Devalok
Legend · 3 tellings · Pan-India, South India

Bhrigu tests the three gods

Who is in it

Places: Tirumala

The story, beat by beat

  1. Sages on the Saraswati bank ask Bhrigu to find which god is greatest.
  2. Bhrigu goes to Brahma and offers no respect; Brahma flares, then remembers this is his son and lets it go.
  3. Bhrigu goes to Shiva and slights him; Shiva raises the trident until Parvati stops him.
  4. Bhrigu goes to Vishnu, finds him asleep, and kicks him in the chest.
  5. Vishnu wakes, greets the sage and rubs his foot in case it was hurt.
  6. Bhrigu names Vishnu the greatest of the three.

test pride anger forgiveness kick

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Encyclopedia

Bhagavata Purana

Pan-India Vaishnava

Sages performing a rite by the Saraswati fall to arguing about which of the three great gods deserves the offering, and send Bhrigu to find out. He tries each in turn with rudeness. Brahma feels his anger rise and then swallows it, since the offender is his own son. Shiva reaches for his trident and is held back by Parvati. Vishnu is asleep; Bhrigu plants a foot on his chest, and the god wakes with an apology, asking whether the sage's foot is hurt and pressing it with his hands. Bhrigu returns and reports that the one who met insult with care is the greatest.

Bhrigu — Wikipedia

Encyclopedia

Tirumala (Tirupati) sthala purana

South India · Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh Vaishnava

The temple tradition begins where the Bhagavata stops. Lakshmi, who dwells on Vishnu's chest, cannot forgive that her seat was kicked and that her husband did not object; she leaves Vaikuntha for the earth (Kolhapur in the Maharashtra telling). Vishnu comes down after her, settles on the Tirumala hills as Srinivasa, and Lakshmi is reborn as Padmavati, whom he marries; the god of the hill is Venkateswara.

What is different here:

Adds Lakshmi's departure, Kolhapur, the descent to Tirumala and the Padmavati marriage, none of which is in the Bhagavata.

Bhrigu — Wikipedia

Popular retelling

Popular 'three curses' telling

South India Vaishnava

In many South Indian retellings Bhrigu does not merely test but curses: Brahma will receive no worship on earth, Shiva will be worshipped only as the linga, and Vishnu, kicked, is the one who wins. This makes the sage the author of Brahma's lost worship in the Vaishnava South.

What is different here:

Adds curses on Brahma and Shiva; UNVERIFIED against any fetched text and attributed to the Padma Purana only by hearsay.

Bhrigu — Wikipedia

Sources: Bhrigu — Wikipedia

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