He was one of the greatest in the clan of Sage Bhrigu. Dadhichi was the son of sage Atharvan (son of Brahma) and his wife Chitti (Sage Kardama’s daughter), and the brother of another celebrated sage Dadhyak. He is said to be the forefather of many other great rishis and various clans, such as the Dadhich in India, claim to be his descendants. His wife’s name was Swarcha and his son was Pippalada (who is associated with the Pippalada school of thought and Prasana Upanishad). Saint Dadhichi was born on Bhadrapada Shudda Ashtami. The day observed as Dadeechi Jayanti.
Vritra was also known in the Vedas as Ahi (snake). He appears as a dragon blocking the course of the rivers and is slain by Indra.
One of the stories goes thus. Paraa was Hiranyakashipus daughter and wife of Tvashta who to beget a son worshipped Lord Shiva for more than 1,000 years. Thus by the Lords blessing she gave birth to a son who was named Vrutra. He was a very intelligent and was trained under Sukracharya. But his pride had no limit as he waged a war with the Devas and defeated them. He was invincible because of the boon he got from Shiva.
An extension of this story goes thus. Prajapathi Tveshta, had a son called Vishwaroopa, who had three heads and was a sage having immense spiritual strengths. Lord Indra insulted the Devaguru Brihaspathi and Brishaspathi walked out leaving the Devas with no guru. Vishwaroppa was approached to take his place and he finally accepted the position after much reluctance. His mother was from the asura clan, when he was offering prayers for the Devas he prayed for the Asuras too. Indra in the fit of anger slayed Viswaroopa by cutting off his head. When Tveshta heard of his sons death, he performed a Yagna to beget a son who could avenge the death of his son and out of the sacrificial pyre was born Vritrasura. Vritrasura did heavy penance and got the boon that no weapon made till date, and no weapon made of wood or metal could kill him. Neither could he be killed by anything wet or dry nor during the day or night. And at every battle his power would keep increasing. Vritrasura attacked and took over the Devaloka after a fierce battle and Indra ran away seeking refuge and help from Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu advised him to go for a truce with Vritrasura and later at an opportune situation find a way and destroy him. And that he should approach sage Dadhichi for help, as only his bones could be used to kill the Asura.
Yet in another version Vritra, kept the waters of the world in his control and Indra destroyed the 99 fortresses of Vritra (although the fortresses are sometimes attributed to Sambara) before liberating the imprisoned rivers. In the battle Vritra was said to have broken Lord Indra’s jaw before being defeated and thrown down to the earth destroying the remaining fortress he had built. In the version Soma at Tvashtri's house to empower him before facing Vritra. Tvashtri designed Vajrayudha for Indra. Indra came to be known as Vritrahan “slayer of Vritra.” Danu Vritras mother in this version who was also the mother of all the Asuras, was attacked by Indra. In one of the versions of the story, the three Devas namely Varuna, Soma, and Agni were dragged into the fight by Indra against Vritra. whereas before they had been on the side of Vritra. In one verse of a Rig-Vedic hymn eulogizing Sarasvati, as the one who slayed Vritra. Vritra is often portrayed as a Vishnu Bhakta who lead a life astray that caused the change of scenario.
As told in the puranas when Indra killed Vishwaroopa he was accused of killing a Brahmin, because of which he went into hiding and Nahusha took his place till he returned.
VAJRAYUDHAM
There are two versions of the story. Vritrasura had to be killed and Indra took refuge in Lord Vishnu and sought solution, who guided him to Sage Dadhichi who backbone was only thing that could be used to make weapon that could kill Vritrasura. Indra went to Dadhichi who was only glad to help them. The devas could not kill him as it would have been a sin to kill a Brahmana. The sage had only one request that he be given enough time to go on a pilgrimage to all the holy rivers. Because there was no time to loose, Indra gathered the waters from all the holy rivers and brought it to his hermitage at Naimisharanya. The sage as promised gave up his life and his body by self-immolation by his yogic power, to help the Devas. The Devas collected his bones and made a weapon called the “Vajrayudha” with the spinal bone of Dadhichi and gave it to Indra with which he killed Vrutrasura.
In another version of the story, Dadhichi was safeguarding the weapons for the Devas when they were in hiding from the Asuras; as the Devas had realized that the weapons they possessed was no match for the Asuras. “Dadhichi kept the weapons with him, protecting them day in and day out, even neglecting his own austerities.” The asuras were also waiting to lay their hands on the weapons. Dadhichi waited for a long time and then finally decided the best thing to do was dissolve the weapons, by his yogic power, in the water in his kamandalu and drink it. When the Devas returned for the weapons Dadhichi told them of what he had done and informed them that their weapons were now a part of his bones. He knew that the only way the Devas could save themselves from the asuras was if they use his bones to make the weapons because it had absorbed the mystical water that had the dissolved weapons. So he gave up his life like the other version of the story. But here as soon as he died Brahma rushed to use every bone of the sage to make weapons, one of which was the Vajrayudha.
