Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
could recall. Nature was out of control; something had gone
desperately wrong, and the planet was dying. Even Brahma, the
Lord of Creation himself, was helpless. There was just one man
who could make a change. It was a king named Divodasa. He was
so wise that he had given up his throne, given up all worldly things,
and come to Benares to spend his days in silent meditation by the
waters of Mother Ganga. Brahma begged him to renounce
renunciation and come back to accept the position of planetary ruler.
For only he, Brahma insisted, could bring back the harmony, the
order, that had fled the world, leaving it in chaos.
After some thought, Divodasa agreed, but on one condition:
Brahma must order all the gods to leave Kashi. Divodasa believed
the other gods would only hinder things, get in the way of change,
even though change, in this case, meant a return to the traditional
order. Brahma agreed to Divodasa's demand. Even Siva, to whom
Kashi was dearer than all places on earth, had to leave with the rest.
Siva's not the sort of god who takes kindly to such treatment. Thus
he pondered darkly in his exile, hatching schemes to compel Brahma
to permit his fellow deities the right to return to their favorite spot.
He decided that Divodasa had to be discredited as king. So he
challenged Brahma to prove that Divodasa was fit to be king and -
more importantly - knew the rituals only a king could perform.
Nobody refused Siva. So Brahma, disguised as a priest, visited
the court of Divodasa, now the king of all the world. He begged the
king to preside over one of the most powerful and involved Vedic
rituals of all: the simultaneous sacrifice of ten (
dashan
) horses
(
ashvamedha
). Siva was convinced that Divodasa was bound to make
a fatal mistake at some point during such a complex rite. As patron
of the ritual, the king had to furnish every single one of the
components required, and also make certain that everything ran
precisely according to plan.
Siva misjudged his man. The king of the world conducted the
superritual faultlessly - even conscripting Brahma himself to
perform the role of chief priest. Ten horses were sacrificed at precisely
the same moment - on the spot now known as Dashashvamedh Ghat,
'Place of the Ten Horse Sacrifice.' Siva was furious. But Divodasa
did manage to restore order; and when the rains finally came, he
