleaded that He should remain with them. Krishna stayed there for some time before proceeding to the new kingdom-Dwaraka. Because they heard that Krishna was coming away from the besieged city- Mathura, they called him ‘Ran-Chod-Rai.!

*******    

This is the Temple of Ran Chod Rai at Dakor on the bank of Gomati lake.

Let me add an anecdote related to Dakor –suggested by a lady of Andhra who had lived in Gujarat!

There was a poor couple at Dakor,-Bodana and his wife, who were great devotees of Lord Krishna of Dwaraka. They used to go by foot to Dwaraka every poornima day (full-moon day) for Darshan of Krishna. But, now they had become old and it was becoming very  difficult to undertake the journey.Lord Krishna came in Bodana’s dream and asked him to bring a bullock-cart during his next visit to Dwaraka, so that He would come with them to Dakor.! You can imagine their Joy and devotion.

Accordingly, Bodana  family went with bullock cart to Dwaraka.and prayed to Lord Krishna with great devotion.When the Temple Priest asked why he had brought a cart,this time, Bodana blurted out that Lord Krishna would be accompanying him to Dakor!

As usual, the priest closed, locked and sealed, the temple doors for the night. Badana and his wife started out to Dakor, in their cart during the night, but to their great joy they found Lord Krishns’s idol was already in the cart! . Next morning when the priest opened the temple, he found the Idol missing though the lock and seal were intact. He suspected that the idol could be with Bodana and pursued him to Dakor.

The Priest demanded that Bodana should give back the idol. When Bodana and the entire village pleaded that Lord Krishna had willingly come to Dakor, there was no question of returning, he insisted that Boda should give gold of the Idol’s weight.A  Scale with two pans was set up,and Dwaraka Krishna’s Idol was kept in one pan .

 Bodana was very poor and except for a tiny nose-ring of his wife they had no gold to offer. A nose-ring is a precious and sacred jewel for a lady, and normally no lady would be willing to part with it.But to retain the Idol for Dakor where they could worship  daily, Bodana’s wife came forward to give all that they had- her nose-ring.   The moment the nose-ring was dropped into the pan, the scale tilted towards that pan! The priest and all the devotees were greatly surprised at the miracle- Lord Krishna of Dwaraka had indicated His will to be at Dakor!!   It is said that some time later, the Priest of Dwaraka.. found another idol of Krishna in the temple pond which was installed in Dwaraka temple, for worship.

This proves that God is obliging ( Bhakta-Adheena) to his devotees!