BEI 33 (2015) : XX-XX

T. GANESAN

Revisiting Mahābhārata: Śrīkṣṇa is The Earliest Śaiva

I dedicate this brief article to the esteemed professor, Bruno

DAGENS, for inspiring me, for his guidance and for his love and
affection towards me.

The Mahābhārata appears to be a storehouse of developed form of

Śaivism – speaking the supreme greatness of Śiva, the various Śaiva
pilgrimage sites where gods such as Viṣṇu have performed penance and
worshipped Śiva to get His blessings. We find in many parts of the epic such
as the Anuśāsanaparvan, Droṇaparvan, Āraṇyaparvan, Śalyaparvan, to cite
a few, that Śiva is spoken as the highest and unique reality and the sole
creator and sustainer of the entire universe. The various hymns, sung in
praise of Śiva by the sages, and by great divine personages such as Śrī Kṣṇa
found scattered in the entire Epic, stand testimony to this fact.
For this one may very profitably refer to the Bhāratasaṃgraha, the
brief treatise by Appayadīkṣita that explains the inner meaning of many of
the intricate points of the Mahābhārata and proves that the basic purport of
the entire epic Mahābhārata is to highlight the supreme and unique
greatness of Śiva.
2 T. GANESAN

Greatness of Śiva explained by Vyāsa to Pāṇḍava-s

In the Droṇaparvan we see that after the death of Droṇa Arjuna sees sage
Vyāsa and tells him what he has been encountering during the battle.1
“Oh great sage! In the battlefield…”
For which Vyāsa replies in detail as follows:
“Oh Pārtha! Indeed you have seen the greatest Lord, Śiva, the
controller and well wisher of all. … Nobody in the three worlds has
powers to stand before Him; it is a great fortune and due to His grace
that you have encountered Him in the battle field. All those who take
refuge in Him attain greatest worlds through His grace. Śiva, the
Mahādeva is that most powerful supreme God to whom all other gods
are paying obeisance; in the presence of Mahādeva others do not
venture to stand before Him. Then Vyāsa says finally that anybody
who worships Him with devotion attains to highest status by Śiva’s
grace. You also therefore, take refuge in Him.”2

Śiva is the object of meditation for Viṣṇu

The Droṇaparvan also depicts the incident when Nārāyaṇa performed severe
penance for sixty thousand years (ṣaṣṭivarṣasahasrāṇi) in the Maināka
mountain where he meditated on Śiva in the form “śivo’ham”. When Śiva
appeared before him, Nārāyaṇa sings a few hymns in praise of Śiva with
folded hands on his head (ktvā śirasi cāñjalim) after falling at His feet
(jānubhyāṃ mahīṃ gatvā). Here we find Nārāyaṇa recounting many
attributes of supreme Brahma (parabrahmadharma) on Śiva.
Further, Nārāyaṇa states that the only source of creation (prabhava)
and the destiny of final reabsorption (apyaya) of the entire universe is Śiva,
and that he who realizes this supreme truth will definitely attain union with
Śiva.3
Finally Viṣṇu addresses Śiva as the Father of the world (lokapitā) and
prays to be merciful towards him:

1
Oh sage! In the battle field I behold before me a divine person brilliant like fire, holding
the trident, whose feet do not touch the round,…and in whichever direction He moves, all
my enemies there fall dead, ….. Please tell me who He is. (Droṇaparvan, 173:4-8).
2
Ibid. 9-19.
3
Ibid. 172: 69.
 Revisiting Mahābhārata: Śrīkṣṇa is The Earliest Śaiva 3

