Kashi is said to be the city of Gods. Kashi is specially known as the abode of Lord Shiva who is called as Kashi-Visheshwara. There is an interesting myth that reveals how Shiva came to Kashi and chose to stay on in the city. The story is narrated in the Kashi-khand which is part of Skandapurana.
After her marriage with Shiva, Parvati travelled to Kailash mountain, the abode of Shiva to stay with him. But Parvati soon got bored of the solitude and silence of the mountains and started feeling lonely. She began impressing upon Shiva to leave the mountains for a city. ” People live in cities and we must live amidst them to be able to understand their problems. We can help them whenever they need us” Parvati argued. Shiva accepted Parvati’s demand, and thus Shiva and Parvati came to Kashi and settled amidst people. Soon hoards of minor gods also came to Kashi and made it their home. The city of Kashi thus got crowded with gods occupying each and every nook and corner of the city.
Kashi was ruled by a virtuous king Divodas. Divodas belonged to solar and lunar dynasties and was a very powerful king as he had the blessings of all the gods. As Kashi got more and more crowded with new gods settling in, Divodas could not perform his duties to his human subjects as their King. He finally confronted the gods and argued “The heaven is the exclusive abode of the gods, and nether region is the abode of Nagas and other semi divine beings. Earth was created for the human beings. Now that gods are living in Kashi and have crowded the earth, it is making life difficult for humans. As the the King of Kashi, it is my duty to bring justice to my subjects, so I would request all the gods to leave Kashi.” Gods were extremely saddened by Divodas’s order, but could not counter his argument. Thus all the gods had to pack their bags, and leave the city of Kashi. That included Shiva and his family .
Shiva with his wife Parvati chose Mount Mandar as their new home. But Shiva began to miss Kashi and longed for the life in Kashi. Gods were saddened watching Shiva being so unhappy and disturbed, and decided to help out by finding some space in the city of Kashi for him to stay. They tried various ways to enter the city but King Divodas was adamant and held on to his word ” No gods in Kashi please.”
Finally Vishnu and Vinayaka decided to find a solution to the problem. Vinayaka took the form of an astrologer and came to Kashi. Soon he became popular among the people of the city for his accurate predictions. Divodas too got the wind of the new astrologer in the town and decided to invite him to his court. Vinayaka went to Divodas’s court and proclaimed that a divine couple would visit the city soon and advised the king that people should obey couple’s advise, which will bring peace and prosperity to the city of Kashi. As predicted by Vinayaka, Vishnu and Lakshmi came in the form of a mendicant couple and started helping people with their problems. People soon started trusting them as the couple brought great relief to the people of Kashi by solving the problems they were facing. After gaining their trust Vishnu and Lakshmi began telling people to stop all the Dharmic activities in Kashi. People took their words to heart and stopped all the yagnas and offerings to the gods. And soon city of Kashi fell into the chaos and darkness of adharma. Lawlessness and crime increased, weakening the position of king Divodas. Shiva ceased this opportunity and attacked Kashi with his army and captured the city by defeating Divodas. Divodas was driven out of Kashi and Shiva resettled with his family and all the parivar devatas in Kashi and Kashi became the city of Gods.
In another tale narrated in the Harivamsha, it is said that Divodas was a great and virtuous King who ruled the city of Kashi. But he was deeply troubled that he had no son to hand over his kingdom. One day he came to know that there is a yaksha named Nikumbha who lives in Kashi and helps people with their problems. People praised Nikumbha for granting them their wishes and soon his popularity started growing. Divodas too tried to seek his blessings and sent his wife to ask for a boon to have a son. But Nikumbha did not help Divodas and refused to grant him the boon of having a son. Divodas got angry with Nikumbha and destroyed all his shrines in Kashi. As Nikumbha left Kashi he cursed Divodas that one day his city would get destroyed and will become like a cemetery. And indeed his curse came true. The city of Kashi was completelpely destroyed and turned into a cemetery. It is then Shiva who likes to live in cemeteries decided to come to Kashi and make it his abode. Along with Shiva came his parivar devatas and they too settled down in Kashi. Thus Kashi became the city of gods, and since then Kashi has been the abode of Shiva on this earth.
Story Collected by : Vidya Kamat
Source: as narrated by Pranav Goghale. Textual source: Kashi Khand, and Harivamsa
Location : Kashi, Uttar Pradesh
Image copyright: Vidya Kamat
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