Pious Asuras and Jealous Gods

Of Jealous Gods and Pious Asuras

Many of our stories have a pious and virtuous God or rishi. Then, there is this bad guy who does lots of penance, gets some boon from a kind hearted God and misuses it and brings about his own destruction.

This is not to say that the devatas behave well and sensibly at all times. We have many stories where even the Gods and devatas find themselves atoning for their actions. At times these celestial beings themselves need help from other Gods to solve some problem. Most of these instances are to show that everyone including Gods have to know that they have a place in nature and have to behave accordingly.

Here’s one such interesting tale of a devata who got a bit over himself and was taught a lesson. It was none other than the Sun God. One such tale is in the Vamana Purana.

Once there was an asura named Sukeshi. He was a great devotee of Lord Shiva and did long years of penance to see his favorite God. 

After many years of complete devotion and prayers, Lord Shiva was pleased with Sukeshi and appeared before him. Shiva told Sukeshi to ask for a boon. Sukeshi was a peace-loving person despite being an asura. Sukeshi asked for a floating kingdom in the skies equal to a devaloka. He prayed that the kingdom should have beauty, prosperity and the rarest of treasures where his people can live happily.

Shiva was amused and happy that Sukeshi was only asking for a city in the sky. Some of his other devotees ask for long life, supernatural powers and other strange things. Considering these, Sukeshi’s request seemed very simple and doable. Shiva smiled and said “Granted” and disappeared.

The kingdom of Sukeshi created by this blessing was a gem hanging in mid-air. It was so beautiful that even the clouds stopped to look at the city and birds flocked the city to taste the rare fruits in the many orchards. The splendor of the city put many other realms in devaloka to shame. 

Sukeshi and his clan were happily residing in this city. Since the king did not want any conflict, there was none of the usual fights between the devas and asuras during this period.

Once, while roaming the universe, Sukeshi happened to visit the Magadh forest area where a lot of rishis had their hermitage. Hearing the Vedic chanting and seeing the peaceful atmosphere, Sukeshi went there.

Coming into a learning Vedic environment, a naturally non-violent Sukeshi decided to improve his knowledge of the scriptures and also clarify some of his basic questions and doubts on dharma.

Sukeshi told the brahmins that he wanted to understand more about dharma and requested permission to ask his questions. They were happy that an asura king wanted to understand about dharma.

Sukeshi asked the sages the path towards salvation. The sages replied that Dharma was the only path towards salvation. And that path can be achieved only through knowledge of self and complete sharanagati (surrender) to the Paramatma.

 The sages also highlighted the importance of the ten basic tenets of dharma to Sukeshi namely, Truth, Non-violence, Charity, Forgiveness, Restraint, Compassion, Cleanliness, Austerities, Love and Not stealing from someone. These together are called the principles of Dashanga (Ten pronged) Dharma and are common for people of all varnas.

Then Sukeshi questioned the sages on the types of sins and the consequent punishments. For which the sages replied “Oh king, there are 21 types of Narak. The first one is called Raurav covering 2000 yojanas (One yojana is something like 13 kms). The next narak Maharaurav and is twice the size of Raurav.” The sages then go on to name the various types of narak.

Continuing on the topic of sins, the sages tell Sukeshi “There are many sins and depending on the type of sin, the person goes to a different type of narak.”

After covering the topics on dharma and the consequences of right and wrong, Sukeshi and the sages discuss other topics such as the land mass on which Bharata Varsha is situated and the characteristics of the same.

Sages tell him about Jambudweepa the large land mass of which Bharata Varsha is a smaller part.

They tell him “Jambudweep is a huge land mass surrounded by water on all sides. Jambudweep has nine sub components - Bharata Varsha (south); Bhadrashvarsh (East); Ilavritvarsh (Central); Hiranyakvarsh (North east); Kinnarvarsh (South east); Harivarsh (South west); Ketumalvarsh (West); Kuruvarsh (North); Ramyakvarsh (North west). There are many smaller islands surrounding Bharata Varsha which are not accessible.”

(While a fairly detailed description is available, for the sake of brevity and flow, avoided here).

The learned sages then go on to give a detailed description of the kind of people living in the various regions of Bharata Varsha, their varnas and their religious and social practices.