KING KSHUPA AND SAGE DADHICHI
Brahma’s son King Kshupa and Sage Dadhichi the son of Maharshi Chyavana ( this story quotes Chyavana as Dadhichis father) were good friends but got into an argument as to who was superior Kshatriyas or Brahmanas. The argument got out of hand and sort of getting violent too. Dadhichi in a fit of anger hit Kshupa on his head and Kshupa retaliated by hitting the sage with his Vajra almost killing him. Dadhichi realized that he was in bad state, so he mustered up his strength and sought the help of Sukracharya who came to his aid and restored the life back to Dadhichi. He also taught Dadhichi the Mahamrityunjay mantra. Sukracharya asked him to do penance and win the favor of Lord Shiva and attain immortality or rather conquer death. The Lord Shiva pleased with his penance appeared before him and granted him 3 boons they were.
His bones would become as hard as lightning (Vajra)
He would be invincible to all rather he could not be killed
He could never be humiliated
Here on the other side King Kshupa was doing austerities to please Lord Vishnu. And when Lord Vishnu appeared before him, the king narrated how he was belittled by Dadhichi and explained that it was the pride of being a Shiva Bhakta that prompted the sage to act so. Lord Vishnu assuming a disguise of a Brahmana went to Dadhichi to seek a boon. But Dadhichi saw through the disguise. Although pleased to see that Dadhichi saw through the disguise and appreciated his penance and foresight, he was angry as he felt belittled by the sage who asserted that being a bhakta of Lord Shiva, he need not be afraid of anyone including Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu summoned his Sudarshana chakra but the sage was unperturbed and laughed it off saying none of the weapons could touch him. Lord Vishnu tried everything but all Dadhichi did was fight back with the Kusha grass.
Now the Lord was quite angry and created lot of his own forms (Swarupas), Devas and sages to fight for him. Dadhichi lost his cool and told Lord Vishnu to give up on his tricks and cursed them that in the future, Rudra Deva would teach them all a lesson. (This was the reason why all the deities and lord Vishnu attended the yagna, organized by Daksha and got defeated by Veerbhadra.) By then all was calm they asked for forgiveness including King Kshupa who understood the divinity of Dadhichi. This place became famous as Sthaaneshwara.
Namishyaranya (Neemsaar) has been cited in the puranas as the place of Dadhichi’s ashram and place of his Samadhi, where it is still believed to be in existence. It is in Misrikh, in Sitapur district, about 60 km from Lucknow. His name appears in the Rigveda, Bhagavata Purana, Srimad Devi Bhagavatam and in the Puranas.
In Ahmadabad or Amdavad as it is colloquially called (originally called Karnavati) on the banks of river Sabarmati is a place called Dudheshwara, which is also said to be the hermitage of sage Dadhichi. It stands at the confluence of the rivers Sabarmati and Chandrabhanga in Gujarat. He probably travelled a lot as the sages those days did and probably established his ashrama here too and maybe other places too we are unaware of.
Dadhichi is believed to have authoured the famous composition of Narayana Kawacham and the mantra or incantation for Devi Hinglaj. Dadhichi is worshipped in some parts of India
DEVI HINGLAJ
Following the death of Sati Devi, Lord Shiva started on the the divine dance Tandavam in his fury and no one could calm him down. To appease him Lord Vishnu scattered Sati Devi’s mortal remains at different places. And the remains of her head fell at the head fell at Hingula or Hinglaj now considered one of the most important of the 51 Shakti Peetas. “At each of the Peetas, Bhairava (a manifestation of Shiva) accompanies the relics. The Bhairava at Hinglaj is called Bhimalochana, located in Koteshwar, Kutch, Gujarat.”
DID YOU KNOW THAT
Sati Devi was introduced to Lord Shiva by Sage Dadhichi
After having heard of him Sati Devi prayed to Lord Shiva to get him as her Lord
The sage was the only person to openly confront Daksha on his actions when he knew that Lord Shiva was not invited
Lord Vishnu, Lord Brahma and the Saptarishis were there but no one could confront Daksha.
He was first to walk out of Daksha’s yagna
Parvati Devi was at Sage Dadhichi’s hermitage for many years of her childhood
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