The Devadaru Forest
Deva means god and daru means tree (or wood). A devadaru is a special sort of tree (a sort of pine tree) that is loved by the gods.
Many years ago, there used to be a forest that was full of devadaru trees. In this devadaru forest there lived many sages and their wives. The sages were devoted to Shiva and performed very difficult tapasya (meditation) so as to please him.
Shiva was pleased at these prayers. But he decided to test the sages. He therefore adopted a very ugly appearance and came to the devadaru forest. He wore no clothes, his complexion was completely dark and his eyes were terrifying. The wives of the sages began to follow Siva around. But the sages were disgusted that their wives should follow such an ugly and deformed creature. They used many harsh words to insult Shiva and Shiva promptly disappeared.
The sages then went and reported what had happened to Brahma.
“You stupid idiots,” exclaimed Brahma. “Don’t you realize what you have done? That ugly creature was Shiva himself. He was merely trying to test you and you have failed in the test. He was your guest and you have treated him badly. A guest is a guest regardless of whether he is handsome or ugly. He must be treated with the utmost respect and consideration. You have failed in this miserably. Don’t you know the story of the sage Sudarshana?”
There used to be a sage named Sudarshana. He took great pains to instruct his wife that a guest must always be treated well and must never be refused. In fact, a guest is like Shiva himself. To refuse a guest is tantamount to refusing and insulting Shiva. On one particular occasion, the god of righteousness, Dharma, desired to test Sudarshana and his wife. He adopted the disguise of a brahmana and came to visit Sudarshana. Sudarshana was away at the time, but his wife treated the guest really well. Dharma then blessed Sudarshana and his wife that they would surely go to heaven.
The sages regretted what they had done and looked for a way so that they might please Shiva. They sought Brahma’s advice and Brahma told them the story of Shveta.
Shveta
There was a sage named Shveta who was devoted to Shiva. He prayed to Shiva throughout his life. Eventually it was time for Shveta to die and Yama, the god of death, came to claim Shveta. Shveta was not at all disturbed at the sight of Yama. He thought that death would not be able to do him any harm if he prayed to Shiva. He went about making preparations for these prayers.
“Come, come,” said Yama. “Is this the time to pray to Shiva? Your time on earth is over and you are under my powers now. What is the point of praying to Shiva now?”
Yama then tied up Shveta and prepared to take the sage to his abode. But Shiva, accompanied by Nandi, Parvati and several of his companions, arrived. At the mere sight of Shiva, Yama fell unconscious and died. The gods marvelled at this and showered down flowers from the sky.
Shveta was saved in this fashion. (The story of Yama’s revival is not recounted.)
Brahma told the sages, “Now you know what can be gained by praying to Shiva. That is what you should do.”
That is what the sages did. After they had prayed faithfully for an entire year, Shiva appeared before them. He was smeared with ashes and his visage was terrible. He wandered around the devadaru forest. But the sages had learnt their lesson. They were not repelled at Shiva’s ugly appearance. They and their wives welcomed Shiva with flowers and incense.
Shiva was pelased. He gave the sages plenty of good advice. Amongst other things, he taught the sages the wonderful properties of bhasma (ashes).
Dadhicha
There was a sage named Dadhicha (alternatively Dadhichi). (The Mahabharata states that Dadhicha was the son of Shanti and the sage Atharva.)
Dadhicha had a friend named Kshupa. Kshupa was a king. Since Kshupa was a king, he belonged to the kshatriya class. Dadhicha was a brahmana.
The two friends once began to argue about the superiority of brahmanas vis-a-vis kshatriyas. Kshupa maintained that kshatriyas were superior, while Dadhicha held the opposite view.
Indra has a wonderful weapon named vajra. (This is sometimes identified with thunder, sometimes with a club.) Once upon a time, the demons (asuras) became very powerful and threatened to defeat the gods. The gods sought Kshupa’s help and Indra gave Kshupa the vajra to fight with.
