Mayureshwara

Mayureshwara is one of the forms of Lord Ganesha. The popular Hindu deity, also known as Ganapati, is portrayed in white complexion and has six arms in this incarnation. He was born to the parents Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati in the Treta Yuga. Lord Ganesha adopted this form with the objective of annihilating the demon Sindhu. In this form the vahana or mount of Lord Ganesha is a divine peacock. Therefore the lord is named as Mayureshwara. Later He presented his vahana to Lord Kartikeya (Skanda), who is generally associated with the peacock.

The Puranic texts mention the legends related to the birth and life of the Mayureshwara avatar. Once all the gods were conquered by the demon Sindhu. Thus Lord Shiva along with Goddess Parvati and seven crores of ganas (divine army of Shiva) moved to the Trisandhya Kshetra. Gautama Maharishi and other sages were already present there who worshipped Shiva and His consort. Later Shiva resided in an abode which was constructed by the sages at the bank of the lake. Once Parvati left her abode and went to a mountain peak to perform deep meditation. She continued Her tapas and prayed to the Supreme Lord for twelve years without consuming air. Eventually the Supreme Lord appeared before Parvati.

The Lord had ten arms and was embellished with kundalas and kirita. His forehead was adorned with the tilak of kasturi and the crescent moon was placed over his head. The face was of Lord Narayana (Vishnu), the left face was of Lord Brahma and the right face was of Lord Shiva. The Supreme Lord had a fair complexion and was seated in the padmasana posture over the divine serpent Sesha Naga. He was very pleased with the devotion of Parvati and requested Her to ask for a boon. Parvati only desired to worship the Lord and please Him. So She wished to have him as Her son. The Lord granted Her the boon and disappeared.

Later Shiva told Parvati that Lord Ganesha would be born to them as their son who would eliminate all evil. Parvati worshipped Ganesha in sixteen forms on the fourth day of Bhadrapada on Simha lagna when the five noble planets were in a single house. Suddenly a divine figure appeared before her. He had innumerous mouths, infinite eyes, noses, ears, feet and hands. He declared himself as Lord Ganesha who was adored by Goddess Parvati. She requested the Lord to leave this mammoth form and appear in a childlike form. All of a sudden an infant with three eyes and six arms appeared there. His face and nose was very beautiful and had a wide chest. His feet had the marks of a lotus, a flag and ankusa. His body had the splendour of crores of suns. Thus Lord Ganesha adopted the form of Mayuresvara and became the son of Shiva and Parvati.

The Mahapuranas and the Upapuranas, like the Ganesha Purana, mention various legends of Mayureshwara. He was born in the Treta Yuga to the parents Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. He was born to Parvati after she received a boon from the Supreme Lord. Lord Ganesha took this incarnation to eliminate the great demon Sindhu. According to legends, after Sindhu found out about the birth of Lord Mayureshwara in the abode of Shiva and Parvati, he decided to kill him. One day the demon took the form of a vulture and appeared before the noble child who was playing in the courtyard. The demonic vulture tried to hold child Ganesha in its beak and flew away with him. Parvati became terrified at this incident. But Mayureshwara killed the vulture with his fist which fell down on the ground. Parvati hurried to the vulture and picked up the child who remained unharmed.

One evening the noble child was sleeping in a cradle while his mother kept busy at some work. In the meantime, two demons entered the house and tried to attack Ganesha. But by the time Goddess Parvati reached to save her child, Mayuresvara had already slaughtered the demons by breaking their bodies.

Another legend mentions that once Parvati and child Ganesha went to a temple to worship the Supreme Lord. While Ganesha kept playing outside the temple the demon Krura appeared in the disguise of the son of a sage. He started playing with child Mayureshwara. Suddenly the demon attempted to kill Him; but Ganesha became alert and eliminated the demon instead. Parvati witnessed the incident and hurried to save the sage`s son, as it was sinful to kill the son of an ascetic. But she discovered that the boy was actually a demon. Meanwhile another demon appeared in the temple and hid in a tree. The demon was named Vyoma who was sent by Sindhu. Suddenly a storm began and Parvati could not see anything. But after the storm died, Goddess Parvati found that child Ganesha had killed Vyoma and was seated besides him. She picked up her son and left the temple.

The demonic sister of Vyoma named Satamohisa became infuriated at the death of her brother. She was a ferocious demon who could devour even the most valiant person. In order to avenge her brother`s death and to kill Ganesha, Satamohisa took the form of a beautiful young girl and went to the abode of Parvati. She bowed down to the Goddess and worshipped and praised Her. The noble Parvati served food to Satamohisa and allowed her rest in her abode for the night. But Mayureshwara, who was five months old, knew about the true identity of the demon. Later when Satamohisa tried to attack the child, the deity grabbed the nose and ears of the demon. The more she attempted to free herself, His grip became stronger. Parvati and Her attendants ran to free the young girl. But Ganesha killed her with his divine strength and the demon fell on the ground.

Another legend mentions that once Mayureshwara went to the forest with his friends and played till noon. When the children became hungry, they asked Ganesha to help them. He immediately went to the dwelling of Gautama Maharishi and found that cooked food was present in the kitchen. Mayureshwara and the other children stole all the food and ate it. Later when sage Gautama went to eat the food, he found it all missing. Eventually he discovered Mayureshwara eating the food with his friends.

Gautama Maharishi caught the child and complained to His mother about his misdeeds. Goddess Parvati became enraged and she tied her son with a rope. She locked the child inside a room in the hermitage of the sage. Later when she went to the forest, Parvati found Mayureshwara playing with His friends. She immediately went back to the hermitage and found Ganesha present inside the locked room. After she went back to her abode in Mount Kailash, the Goddess found her son sleeping inside the house. Parvati immediately released Him from all the bondages and picked him up in her arms.

Another legend related to the Mayureshwara form of Lord Ganesha is mention in the Ganesa Purana. It states that once all the sages were engaged in performing a religious ritual where Lord Ganesha was performing a dance. All of a sudden a fierce demon appeared in the mandapa. He had four horns, three heads, four ears, five eyes, eight feet and two tails. All the Maharishis or sages became terrified and ran away. But Mayureshwara followed the demon into the forest and killed him with His noose.

Apart from the above mentioned legends, there are several other tales related to the Mayureshwara form of Lord Ganesha. The Ganesa Purana mentions that Mayureshwara killed the great demon Sindhu and ultimately rescued all the gods and sages.