Bhairava- Hindu GodDeity"The Frightful One"

The Fifth Head

Brahma grew a fifth head so he could stare at Shatarupa, a female form of his own creation, no matter which direction she fled. The Shiva Purana says the fifth head also voiced Brahma's claim that he was supreme among the gods, higher even than Shiva.

Shiva's response was Bhairava. A form of concentrated wrath emerged from Shiva and severed Brahma's fifth head with the nail of his left thumb. The head fell. But Brahma was a brahmin, and his decapitation was brahmahatya, the killing of a brahmin, the worst sin in the Hindu moral order. Even Shiva's own form was not exempt. The severed skull fused to Bhairava's left palm and would not come off.

The Skull-Bearer

Bhairava was condemned to wander the three worlds as a kapali, a skull-bearing mendicant. The Brahmakapala stuck to his hand became his begging bowl. He walked from dwelling to dwelling, sustained by charity, the skull in his hand visible proof of what he had done.

Gods and sages offered alms into the skull. Common people fled or fell to the ground. Dogs followed him everywhere, animals considered impure in orthodox practice but drawn to the lord of the cremation ground. Bhutas, pretas, and ghosts trailed behind. A being who could sever Brahma's head with a thumbnail, begging for food.

Kapalamochana

The wandering ended at Varanasi. The moment Bhairava crossed into Kashi, the skull of Brahma fell from his hand. The sin dissolved. The spot where it dropped is the Kapalamochana tirtha, the ford of skull-release.

Bhairava did not leave. He became the Kotwal of Kashi, the guardian of Shiva's city. No spiritual force enters or leaves the sacred precinct without his knowledge. The city belongs to Shiva, but Bhairava patrols its boundaries. Pilgrims to Varanasi visit the Kala Bhairava temple before any other shrine to seek the guardian's permission.

Each night, before closing the doors of the Kashi Vishwanath temple, the priests ceremonially offer the keys to Kala Bhairava. The actual custodian of Shiva's house is the one who once cut off Brahma's head.

In Nepal, a massive stone relief of Kala Bhairava stands in Kathmandu's Durbar Square. Oaths were sworn before it. Anyone who lied in Bhairava's presence was believed to die on the spot.

The Burning Ground

Bhairava's natural domain is the cremation ground, the place where bodies dissolve and social distinctions vanish as everyone becomes ash. Devotees offer him mustard oil and liquor at his temples. Tantric practitioners who worship him conduct their sadhana among the burning pyres. The Kapalikas, one of the most radical Shaiva sects, modeled their lives on his wandering: they carried skulls and smeared themselves with cremation ash, seeking liberation through transgression. The historical Kapalikas have vanished. Their god has not.