Kirtimukha: the monster who ate itself

Kirtimukha

Do you remember Rahu, the demon decapitated by Vishnu during the 'churning of the ocean'? Well, one day he was used by Jalandhara, demon tyrant very complex origins of that one day I will say, as his messenger.

Jalandhara was master of the three worlds and, thanks to his hard austerities, had immense power, but someone pointed out that he didn't have all. He missed Parvati, the most beautiful woman in the world, the goddess  who had been married to Lord Shiva. 

"Shiva, the ascetic beggar, why did he have a woman so beautiful?" wondered Jalandhara. "I want her!" 

That said, he called Rahu and sent him as his ambassador to Shiva. 

"Go to Shiva and  tell him to give me Parvati, if he refuses, it will be war." 

As a good messenger, Rahu went to Shiva and told him the request of his master. 

Heard the request, Shiva became furious and was born from his third eye a terrible creature with a lion's mane, eyes of fire, its body thin and emaciated. A monster violent and very strong, but above all very hungry who immediately pounced on Rahu. 

The victim turned to Shiva, the asolute god and begged to be spared. 

Shiva intervened and ordered the demon  not to eat Rahu. 

"And then who am I eating? You created me with this insatiable hunger, like I can at least soothe it? "

"Eat yourself," said Shiva. 

And so, the monster ate its own legs, its arms, its bodies and he was only one furious head.

"Henceforth - Shiva told him - you'll be Kirtimukha, the glorious face. I want you always in front of my door and who will enter my home without having worshiped before you, he will not get anything of what he asks for. "

For this reason, on the portals of the Hindu temples, palaces, and houses there is often a monstrous face, is the face of glory, Kirtimukha.

Ganesh again

I have told the most popular story about the birth of Ganesh, the elephant-headed God son of Shiva and Parvati. But today I want to tell another story, less known but perhaps more interesting told in other texts, but mainly in Brhaddharma Purana.

Ganesh bought in Mumbay

Well, Shiva stood absorbed in meditation when his wife Parvati interrupted him. She wanted a son. But the Great God, Mahayogi had always refused to have an offspring. “The children – he said – are used by parents to perform funeral rites and recitation of prayers to the ancestors, but I am immortal, and then I do not need it.”

Unlike the other Gods in fact, Shiva (and before him his corresponding Vedic God, Rudra), is proud opponent of procreation as protector of perfect and indistinct unity of Brahman against the duality inherent in creating the other by Self. But that’s another story.

Well, Parvati’s insistence exhausted even the Great God who made a child using patch of the sari of his wife and handed it to her.

Parvati was angry, “do you think I’m a girl giving me a rag doll to play?” But, picked up that piece of cloth, the baby came to life. Parvati was beaming, she had a son to love and showed him to Shiva who examined him. “The baby was born under a bad omen – Shiva said – Sanaiscara, the God of planet Saturn sentenced him to a sudden death.”

That said, the head of baby fell to the ground.

Parvati was hopeless, desperate, she was moved by the joy of having a child with the excruciating pain of seeing him die.

Moved with compassion, Shiva tried to reattach the head to the baby, but without success. The God then ordered his faithful servant, the bull Nandin, to go north and bring the head of anyone found in that direction.

Nandin went northward and came across Airavata, the white elephant , vahan, i.e. vehicle, of Indra. Obviously Indra tried to prevent Nandin to cut the head of Airavata and a hard fight began between Nandin, Indra and others Gods. But the strength of Nandin was the power of Shiva and prevailed and in the end the sacred bull cut off the head of the elephant and brought it to Shiva. The Great Gos put the head on the neck of his child and he came back to life. Thus Ganesh was born, Lord of the elephants and Lord of hosts, good luck God and God of literature, Ekadanta i.e. one tusked God as the other tusk was broken in the fight against Nandin.

And Indra? And poor Airavata? The King of the Gods went to ask for forgiveness of Shiva who, in his benevolence, said: “Throw the body of your elephant in the ocean, Airavata will come out safe and soul waters from at the time of churning of primordial ocean.” And so it happened, as told in another post.

Samutramanthan: The Churning of the cosmic ocean

Gods and asuras churning ocean

One of the most interesting myths of Hinduism is the Churning of the cosmic ocean, in Sanskrit the Samutramanthan.
The gods and asuras, dangerous demons, always fighting each others decided for once to make alliance to churn the infinite cosmic ocean and bring out the amrita, the nectar of immortality (in Sanskrit : "a" privative "mrit" = death).
To achieve their goal, they used as a “mixer” mount Mandara and plunged into the ocean resting on Kurma, the tortoise in which Vishnu had turned in his second avatar.
Once placed on the mountain tortoise, they wrapped around it  like a rope the snake Vasuki Nagaraja, the king of snakes. The demons grabbed the snake from side of the many mouths and the gods from the tail and they began to pull Vasuki from side to side by turning the mount in this way the cosmic ocean from which gigantic waves arose.
But from the ocean arose a terrible poison halahala. According others tradition the poison did not emerge from the water, but it was spewed from the mouths of the snake.
However things went, the terrible poison began to destroy everything that existed until Shiva intervened and swallowed the poison saving the existing. The poison did no harm to the great god, except to paint his neck at the troath blu, which is why the great god is also called Nilakantha, ie the blue troath. A few drops of poison fell upon the earth and for this there are several different plants and animals that are poisonous.
Having escaped the danger, the gods and the asuras went back to churn the ocean and from  waters Chaturdasa Ratnam, i.e. fourteen wonders, came out. The fourteen things desirable are: Amrita, nectar of immortality; Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, wife of Vishnu, Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods who brought the cup with nectar; Sura the goddess of wine; Chandra, the moon; Rambha apsara or the vessel Pushpak; Uchchihsravas, the white horse; Airvata, the white elephant  vahana or vehicle of Indra; Parijata, tree of heaven; Kaustubha, the jewel of Vishnu; Kamadhenu or Surabhi, the cow of abundance; Sankha, the shell of Vishnu; Dhanu, the arc of Rama; Visha, poison and medicine.
Of course, when the amrita came out the gods and demons fought for possession, the fight lasted twelve days and twelve nights. During the fight from the pot (Kumbha in Sanskrit), fell four drops of nectar, in these places the holy cities of Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik were born. In these cities every three years the great religious festival of Kumbha Mela is celebrated (in sanskrit festival of pot).
The asuras seized Amrita. The gods then turned to Vishnu who became Mohini, a girl of infinite beauty. She was able to steal from asuras the cup of Amrita and to bring it to the gods.