राहोदर

{ rāhodara (rahodara) }

Puranic Encyclopaedia

RĀHODARA (RAHODARA)   A muni of ancient days. There is a story in Chapter 39 of the Vāmana Purāṇa about a skull falling on the muni's neck and the place where the skull was removed from his neck coming to be known as Kapālamocana. Śrī Rāma killed the Rākṣasas who lived in Daṇḍaka forest. The head of one of the Rākṣasas cut by a very sharp knife was thrown off at a distance in the forest and it fell on the neck of Rahodara, who happened to be walking at the time in the forest. It (the head) cut deep into the bones of the Sage and that made it difficult for him to move about. Yet, he visited all the holy places on the earth with the skull of the Rākṣasa around his neck. At last he told the noble Ṛṣis about his misfortune and they directed him to visit ‘Auśanasatīrtha,’ and the moment he touched the water in the tīrtha the skull fell into the water. Having been told about the incident, the Ṛṣis named the tīrtha ‘Kapālamocana’.