Avatar of Lord Shiva: Kirat Avatar

 

KIRAT AVATAR OF LORD SHIVA

Lord Shiva, who is called the best of all gods, we call him Mahadev.He is the lord of all the three worlds.He is the beginning,he is the end and he is the infinite.He always helps his devotees, he does not let anything harm them.Avatar of Lord Shiva of Kirat is to test and help Arjuna( One of Pandu putras ).

In Kirat avatar, Lord Shiva tested the bravery of Arjuna, the son of Pandu by doing a dual with him and gave him a boon of victory against Kauravas.

STORY OF KIRAT AVATAR:

      

        Mahabharata is a great book of Hindu scriptures. The war of Kauravas and Pandavas has been told in the Mahabharata text.Even the great " Shreemad Bhagvad Gita" is a part of this Epic text.

     Shreemad Bhagvad Gita is the discourse given by Krishna to Arjuna just before the war is about to begin.The Pandavas were the sons of Pandu and the Kauravas were the sons of Dhritarashtra.

     The name of five Pandavas are : Yudishthara, Bheema, Arjuna, Nakul and Sahdev. Arjuna was born when Indra, the god of rain, blessed Kunti and Pandu with a son.  Arujna was the third among Pandavas, the five sons of Pandu.Arjuna was a skilled archer and his mentor and friend was Lord Shri Krishna.

     According to the Mahabharata, the Kauravas usurped the kingdom of the Pandavas by deceit and the Pandavas had to go to exile for many years.  All that Shri Krishna knew everything, while going to exile, he had advised Arjuna to do penance of Lord Shiva and get knowledge of weapons from him and Arjuna did the same.

         Seeing this, Lord Shiva understood that Arjuna was doing my penance for the divine weapon which he can use in the war against his cousions .Lord Shiva decided to test Arjuna by taking the form of Kirat ( type of tribe who reside in forests ).

     When Arjuna was doing penance to please Lord Shiva, a demon named Mookasura, sent by Duryodhana, arrived there in the form of a boar (pig) to kill Arjuna.

 Arjuna attacked the boar with his arrow, at the same time Lord Shiva who had taken the form of Kirat shot an arrow at the same pig. The boar got killed but there was two arrows in body of that boar.

     Arjuna could not recognize him because of Lord Shiva's alchemy and started saying that the boar was killed by his arrow.  There was a dispute between the two on this.  Arjuna fought a Kirat-dressed Shiva.

        All the arrows of Arjuna were cut by Kirat but Kirat did not even get scratched. Thus all the efforts of Arjuna were going in vain.Arjuna's weapon stock became empty. Now Kirat started attacking Arjuna. 

       Arjuna fell on the ground with a single blow from Kirat.  Seeing himself being defeated, Arjun meditated on Lord Shiva by making a Shivalinga of very high rate.  To worship the Shivlinga, he offered floral garlands to the Shivlinga.  As soon as Arjuna put a garland on the Shivlinga, the garland fell on Kirat's neck.

      Seeing this, Arjun understood that there is none other than Lord Shiva himself in the form of Kirat. Seeing this, Arjuna fell at the feet of Kirat and apologized to Mahadev for attacking him.

       Lord Shiva was pleased to see Arjuna's valor and came in his true form and blessed Arjuna with victory over the Kauravas and provided the impenetrable Pashupatstra to him.

   Arjun used this  Pashupatastra to kill Jayadratha during the Mahabharata war.In this way Lord Shiva had taken the test of Pandu's son Arjuna in the form of kirat.

MENTIONED IN :

Kirat Avatar of Lord Shiva is mentioned in following texts:

1. Shiv Purana

     

                                                       || OM NAMAH SHIVAAY ||

  

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