When Dadhicha and Kshupa had argued for a while, they came to blows. Dadhicha struck Kshupa a blow on the head with his fist. In retaliation, Kshupa struck Dadhicha with the vajra and sliced the sage in two. Dadhicha died. But before he died, he called upon Shukracharya, the preceptor of the demons, to come to his aid. Shukracharya knew the art of mrita sanjivani, that is, the technique of bringing dead people back to life. Shukracharya arrived and resurrected Dadhicha.
Shukracharya told Dadhicha, “Why don’t you pray to Shiva? If you can please Shiva, by his grace you will become immortal. Where do you think I learnt the art of mrita sanjivani? From the great Shiva,. Pray to him.”
(The story of Shukracharya’s obtaining this wonderful knowledge from Shiva is related in the Harivamsha.)
Dadhicha began very difficult tapasya so that he might please Shiva. When Shiva was pleased, Dadhicha obtained three boons from him, The first boon made Dadhicha prosperous. The second boon made his bones as hard as the vajra itslf. And the third boon was that Dadhicha could never be killed.
Thus armed, Dadhicha went to visit Kshupa and gave Kshupa a mighty kick on his head. Kshupa naturally picked up the vajra and hurled it at Dadhicha. The vajra struck Dadhicha a resounding whack on his chest. But such was the power of Shiva’s boon that the vajra did the sage no harm.
Kshupa was amazed to see this. He resolved that he would pray to Vishnu to obtain still greater powers. Finally, Vishnu appeared before Kshupa and said, “I am pleased with your prayers. What boon do you desire?”
“Please grant me the boon that I may be able to defeat Dadhicha,” replied Kshupa.
“Dadhicha has been fortified by Shiva’s boons,” said Vishnu. “I therefore fear that what you ask is quite impossible. Nevertheless, I will try.”
Vishnu adopted the form of a brahmana and went to Dadhicha’s hermitage.
“Welcome, great Vishnu,” said Dadhicha. “But why are you in the disguise of a brahmana? Did you think that I would not be able to see through your disguise? Or did you think that I would not refuse what a brahmana asked for? Anyway, please give up this pretense. Adopt your own form and tell me what you want.”
Vishnu adopted his own form and said, “I am going to bring Kshupa to your hermitage. All you have to do is to tell Kshupa that you are scared.”
Vishnu brought Kshupa to Dadhicha’s hermitage. But instead of saying what Vishnu had asked him to utter, Dadhicha said, “I am a devotee of Shiva’s. How can I be scared of anything in the universe?”
These words angered Vishnu. Vishnu has a divine weapon known as the sudarshana chakra. He flung this at Dadhicha. But Dadhicha’s powers were such that the chakra merely struck him on the chest and fell harmlessly to the ground.
“Oh dear, Oh dear,” exclaimed Dadhicha. “Whatever has happened to the great Vishnu’s chakra? Perhaps Vishnu would be better advised to use some other divine weapon. Like the brahmastra perhaps.”
Vishnu hurled a brhamastra at Dadhicha, but nothing happened to the sage. Vishnu used several other divine weapons, But all in vain. The other gods arrived to help Vishnu in his fight with Dadhicha. But the numerous weapons that the gods used on Dadhicha were all rendered harmless by the sage. Dadhicha then picked up a handful of straw and flung this at the gods. As if magically, each of the straws became a flaming trident and threatened to burn up all the gods.
The gods fled in desperation. As for Vishnu, he created several beings who were just like him in appearance. But Dadhicha burnt all of these up. Vishnu next adopted a gigatic and wonderful form. This form was known as vishvarupa. The entire universe and all the beings in it could be seen in this vishvarupa.
But Dadhicha only laughed. “Who are you trying to impress?” he asked. “Look at me. You will find the entire universe and all the beings in it inside my body as well. I too can play with illusions. Give up this tomfoolery. If you really wish to fight, let us do so by all means.”
At this stage, Brahma decided to intervene. He advised Vishnu to pray to the sage instead of fighting with him. Vishnu did this and was forgiven by Dadhicha. As for Kshupa, he acknowledged the superiority of brahmanas and begged Dadhicha’s forgiveness.
The place where these wonderful things happened is a tirtha named Sthaneshvara.
