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In the past, there was a Prajapati named Anga during the regime of Swayambhu Manu who married the daughter of Mrityu called Sunita, who was very ugly and from their union, a very powerful Soverign called Vena was born. When Vena came to power, there was predominance of ‘Adharma’ (Non-Virtue and Injustice) as Vena himself was cruel, non-scrupulous and malicious. As the good advices of Maharshis fell flat on Vena’s ears and there was ‘Araajakata’ or utter lawlessness, the Maharshis gave curses to him and the Brahmanas trapped Vena and killed him. From Vena’s body emerged the shadow of a dark and ferocious woman from the dead body of Vena and from the right hand of the body manifested a Figure resembling Prajapati Anga who was a symbol of Dharma and Nyaya, with a ‘Kireeta and Kavacha’ (golden headgear and body shield), ‘Dhanush and Baana’ (Bow and Arrows) etc. Since the manifestation came out of the ‘Pruthu bhujas’ or fat shoulder of Vena, the Figure was named Pruthu. The Brahmanas who killed Vena made Pruthu the ‘Chakravarti’ and gradually he became the undisputed Chief of the entire World, turned out to be a Super King by virtue of his valour, fame and Tapasya and endeared him as a role-model. He found that there was no Swadhyaya, Vashatkara and Dharma in the Rule of Vena and being extremely annoyed with Bhumi for the negligence of the Moral Values took up his arms and chased her to burn off the sins of moral depravity. Devi Bhumi was frightened and tried to escape in the form of a Cow. He hounded her but could not run further and out of desperation stopped over and surrendered to Pruthu; she asked him as to what could she do for him and the reply was that the whole ‘Charachara Jagat’ or the moveable or immobile inhabitants of Earth should be free from any desire whatsoever. Then Pruthu converted Swayambhu Manu as a calf and started extracting milk from Bhumi as cow its udder which turned out to be ‘Shudda Anna’ with which there were no wants on Earth for the Citizens. On seeing this, Rishis took the example, turned Sun God as the Cowherd, Indra as the calf and milked Prithvi to satisfy their Dharmik desires. Devatas too were tempted, turned out to be the Cowherds, requested Yama Dharma Raja to be the calf, and squeezed ‘Swadha Rasa’ into golden vessels to fulfill their own respective desires. The Pitruganas brought their silver vessels to extract as much milk as they wished. Nagas were not far behind as the Nagaraja was the cowherd, Takshak was the calf and filled up a copper vessel to sqeeze ‘Visha’ (poison). ‘Asuras’ jumped into the queue and milked ‘Maya’ by converting Virochan-the son of Prahlad as the calf. Yakshas were for long desired to learn ‘Antardhana Vidya’ or the Lesson of Vanishing, and thus converted Kubera as the calf and extracted the Vidya from the Cow. Pretas and Rakshasas organised themselves and deputed Ropuanabha Preta as the cowherd and Preta Sumali as the calf and extracted blood from the udder. Apsaras and Gandharvas brought Chatraratha as the calf and milked the sweet smell of Lotus leaves from the Kamadhenu, while Natyacharya Gandharva Vararuchi as the cowherd. Mountains too were tempted to fulfil their wishes of milking ‘ratnas’ (precious stones) and Aushadhis (herbal medicines) into a ‘shila patra’ or rock vessel; Mahachala Sumeru was the cowherd and Himavanta was the calf. Trees exctracted the milky liquid while cutting them from the Cow into a Palaasa Patra, while Shala Vriksha along with flowers and leaves was the Cowherd and many other trees took the form of a calf. Likewise, many species including each and every human being fulfilled their own wishes.In the regime of Maharaja Pruthu the population was prosperous, happy, long living and highly contented. There was no pauper, no sinner, no fear of Adhi Bhoudhika, Adhi Daivika or Adhyatmika problems (Physical, God-made and Internal). None had diseases nor mutual illwill, no greed, no fear, and no external and internal threats. Little wonder Bhu Devi was called the Prithvi! Matsya Purana
The current Sweta Varaha Kalpa too, Brahma requested Shri Hari to save Prithvi from the onslaught of Demon Haranayaksha who tried to be dump her in Rasatala and Shri Hari assumed the incarnation of Varaha Murti and rescued Prithvi by his ‘dumshtras’( tusks). A grateful Prithvi prayed to Narayana and the latter bestowed the boon to her that hence forth, she would be worshipped by Munis, Manus, Devatas, Siddhhas, Danavas and Manavas as and when there would be activities of construction like Griha Pravseh, Griharambha, irrigation projects etc.and those ‘Murkhas’(Idoits) who would not do so would go to hell! Meanwhile, Devi Prithvi and Varaha Deva gave birth to Mangala Deva who became a Planet eventually. Maharshi Narayana then advised Narada about the procedure of Bhumi Puja by first invoking her with the Mula Mantra viz.