bhaktaṃ ca māṃ bhajamānaṃ bhajasva /

prītyā māṃ vai lokapitar maheśa //4
After being blessed by Śiva with the fierce weapon Pāśupatāstra Arjuna so
much felt about his fortune and could not believe that he was the recipient of
Śiva’s bountiful grace. Arjuna dances with joy and says he has been highly
blessed by Śiva.
Arjuna says in joy that he has directly come into contact with the great
Pināka holder Śiva, the bestower of boons [to His devotees], and that he
feels himself to have accomplished the purpose (ktārtha). Arjuna even feels
that he had already conquered all his enemies. Thus the grace of Śiva was so
much sought after by the Pāṇḍava-s for their every act.
In the Vanaparvan, while listing out the various holy tīrtha-s and their
greatness we hear of a special tīrtha, Rudrakoṭi. Vyāsa says that various
groups of sages assembled there were so eager saying ‘I would see Rudra
first, I would see Rudra first’.5
One may note the usage of the word ‘deva’ with regard to Śiva in this
passage. One may also recall how the Śvetāśvataropaniṣad uses ‘deva’ in an
exclusive sense with regard to Śiva.
As example we may cite the following passages:
kṣaraṃ pradhānam amṛtākṣaraṃ haraḥ
kṣarātmānāvīśate deva ekaḥ /
tasyābhidhyānād yojanāt tattvabhāvād
bhūyaś cānte viśvamāyānivṛttiḥ //
viśvataścakṣur uta viśvatomukho
viśvatobāhur uta viśvataspāt /
sambāhubhyāṃ dhamati sampatatrair
dyāvābhūmī janayan deva ekaḥ //6

4
Ibid. 172:71.
5
tato gaccheta dharmajña rudrakoṭiṃ samāhitaḥ /
purā yatra mahārāja ṛṣikoṭiḥ samāhitā /
praharṣeṇa ca saṃviṣṭā devadarśanakāṅkṣayā //
ahaṃ pūrvam ahaṃ pūrvaṃ drakṣyāmi vṛṣabhadhvajam /
evaṃ samprasthitā rājann ṣayaḥ kila bhārata // Vanaparvan, 81: 124-25.
6
Śvetāśvataropaniṣad, 1:10 and 3.3.
4 T. GANESAN

Though there are many we cite the final verse, which categorically states
that one cannot come out of the misery of transmigration without the
supreme grace of Deva, namely, Śiva.7
When Arjuna prayed to Indra to grant him various astra-s so that he
can conquer his rivals and enemies, Indra advises him that he should first do
penance to have a darśana of Śiva who will grant him the required astra-s
and only then Indra himself will bless him with various astra-s. Therefore, to
get the grace of Śiva is the first prerequisite for Arjuna to get various
weapons.

Mahābhārata and the Pāśupata system

The Mahābhārata treats extensively the Pāśupata system in all its varieties
inculcating the supreme greatness of Śiva. We find in many parts of the epic
such as the Droṇaparvan, Āraṇyaparvan, Śalyaparvan, Anuśāsanaparvan, to
cite a few, that Śiva is spoken as the highest and unique reality. This leads us
to another very important subject: the Pāśupata religion, its exposition and
practice by no less a personage than Kṣṇa himself. The speciality of the
Mahābhārata is that the greatest expounder of the Pāśupata doctrines and
practices is none other than Śrīkṣṇa, the son of Devakī who himself
undergoes the Pāśupata practices with a firm devotion to Śiva through which
he gets Śiva’s grace.
In the Anuśāsanaparvan, chapter 15, we find that upon Bhīṣma’s
request Kṣṇa begins recounting vividly his personal pilgrimage to the
hermitage of sage Upamanyu his getting initiated under the sage into the
Pāśupata religion, his performance of severe penance to receive the grace of
Śiva and Śiva’s bestowing of His grace on him. Sage Upamanyu gives
[pāśupata]dīkṣā to Kṣṇa on the 8th day and Kṣṇa starts performing severe
penances towards Śiva: He shaves off his head (muṇḍī), applies ghee all over
his body (ghtākta), takes a staff in his hand (daṇḍī), wears the tree bark
(cīrī), always holds a bunch of kuśa grass in his hand (kuśī) and wears a

