Pippalāda, the Child of the Fig Tree

Bones like thunder

Once the daityas, led by Vṛtra, defeated Indra and all the gods. The gods threw down their weapons in the hermitage of the sage Dadhīci, admitted defeat, and went to Brahmā.

Brahmā told them: Tvaṣṭā created Vṛtra by the power of his tapas to destroy you. But there is a way. The great sage Dadhīci, master of himself, once worshipped Śiva and received a boon — that his bones would be as hard as a thunderbolt. Go and ask him for his bones. He will give them. Make a vajra from them, and kill Vṛtra.

Indra came to Dadhīci's hermitage with Bṛhaspati and the gods, and found the sage sitting with his wife Suvarcā. Dadhīci understood at once why they had come, and sent Suvarcā inside. Then Indra, clever in his own interests, said: great devotee of Śiva, generous giver, we have come to you for refuge. Give us your bones, hard as thunder, so that we can make a vajra and kill Vṛtra.

Dadhīci, whose whole life was for the good of others, thought of Śiva and left his body. Flowers fell from the sky. Indra called the wish-cow Surabhi to lick the flesh from the bones, and Viśvakarmā made weapons from them — from the spine the vajra and the arrow called Brahmaśiras, and many more for the gods. Strong with Śiva's power, Indra ran at Vṛtra like Rudra rushing at Death, and cut off his mountain-like head. The gods rejoiced and praised Indra.

Suvarcā's curse

Suvarcā finished her work in the house and came out. Her husband was gone. She saw the gods, and what they had done.

Her anger was terrible. You gods are wicked, she said — greedy, ignorant, clever only at getting what you want. From today, Indra and all of you will be animals. And she built a pyre of holy wood to follow her husband.

Then a voice came from the sky, sent by Śiva: do not do this rash thing. The sage's radiance is in your womb. Bring it into the world first; the Veda says a woman who is carrying a child must not follow her husband in death.

Born beneath the pīpal

Suvarcā, still longing to follow her husband, would not wait. She brought the child forth herself, there and then — and out came a boy of divine form, lighting up the ten directions: born from Dadhīci's radiance, and Rudra himself.

She knew him at once for what he was. She bowed to him, praised him, and set his form in her heart. Then, smiling, she said: my son, my lord — stay here near this pīpal tree for a long time, and make everyone happy. Give me leave to go to your father. There, with him, I will meditate on you. And in deep samādhi she followed Dadhīci, and they live together in Śiva's world, serving him.

Then the gods came — Indra among them, as if invited — and Brahmā and Viṣṇu with their hosts. They bowed to the child and praised him with folded hands; drums sounded in the sky, the gandharvas sang, the gods rained flowers. Viṣṇu and the gods performed the birth rites for the son of Dadhīci whom the pīpal tree had sheltered, and Brahmā named him Pippalāda, “he who lived by the pīpal”.

Pippalāda, Rudra's avatāra, stayed beneath the pīpal tree and did tapas for the good of the world for a very long time.

Padmā

One day, on his way to bathe in the river Puṣpabhadrā, Pippalāda saw a beautiful young woman named Padmā, born of a portion of Śivā, the goddess. He went to her father, King Anaraṇya, who received him with honour — and asked for his daughter's hand. The king fell silent. Give her to me, said the sage, or I will burn you and everything you have to ash. The king's men were overwhelmed by his radiance, and the king, weeping, gave Padmā to the old sage.

Padmā served him as Lakṣmī serves Nārāyaṇa, with her mind, words and deeds. And then, in his play, the sage became young again. They had ten sons, all great ascetics like their father.

The promise about Saturn

Pippalāda saw how the suffering brought by Śani, the planet Saturn, fell on everyone and could not be stopped. Out of compassion he gave the world a boon: from birth until the age of sixteen, no one shall suffer from Śani — nor shall Śiva's devotees. This is my word. If Śani disregards it and troubles them, he will be burnt to ash that very moment.

And so, the Purāṇa says, Śani, even when he is at his worst, never troubles them, for fear of Pippalāda. To this day, remembering Gādhi, Kauśika and the great sage Pippalāda is said to take away the affliction of Saturn.