Om Hreem Shreem Vasudhaayai swaahaa/ Bhagavan Vishnu himself prayed to her as follows: Yagna sukarajaayaa twam Jayam dehi Jayaavahey, Jayey Jayey Jayaadhaarey Jaya sheeley Jaya pradey/ Saraadhaaraey Sarva beejey Sarva Shakti samanvitey, Sarva kaamapradey Devi Sarveshtam dehi mey bhavey/ Sarva shasaalaey sarvashasyaadhaye Sarva shasyaharey Kaaley Sarva shsyaatmakey bhavey/ Mangaley angalaadhaarey Mangalye Mangala pradey, Mangalaarthey Mangaleshey Mangalam dehi mey bhavey/ Bhumey Bhumipa sarwasvye Bhumipaala paraayaney, Bhumipaahankaara rupey Bhumim dehi cha Bhumidey/
( You are Yagna Varaaha’s wife, the provider of Victory and the mainspring of Victory with the basic feature of victory! You are the principal sustainer and supporter of the entire world, the Bija Swarupa and the Emblem of all Powers and the bestower of all desires; kindly grant me each and everything of significance to me. You are the personification of harvests; the provider and also the destroyer of crops! You are also the symbol of auspiciousness, its major hinge and the pride of ‘Bhumipalakaas’ or (Kings) and large farmers. Do grant me unending property, Devi!) Brahma Vaivarta
Maharshi Narayana apprised Narada that whosoever recited the above ‘Stuti’ to Bhu devi would for several successive births become Kings, huge Landlords and property owners of great substance. Further, any person who gives ‘Bhu daan’(charity) becomes eligible to reach Vishnudhaam; if a piece of Earth with standing crops is donated the person concerned stays in Vishnudhaam for a very long period of time. Those who donate to Brahmanas sizeable villages and huge chunks of agricultural lands would be residents of Vaikuntha.Even those who encourage the deeds of donation would be the beneficiaries of Punya. Contrarily, those who steal land especially from virtuous Brahmanas, or abet in such shady transactions would be destined to Kaala sutra, Kumbhipaka or Asipatra and Rourava narakas depending on the intensity of cheating in the transactions, besides suffering in the on-going lives too great losses of physical well being, family losses, loss of property and wealth and ignominy in the Society finally ending up with fateful and tragic end of life. Having described the pluses and minuses of donations of misuses of Land, Maharshi Narayana had not only described the Procedure of worship by way of Bhumi Puja by performing ‘Shodasopacharas’ or the Sixteen Services with Pushpa, Gandha, Deepa, Dhupa and Naivedyas, he also cautioned not to keep on bare earth, certain items viz. Deepas, Shivalingas, Bhagavan/Bhagavati Murtis, Shankha, Yantra, Shalagrama, pushpa, japamala, pushpamala, Karpura, Chandana wood, Rudraksha mala, pustaka and Yagnopaveeta. At the time of Earthquakes or Grahanas (Eclipses), there should never be breaking Bhumi which might eventually cause sufferances of the limbs of persons responsible.
Bhu Devi is complemented by several epithets such as ‘Kaashyapi’ as she was the daughter of Kashyapa Muni; ‘Sthira’ as she is stable; ‘Vishvambhara’ as she carries the burden of the world; ‘Ananta’ or of Endless nature; ‘Prithvi’ as the provider of desires in the form of a Kamadhenu at the behest of King Pruthu and ‘Bhumi’ as the base for building ‘Bhuvanas’or Residences of Comfort to one and all as per their own luck and deservedness! Brahma Vaivarta.
Disclaimer : Compiled, Composed and Interpreted by V.D.N.Rao and first appeared on Kamakoti.org