7
yadā carmavad ākāśaṃ veṣṭayiṣyanti mānavāḥ /
tadā devam avijñāya duḥkhasyānto bhaviṣyati // ibid. 6.20.
There is also an alternative reading Śiva in place of Deva of this passage as cited by
Śrīkaṇṭha in his Brahmasūtrabhāṣya.
 Revisiting Mahābhārata: Śrīkṣṇa is The Earliest Śaiva 5

mekhalā around his loins (mekhalī).8 For the first month Kṣṇa subsisted
only on fruits (phalāhāra), in the second month on water and in the third,
fourth and fifth months he lived only on air (anilāśana).9 He stood with one
leg and both hands raised upwards. At the end of the period Kṣṇa directly
saw Śiva of bewitching beauty accompanied by Goddess Umā at the centre
of the maṇḍala made of hundreds of sun with great effulgence.10 Then he
sang a few hymns in praise of Śiva which fully express Kṣṇa’s great
experience at that moment.11
In the Droṇaparvan Vyāsa recounts the old events. According to this,
Nārāyaṇa the great sage who was born [as Kṣṇa] to resuscitate the decaying
Dharma, once went to the Maināka mountains and performed an intense and
severe penance towards Śiva with raised hands for 66000 years. When Śiva
appeared before him Nārāyaṇa praises Him by singing hymns;12 Nārāyaṇa
says that he prayed to Śiva desiring Śiva’s honour upon himself (favour?)
and asked for eight boons from Śiva which Śiva grants and assures Kṣṇa
that by His grace (matprasādāt) Kṣṇa will be invincible and nobody will be
able to attack or overpower him.13

8
Anuśāsanaparvan, 15: 4.
9
Ibid.15: 5-6.
10
Ibid. 15: 7-10.
11
Anuśāsanaparvan, 15: 30-45 Cf. also these passages addressed by Kṣṇa to Śiva:
tvaṃ vai brahmā ca rudraś ca varuṇo'gnir manur bhavaḥ /
dhātā tvaṣṭā vidhātā ca tvaṃ prabhuḥ sarvatomukhaḥ /
tvatto jātāni bhūtāni sthāvarāṇi carāṇi ca /
tvam ādiḥ sarvabhūtānāṃ saṃhāraś ca tvam eva hi /
ye cendriyārthāś ca manaś ca kṛtsnaṃ /
ye vāyavaḥ sapta tathaiva cāgniḥ /
ye vā divisthā devatāś cāpi puṃsāṃ /
tasmāt paraṃ tvām ṣayo vadanti / Ibid. 31-33.
12
The lotus-eyed Nārāyaṇa full of devotion, sang in praise of the three-eyed (Virūpākṣa):
padmākṣas taṃ virūpākṣam abhituṣṭāva bhaktimān / (Droṇaparvan, 173: 65cd).
The hymns sung by Nārāyaṇa in praise of Śiva are found in Droṇaparvan, 173: vv. 66-72.
13
Droṇaparvan, 173: 74-78 Śiva says at the end that in the battlefield, Kṣṇa would even
surpass Him (Śiva) in valour:
api cet samaraṃ gatvā bhaviṣyasi mamādhikaḥ / ibid. 78cd.
6 T. GANESAN

We see these blessings of Śiva on Kṣṇa are proved to be true in the

entire Mahābhārata epic.

Atharvaśira Upaniṣad and Kṣṇa’s utterances

The Atharvaśira, the Atharvaśikhā and the Śvetāśvataropaniṣad-s are the
very ancient texts that clearly speak about Śiva as the supreme Reality and
that the highest devotion towards Śiva as the only means to attain mokṣa.
We can also note that the uniqueness, the Rudratva, Maheśvaratva,
etc. of Śiva that are expounded in the Atharvaśira Upaniṣad are corroborated
by Kṣṇa in his own way.
As an instance we can see the following mantra of the Atharvaśira
Upaniṣad:
atha kasmād ucyate paraṁ brahma? yasmāt param aparaṁ parāyaṇaṁ
ca bṛhadbṛhatyā bṛṁhayati tasmād ucyate paraṁ brahma /
“Next, why is it called the Supreme Brahman? Because the mere
recitation of it makes one great.”

