Thursday, January 30, 2020

Bhairavs of Kashmir


Lord Shiva took his fifth incarnation as Bhairav and his Shakti was called 'Bhairavi'. So he is incarnation of shiva. There is another school of thought which says that Shiva himself created Bhairava. There was one demon by name Dahurāsuraṇ who got a boon that he could be killed only by a woman. Kali was invoked by Parvati to kill him. The wrath of Kali killed the demon. After killing the demon, her wrath metamorphosed as a child. Kali fed the child with her milk. Shiva made both Kali and the child to merge with him. From this merged form of Shiva, Bhairava appeared in his eight forms (Aṣṭāṅga Bhairavas). Since Bhairava was thus created by Shiva, he is said to be one of the sons of Shiva.
Puranas too give different versions of Bhairava. In this version there was a war between gods and demons. To eradicate the demons, Shiva created Kala Bhairava from whom Aṣṭāṅga Bhairavas were created. These Ashta Bhairavas married Ashta Matrikas. These Ashta Bhairavas and Ashta Matrikas have dreadful forms. From these Ashta Bhairavas and Ashta Matrikas, 64 Bhairavas and 64 Yoginis were created.
Bhairava is the fierce manifestation of Lord Shiva associated with total destruction. He is ornamented with a range of twisted serpents (as earrings), bracelets, anklets, and sacred thread (Yajnopavita). He wears a tiger skin and a ritual apron composed of human bones.

In Kashmir Bhairav’s are held at lesser pedestal than their goddesses, more like Dwarpals, and are
to be worshipped after the goddess.
Anandeswara, Mangalesvara, Hatkesvara, Purnaraja Bhairava, Tushkaraja Bhairava, Bahukhatkeshvara Bhairava, Vetalraja Bhairava, Sheetalnath Bhairava, Devraj Bhairav etc

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