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| The Story of Ganesa: 18. The end of demon Ilval | INDIAN MYTHOLOGY |
The Story of Ganesa: 18. The end of demon Ilval
It was the Dwapara Yuga and Yudhishthira was getting
ready to perform the Aswamedha yaga. Brother Arjuna, who was accompanying the
yaga horse along with Dhaumya, the priest of the Pandavas, reached Vatapi where
he was led to the magnificent statue of Vighneswara. He circumambulated the
statue a number of times with great devotion.
Arjuna saw the figures of Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and
Lord Siva, besides those of their consorts and the Divine Mother, sculpted on
the sides of the huge statue. Arjuna could not take his eyes off the wonderful
sculptures. He then turned to the priest and asked: “I wish to know more about
this area known as Vatapi. Would you please tell me about its history?”
Dhaumya satiated the curiosity of Arjuna. This is what
he told the Pandava prince:
The demon Ilval was scared of sage Agasthya and he ran
away from Vatapi to the forests of the Vindhya mountains where he led a life in
seclusion and anonymity. In course of time, he came to know that Vatapi had
prospered and the sage had left Vatapi. The demon changed his form before
returning to Vatapi . He appeared among the people as a man of charity wishing
to serve the people.
However, in the absence of sage Agasthya, evil got into
the minds of the people and they became selfish which led to jealousy among the
people and frequent quarrels. Many people were reduced to poverty. When Ilval
saw this degradation among the people, he decided to take full advantage of the
situation and employed all the strategies he could muster— including magic and
witchcraft fight— to pose as a leader who had come to save them. In a short
time he earned their admiration and gratitude.
Ilval now came to the conclusion that as long as the
statue of Vighneswara remained in Vatapi, the people would not forget sage
Agasthya and continue to worship the Lord. He wanted to remove the name of the
Lord and the teachings of the sage from the minds of the people. He taught them
witchcraft and magic; he incited them to take to evil ways.
He also went about removing the inscriptions left
by Agasthya all over the place and
erected slabs containing his own instructions to the people, who now were
provoked to fight against each other. The state of anarchy prompted those who
survived to leave Vatapi in search of peaceful places. There was an exodus.
Ilval next wanted to destroy the statue of Vighneswara.
By now he was joined by several demons who entered Vatapi incognito.They went
to his help by devising ways to damage the statue. They dug pits all around the
statue and filled them with materials that would trigger an explosion.
An explosion did take place but it was not at the hands
of the demons. It was nothing but a miracle. The demons lost their lives;
several wicked people were killed in the explosion which maimed Ilval. He lost
one leg and one hand. He heard a voice from inside the statue: “Ilval, you will
live long nursing your disability all through your old age! You deserve such a
punishment.” The voice was none other than by Lord Vighneswara. The few persons
who survived the mysterious explosion changed their lives and soon Vatapi was
once again a prosperous city.
As Dhaumya concluded his narration, Arjuna was surveying
the area in front of him. When he turned around, he could not see the statue of
Vighneswara. He was bewildered. “Arjuna, you need not be surprised,” said
Dhaumya. “After all, we knew the statue will disappear and your brother will
erect a new statue.”
Arjuna now sent word to Yudhishthira to reach Vatapi as
early as possible. Accordingly, he and the other Pandava princes, Bheema,
Nakula and Sahadeva, arrived in Vitali. Yudhishthira sat facing the place from
where the statue of Vighneswara had disappeared and prayed: “O Lord! You had
blessed my brother by appearing before him. Would you not give me the same
privilege? I wish to install a statue of yours in this very spot.”
As he sat there meditating on Vighneswara, Yudhishthira
heard a voice: “O Yudhishthira! Sivakarma, who is the sculptor of gods, and
Mayan, who is the scrulptor of the asuras will together make a statue. You may
install that statue. You will successfully perform the Ashwamedha yaga, and
your suzerainty will prevail over this place.”
Yudhishthira opened his eyes and saw a giant-sized image
of the Lord. However, the next moment it disappeared. The next day two persons
appeared in Vatapi. One of them was dark-skinned. Yudhishthira could easily
recognise them. They were Sivakarma and Mayan. He prostrated before them. They
tried to move a huge rock lying there. As it tilted to one side, they found a
huge treasure of priceless jewels and precious stones beneath the rock.
Evidently it was the ill-gotten treasure of the demon Ilval. In course of time,
Yudhishthira utilised the wealth to develop the city of Vatapi.
The two sculptors began work on the statue and soon it
was ready. Then, Sivakarma and Mayan constructed a temple complex around the
statue. The whole place was transformed into a beauteous spot, and it attracted
the people of Vatapi and elsewhere. Soon after the work was over, the two
sculptors disappeared from the scene.
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