This can be compared with the following praise of Śiva uttered by Kṣṇa:
namo'stu te śāśvatasarvayone
brahmādhipaṃ tvām ṣayo vadanti /
tapaś ca sattvaṃ ca rajastamaś ca
tvām eva satyaṃ ca vadanti santaḥ /14

Another mantra of the same Upaniṣad states:

atha kasmād ucyate eko? yaḥ sarvān prāṇān sambhakṣya
sambhakṣaṇenājaḥ saṃsṛjati visjati ca /
tīrtham eke vrajanti tīrtham eke dakṣiṇāḥ prayyañca udañcaḥ
prāñco'bhivrajanty eke teṣāṃ sarveṣām iha saṃgatiḥ /
sākaṃ sa eko bhūtaś carati prajānaṃs tasmād ucyata ekaḥ /
“Next, why is He one? Because He alone uplifts all the worlds, always
creates, preserves and destroys them.”
This can very be compared with this hymn of Kṣṇa which is an elaboration
of it:15

14
Anuśāsanaparvan, 15: 30.
 Revisiting Mahābhārata: Śrīkṣṇa is The Earliest Śaiva 7

“You are verily Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Rudra . . . the supreme all-

encompassing Lord. All the elements, plants, and all beings were born
out of You. You are the origin and final reabsorption of all beings.
You transcend everything in all the worlds.”
Kṣṇa was so well known for his prowess, valour and above all as the Lord
of Yoga (yogeśvara) as it is evident from the popular passage.
yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṣṇo yatra pārtho dhanurdharaḥ /
This great quality of Kṣṇa is mainly due to the boons offered by Śiva upon
Kṣṇa’s asking for them. That Śiva bestows the highest knowledge and Yoga
on His sincere devotees is borne out by the following Atharvaśira Upaniṣad
passage:
atha kasmād ucyate bhagavān maheśvaraḥ? yasmād bhaktān jñānena
bhajaty anughṇāti ca vācaṃ saṃsjati visjati ca sarvān bhāvān
parityajyātmajñānena yogaiśvaryeṇa mahati mahīyate tasmād ucyate
bhagavān maheśvaraḥ /
“Next, why is He called “Maheśvara (great lord)? Because He blesses
His devotees by giving them knowledge, because He created words
and brought out knowledge, and because He has reached the highest
state of existence through the power of His own supreme Knowledge
and yoga….”
This is corroborated by the statement of Kṣṇa who says that when he
completed his praising the unfathomable glory of Śiva in so many hymns,
Śiva was very much pleased towards him and lovingly asked Kṣṇa to
demand Him eight boons which He would readily grant. Happily Kṣṇa
prayed for the highest in physical and spiritual life: He prayed after fully
prostrating before Śiva as follows:
“After I prostrated before Śiva with my head touching the ground,
Śiva, very much pleased with my devotion told me to ask for the eight
boons”.
“I request you to grant me firm faith in the Dharma (dharma-
dḍhatva), vanquishing all the enemies in the battle (yudhi
śatrughāta), great fame (yaśaḥ), forward position to me in all matters
(agrya), unbounded strength (paramaṃ balam), staunch liking towards

15
Ibid. 31-33.
8 T. GANESAN

Yoga (yogapriyatva), proximity towards Yourself (tava sannikarṣam)

and hundreds of sons (sutānāṃ śataṃ śatāni)”.16

Śiva Himself being the highest Lord and master of all Yoga-s, He bestows
the same highest qualities to His close devotees such as Kṣṇa. We may note
in these passages the first person account of Kṣṇa (as the verbs are in first
person, such as abruvam, etc.).
When Kṣṇa narrates this supreme experience and the blessings of
Śiva to his Guru Upamanyu, the sage became so overwhelmed by bhakti and
he said:
nāsti śarvasamo dāne nāsti śarvasamo raṇe /
nāsti śarvasamo devo nāsti śarvasamā gatiḥ //
“There is none equal to Śarva (namely, Śiva) in granting [boons], in
fighting in the battle; no god is equal to Śiva and there is no highest
state (gati) equal to that of Śiva.”17
This view is corroborated in the Atharvaśira Upaniṣad, 1:
Aham ekaḥ prathamam āsam vartāmi ; bhaviṣyāmi ca nānyaḥ kaścin
matto vyatirikta iti . . .