The conversation between the sages and Sukeshi continued for many days on similar lines covering multiple topics. Sukeshi went back to his kingdom a very different person. He educated his asura relatives and citizens on the importance and benefits of leading a dharmic life. He also shared the knowledge he had gained from the sages on how to conduct a pooja, how to do a yagna, the dharmic path to follow under various situations and also how to lead a Satvik life.

All this resulted in a complete transformation of the entire asura kingdom with a huge focus on dharma and good deeds. As the king, nobles and citizens turned towards the path of dharma, the kingdom became more and more prosperous. People started living longer as the stress of conflict and anger came down. The kingdom expanded to have many portals where the citizens were dharmic and because they were dharmic they were happy and prosperous. The glory of the city reached far and wide.

The place became so immensely sattvic, that the thejus (light) from the city made it shine like a jewel hanging in mid-air. The light from the kingdom was spreading throughout the Brahmand (cosmos) blinding the other planets and stars.

Surya, the Sun God, whose primary duty was to give light, was starting to look dull and lusterless in comparison to Sukeshi’s city. Surya was concerned and threatened at the same time.

Surya decided to use his powers to reduce the brilliance of Sukeshi’s kingdom. He started glaring at Sukeshi’s kingdom. Unable to bear the direct heat of Surya, the people and the structures of Sukeshi’s city started crumbling and falling towards the earth.

The people went running to their king Sukeshi. Sukeshi in turn went to his presiding deity Lord Shiva and pleaded for help.

Lord Shiva does not tolerate any discomfort or disrespect towards his devotees. Seeing his ardent devotee Sukeshi and his people suffering due to no fault of their own, he got very angry. When he finds out that Lord Surya is behind this, he directs his anger at Lord Surya. Lord Surya, unable to counter an energy more powerful than his, falls down to earth.

The disappearance of Lord Surya meant that life on earth was threatened. The entire cycle of seasons disappeared. The whole earth became parched with people and animals suffering without food and heat.

Lord Surya who had fallen down to the earthly plane had landed in Varanasi. Although no longer in Shiva’s glare, Lord Surya was still suffering from the heat of Shiva’s eyes. Taking pity on his condition, the rishis advised him to bathe in the rivers Varuna and Asi that flow in that city and offer prayers to Lord Vishvanath (Shiva) in Varanasi.

Following their directions, Surya bathes in both these rivers and offers prayers to Lord Vishwanath. Finally, his body heat is reduced and Shiva takes pity on the Sun God. Shiva blesses Surya and gives him a new name, Lolark.

Perhaps Surya’s problems were solved. The problem of the inhabitants of earth who were suffering without heat and light was still not resolved as they still did not have their Sun God back. The rishis then go to Lord Brahma and requested him to restore Lord Surya back to his position of providing light and sustenance to the world.

Since Shiva had already forgiven Surya, Lord Brahma agreed. Lord Surya went back with humility to continue his duty of providing light and life to earth.

Lolark Kund in Varanasi

Remember, Shiva gave Sun God a new name, Lolark. Lolark means shivering. Lolark Aditya means a shivering sun. Where do you normally see a shivering sun? In the ripples of water.

Interestingly there is a Lolark Kund in Varanasi. The Kund is perhaps one of the oldest structures in the city of Varanasi.  There is a Lolark Kund referred to in the Mahabharata but the present structure is dated 1000 AD and was repaired by both Rani Ahilyabai and the king of Cooch Behar. The Kund is located between the rivers Varuna and Asi with passages to these rivers (Source: Varanasi Guru). Lolark Kund is famous for curing skin diseases. The practice of bathing in the Kund started when the King of Cooch Behar got cured of his skin disease after bathing in the Kund. The Kund is also known for helping childless couples have a child.

Lolark Shasti is celebrated on the sixth day of Shuklapaksha Badrapadha (Purattasi). From that day for a period of six days, thousands of people, especially childless couples, visit the Kund to take a dip.

The Kund is rectangular in shape on 3 sides with a well like tapering on one side. The structure is about 23*15 m and has pathways that lead to the rivers Varuna and Asi.

We saw Lolark means shivering and in that portion of the Kund which tapers into a well, sun light does shiver when reflected in the ripples of the water.

Though Surya, Sukeshi, Shiva and the other gods played out an interesting episode for us, they perhaps gave millions a hope and a blessing in the form of this Kund.