Dhoomaketu

 

Dhoomaketu is the next name. Dhoomam means smoke. Normal smoke from firewood, coal is to be called dhoomam, while the nice smelling insense, and herb smoke is to be called dhupam. In the five protocol rituals (panchoupachara) we show dhupam. Dhoomam is smoke, ketu means flag. The one who has the smoke as his flag is dhoomaketu. The lord of fire is also called dhoomaketu, because the smoke coming out of the fire sways like a flag in the wind. However, normally people do not take a good meaning for dhoomaketu, but only an inauspicious meaning (or something that will cause inauspiciousness). The reason is "dhoomaketu" also means a meteor. The meteor always causes destruction in the world. Then how come the lord vigneswarar who grants auspiciousness can have that name – I could not decipher.

 

I read the vinayaka puranam (epic on lord vigneswarar). There two epics on lord vigneswarar. One told by sage brugu. Therefore it is called bhargava puranam. Things related to "raghu" are called "raghava", in the same way "brugu" related one is called "bhargava". There is another epic of lord vigneswarar called mutkala puranam, because it was taught by sage mutkala. Like brugu – bhargava – mutkala related is not called "mautkalya" but just as "mutkala" puranam. I would like to point to bhargava puranam with regard to our discussion on dhoomaketu.

 

In that epic there are two chapters called upasana kandam (chapter) and leela kandam. In the leela kandam surprisingly, there are 12 reincarnations of lord vigneswarar mentioned, and each is given a name. Accordingly one reincarnation is called Ganeshar; other names for his incarnations are vakratundar, palachandrar, gajananar, which come in the 16 names. In these there is a story about the incarnation with the name dhoomaketu. After reading this only I understood how this name was attributed to the lord vigneswarar.

 

The story was --- I had read this many years ago and therefore I will try to narrate briefly to the extent I can remember. [The acharya laughed] only when I tell briefly, I can escape without making mistakes.

 

There was a demon named dhoomasuran. Like the asuras (demons) who come in bhagavatam, such as vrudasuran, mahabali, some demons also have good qualities, and devotion. However, the demonic qualities will also be showing up dominantly in their behavior. One such demon is dhoomasuran. At that time there was a king. Dhoomasuran came to know that he will be killed by the lord Vishnu will be born as the son to the pregnant wife of the king. Therefore, he ordered his general to go at night time to the bedroom of the king and kill the queen. However, when the general went there, he had no heart to kill a noble woman, that too a pregnant woman. He did not also have the heart to separate the couple. So he picked them both a couple along with their cot and threw then in the thick of the forest. The couple who were devotees of lord vignewarar prayed to him constantly, seeking his grace to remove all obstacles and difficulties for a safe delivery of the child and to return to the kingdom.

 

Dhoomasuran came to know that the king and queen were hiding invisibly the forest. Immediately he went there armed with all his weapons. What do you think the weapon that he had specialized in? What is his name? Dhoomasuran? Dhooma means smoke? He was skilled in using a weapon which will create toxic smoke.

 

Even in these days, don't we have weapons such as the "tear gas" which are not so harmful, to gas shells which contain life threatening toxic gases? What is created using chemicals now was created using the power mantra in those days.

 

With the intention of killing the pregnant queen with the child in the womb, and the king next to her, when he went to them, he found that there was already a child in her lap! The lord vigneswarar had manifested there, listening to the prayers of the king and queen, in the form of the son, representing the incarnation lord Vishnu. He also showed by this miracle, that he is the embodiment of all deities. The fact that son of lord Siva was born as the incarnation of Vishnu, also highlights the unity between saivism and vaishavism. This is acknowledged in the first sloka "suklambaradaram vishnum."

As Dhoomasuran kept throwing his smoke weapon, a large cloud of toxic smoke sped towards to the royal couple. The child lord vigneswarar swallowed all the smoke cloud in his body. The demon became tired unable to throw any more weapon. At that time, the lord vigneswarar decided to kill the demon. He decided not to use any new weapon for that purpose. He decided to kill him using the same smoke that he had swallowed. He ejected from his mouth the cloud of smoke vigorously. That smoke killed the demon. The lord, who used the smoke as a weapon and raised the flag of victory, got the name dhoomaketu.

 

Dhoomam is also called as dhoomram. Therefore, dhoomaketu is also called dhoomraketu.