In Hinduism, Dadhischi is a legend for making supreme sacrifice to save humanity. Dadhichi was the son of the sage Atharvan who is said to be the author of Atharvaved. Dadhichi’s mother Chitti was the daughter of the sage Kardam. Dadhichi had set up his Ashram in Naimisharanya near modern Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The reference of Naimisharanya is found in all of the Puranas as the specific location of his ashram, which is still in existence. Dadhichi is also mentioned in the various hymns (Richas – Suktas) of Rigved. Dadhichi is believed to have written the “Narayana Kavacham”, a famous hymn usually sung for power and peace.
Legend –
There are many Hindu legends about Dadhichi and he is sometimes portrayed as having a horse’s head. Dadhichi is said to be a master of Brahmavidya (Madhu Vidya) that would enable one to attain immortality. That made Indra, the King of the Devas, frightened insecure with such power in the hands of a mortal man. Indra was also against the Ashwini Kumar twins (Gods of Medicines) learning Brahmavidya and he (Indra) swore to behead anyone who taught them the art. However, the Ashwini twins wished to learn this art and secretly devised a plan to protect Dadhichi from Indra’s power. They learnt the art from Dadhichi and thereafter cut off his head, preserving it while replacing the original head with one from a horse. Indra came to know about this and blinded by wrath, beheaded the horse-headed sage and left. The Ashwini twins then replaced Dadhichi original head with the beheaded body and revived Dadhichi with the Madhuvidya that they had learnt from him. This was how Dadhichi came to be called Ashvashira – The One with the Horse’s head.
Once Dadhichi and a devotee of Vishnu king named Kshuva got into an intensive argument that who is superior, the Kings or the Brahmans. Dadhichi punched king Kshuva and Kshuva attacked Dadhichi with Thunderbolt. The injured sage was treated by Shukracharya. Dadhichi then did heavy penance to Lord Shiva who in turn granted him three boons, First that he would never be humiliated, Two that He could never be killed by anyone and Third that his bones will become as hard as a Diamond. Thereafter, Dadhichi returned to Kshuva and defeated him.
Indra, the King of the Devas, was once driven out of Devaloka by a mighty Asur (Demon) named Vritra. This Asur had received a boon making him invulnerable to any known weapon. Vritra also stole all the water in the world for his own use and for that of his Asur (Demon) army. He did this so with the intent that all other living beings would die of thirst and hunger. Thus, no human or Deva would be alive to challenge his place in heaven. Devoid of all hopes of recovering his kingdom, Indra went to seek the aid of Lord Vishnu. Vishnu revealed to Indra that only weapons made from the thunder-containing (Vajra in Sanskrit) diamond bones of the sage Dadhichi could kill Vritra.Indra. Knowing this he along with the other Devas approached the sage Dadhichi, whom Indra had once beheaded, and asked him for his aid in defeating Vritra. Dadhichi acceded to the Devas’ request, but also expressed his wish that he wanted time to go on a pilgrimage to all the holy rivers before he gave up his life for them. Indra then brought all the water of the holy rivers together at Naimisharanya, thereby allowing the sage to have his wish fulfilled without any loss of time. Dadhichi then went into a deep meditation state and released his life from his body. It is said that the Kamadhenu Calf then licked and removed the flesh from his bones, after which the Devas fashioned the Vajrayudha (Thunderbolt) from his spine and made numerous other weapons from his bones. This weapon was then used to kill the Asur, allowing Indra to reclaim his place as the king of Devaloka and releasing the water for all living beings.