Many of passages that form part of Kṣṇa’s hymn sung in praise of Śiva18
when Śiva appeared before him can easily be found to be the exact

16
Anuśāsanaparvan, 16: 1-2.
17
Anuśāsanaparvan, 16:11.
18
brahmā śatakratur viṣṇur viśve devā maharṣayaḥ /
na vidus tvāṃ tu tattvena kuto vetsyāmahe vayam //16//
tvattaḥ pravartate kālas tvayi kālaś ca līyate /
kālākhyaḥ puruṣākhyaś ca brahmākhyaś ca tvam eva hi //17//
tanavas te smṛtās tisraḥ purāṇajñaiḥ surarṣibhiḥ /
adhipauruṣamadhyātmam adhibhūtādhidaivatam /
adhilokyādhivijñānam adhiyajñas tvam eva hi //18//
tvāṃ viditvātma dehasthaṃ durvidaṃ daivatair api /
vidvāṃso yānti nirmuktāḥ paraṃ bhāvam anāmayam //19//
anicchatas tava vibho janmamṛtyur anekataḥ /
dvāraṃ tvaṃ svargamokṣāṇām ākṣeptā tvaṃ dadāsi ca //20//
tvam eva mokṣaḥ svargaś ca kāmaḥ krodhas tvam eva hi /
sattvaṃ rajas tamaś caiva adhaś cordhvaṃ tvam eva hi //21//
 Revisiting Mahābhārata: Śrīkṣṇa is The Earliest Śaiva 9

corroboration/reproduction of some of the Atharvaśira passages; we may

note the expressions and employment of words, all very much similar to the
Atharvaśira Upaniṣad.
After this the sage Upamanyu expounds to Kṣṇa the supreme
greatness of Śiva and how the sage Taṇḍī in olden times prayed to Śiva with
unflinching devotion and that through which he attained all the highest
things in the world. Upamanyu also narrates the holy one thousand names of
Śiva (śivasahasranāma) which were spoken to him by the sage Taṇḍī. Kṣṇa
in his turn expounds this hymn of one thousand names of Śiva to
Yudhiṣṭhira and all others assembled there and thus we have the first one-
thousand name hymn of Śiva in the Mahābhārata.
In the Droṇaparvan of the Mahābhārata while Vyāsa recounts the old
events we come across a long discussion as to how Kṣṇa and Arjuna – both
mortals (martyadharmāṇau) – were not hit by many of the powerful arrows
and weapons in the great battle. According to Vyāsa, Nārāyaṇa the great
sage who was born [as Kṣṇa] to resuscitate the decaying Dharma, once
went to the Maināka mountains and performed an intense and severe
penance towards Śiva with raised hands for many number of years; highly
pleased by his penance, Śiva, the supreme Lord of all the worlds
(viśveśvara) and the only source of all the worlds (viśvasya yoni) appeared
before him. The sage Nārāyaṇa overwhelmed by bhakti prostrates before
Him and sings many hymns in praise of Śiva.
There we find recounted many of Śiva’s great qualities and powerful deeds.
To cite a few, Śiva is addressed as ‘the minutest of the minutest and greatest
of greatest’– aṇīyasām aṇīyāṁsaṃ bhadbhyaś ca bhattaram – which is the
corroboration of the well-known Upaniṣadic passage: aṇor aṇīyān mahato
mahīyān.

brahmā viṣṇuś ca rudraś ca skandendrau savitā yamaḥ /

varuṇendū manur dhātā vidhātā tvaṃ dhaneśvaraḥ //22//
bhūr vāyur jyotir āpaś ca vāg buddhis tvaṃ matir manaḥ /
karma satyānte cobhe tvam evāsti ca nāsti //23//
indriyāṇīndriyārthāś ca tatparaṃ prakter dhruvam /
viśvāviśvaparo bhāvaś cintyācintyas tvam eva hi //24//
yac caitat paramaṃ brahma yac caitat paramaṃ padam. (Anuśāsanaparvan, 16: 16-25).
10 T. GANESAN

