Angaraki Sankashti 1866

From the Ganesha Purana

Lord Brahma told this story to a king who wished to know why the Chaturthi joined with Angaraka is so special.

In the city of Avanti lived the great sage Bharadvaja, learned in the Vedas and in every shastra, who kept the sacred fire and taught his students. Once, while he sat by a river at his prayers, he saw a heavenly apsara. Desire overcame him, and his seed fell upon the earth and entered it. From it a boy was born, red like a hibiscus flower. The Earth herself, Mother Bhumi, raised the child with great love.

When the boy was seven, he asked his mother, "Why is my body so red, though I live in a human form? And who is my father?" The Earth told him that he was born of the sage Bharadvaja and that she had brought him up. The boy asked to see the sage, so the Earth took him to Bharadvaja, bowed, and asked him to accept his son. The sage joyfully embraced the boy, held him in his lap, and at an auspicious hour performed his sacred thread ceremony. He taught him the Vedas and shastras and gave him the holy mantra of Ganesha, telling him to worship Ganesha for a long time, for a pleased Ganesha would grant every wish of his heart.

So the boy went to the bank of the Narmada, sat in the lotus posture, held his senses in check, and repeated the mantra while meditating on Ganesha. He lived on air alone and grew very thin. For a thousand years he kept up this hard penance.

Then, on the Chaturthi of the dark half of Magha (Purnimanta; Pausha in Amanta), as the moon rose, Ganesha showed him His own form: ten armed, in divine clothes, with the moon on His forehead, shining like countless suns. The boy rose, bowed, and sang His praise.

Ganesha said, "I am pleased with your penance, your devotion and your praise. Though you are a child, your steadiness has won you the boons you wish for."

The son of the Earth asked to live in heaven and drink amrita with the gods. He asked that his name be known in all three worlds as one who brings good. And he said, "Since I have seen You on a Chaturthi, may that day always be holy, may it take away every trouble, and may it grant the wishes of all who keep its vow."

Ganesha granted it all. "You will drink amrita with the gods. You will be famous in the world as Mangala, the auspicious one. Because you are red, you will be called Angaraka, and because you are the son of the Earth, Bhauma. Those who keep the Angaraka Chaturthi will gain merit like that of a full year of Sankashti vows, and they will meet no obstacle in any work. And you will be a king in Avanti."

Then Ganesha vanished. Mangala installed a beautiful ten armed image of Ganesha, built a temple for Him and named Him Mangalamurti. Later Ganesha sent a fine celestial chariot, and His attendants carried Bhauma, in that very body, into His presence.

Because Bhauma kept the Sankashti Chaturthi on the day joined with himself, and so came to drink amrita with the gods, the Chaturthi that falls with Angaraka, on Tuesday, became famous on earth. The Mangalamurti Ganesha he set up came to be known as Chintamani, the giver of whatever one longs for.