Further, in the hymn19 we find the sage Nārāyaṇa recounting all the
major attributes of Brahman, the highest reality, to Śiva. This conclusively
proves that according to Kṣṇa Śiva is the supreme Brahman which is also
the view of Vyāsa and other greats sages.
Further, we find in the Mahābhārata (Ādiparvan, Droṇaparvan, etc.)
various instances where Śiva blesses the Pāṇḍava brothers during such
occasions as the great war by Himself taking special care for their victory.
We may cite a few examples from the Mahābhārata itself which mention
the various helps rendered by Śiva to Yudhiṣṭhira and to the Pāṇḍava-s.20
1. In the Āraṇyaparvan, we come across the story where Arjuna
performs severe penance and Śiva grants him the Pāśupatāstra which
is so terrific and which was unknown to any other God.
2. In the Droṇapavan we hear the story where in their attempt to kill
Jayadratha, both Kṣṇa and Arjuna had forgotten the method of using
the Pāśupatāstra and then, immediately they both proceeded to Kailāsa
and praised Śiva; then, by His grace they took the bow and arrow and
placed before Him; Śiva then commands one of His attendants,
Nīlalohitarudra, to show how to unite the arrow with the bow-string.
Upon seeing the act both Kṣṇa and Arjuna remember the usage of
Pāśupatāstra.
3. In the Śalyaparvan Kṣṇa himself speaks very highly of Arjuna’s
prowess and his valour earned by obtaining the Pāśupatāstra from
Śiva.
4. In the section Śatarudriya that forms part of the Droṇaparvan various
forms of help done by Śiva to the Pāṇḍava-s during the great war are
enumerated.
5. The same is being recounted by Bhīmasena to Yudhiṣṭhira in the
Āśvamedhikaparvan and much more such references we find in the
many other sections of the MBh.

19
Droṇaparvan, 172: 66-71.
20
The Bhāratatātparyasaṃgraha and the Brahmatarkastava of Appayadīkṣita are the
masterly review of the great epic Mahābhārata which bring out many of the less known
and much ignored information regarding Śiva’s greatness, etc. that lie scattered in the
epic itself.
 Revisiting Mahābhārata: Śrīkṣṇa is The Earliest Śaiva 11

In fact from all these references we can firmly say that more than Kṣṇa, etc.
it was Śiva who had blessed and helped the Pāṇḍava-s and Yudhiṣṭhira in
regaining his kingdom.

Conclusion
As the immortal poet, Kālidāsa puts: Śiva is sthirabhaktiyogas ulabhaḥ21 –
“He who is easy to be pleased with constant and firm devotion” – which we
find proved and corroborated in each and every way in the story of Kṣṇa
and the Pāṇḍava-s as recorded in the Mahābhārata. Kṣṇa himself takes the
lead in following the Pāśupata dharma for himself with staunch devotion to
Śiva and then advises Arjuna, his closest friend, to follow the same Pāśupata
dharma and to have unflinching devotion to Śiva in order to attain all the
best in this life as well as in the afterlife – śreya and preya –. As
Appayyadīkṣita puts it in his Bhāratatātparyasaṃgraha, “In the
[Mahā]bhārata, where Kṣṇa is portrayed as the supreme Being, we find that
the greatness of Śiva and His quality of being worshipped by Kṣṇa and
hence superior to him, are all expounded in an implied sense. This seems to
be one of the main teachings of the Great Epic.” 22
From the brief analysis which is a revisit to the great Epic
Mahābhārata, it becomes evident that Kṣṇa is the earliest follower of the
Pāśupata Dharma, who realizes by his intense devotion and penance that
Śiva is the highest Brahman, which he teaches to Arjuna.

21
Vikramorvaśīyam, v.1.
22
Appayadīkṣita in his Bhāratatātparyasaṃgraha, v.i. : bhārate sākṣāt
pratipāditaniratiśayaprabhāvaśālinaḥ parabrahmeti sambhāvyamānāt [kṣṇāt] tato'pi
tatpūjyasya śivasya yat pāramyaṃ vyañjanāvṛttyā pratīyate tad eva śrīmahābhāratasya
pradhānaṃ pratipādyam /
12 T. GANESAN

NOTE

Mahābhārata, e-text available on GRETIL website and based on the Critical

edition published by Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, produced
by Muneo Tokunaga, Kyoto, Japan; completed on November 14, 1991; the
first revised version(v1): September 16, 1994.