Though there have been many donors in ‘Indian history’, only Maharishi Dadhichi donated his bones for human welfare. Knowing from the mouth of the gods that only the thunderbolt made from Dadhichi’s bones can kill the demons, Maharishi Dadhichi gave up his body and donated his bones.

Many great sages are mentioned in the Hindu religion. One of them was Rishi Dadhichi. Rishi Dadhichi was a great devotee of Shiva. Also, he is considered the best among donors.

Rishi Dadhichi sacrificed his life and donated his bones for the welfare of the gods.

Rishi Dadhichi was the son of the great and ascetic Rishi Atharva and his wife Shanti. Rishi Dadhichi was a worshipper of Lord Shiva (Lord Shiva’s text) as well as being extremely brilliant and learned. According to the legend, once Guru Brihaspati got angry with Devraj Indra. Indra Dev needed a priest for his yagya.

In such a situation, Indra made Vishwadev, son of Tvashta, the priest of the yagya. Vishwadev had also deceitfully offered a sacrifice of the Yagya in the name of the demons. Then Indra Dev, in anger, beheaded Vishwadev. When Tvashta came to know about this, he performed a great yagya and created a demon named Vritrasura.

When Vritrasura challenged Devraj Indra for a battle, Devraj went to Brahma Dev out of fear. Brahma Dev told him that Vritraasura could only be killed by the Vajra made from the bones of Sage Dadhichi. After which Indradev ran to Sage Dadhichi and asked for his help.

Sage Dadhichi lit a fire to help Devraj sacrificed his body in that fire and donated his bones to Devraj. When Devraj collected his bones and threw them into the fire, a powerful weapon like Vajra (a powerful weapon of Hinduism) was created.

Since this weapon was made of Vajra i.e. bones, hence it was named Vajraastra and Devraj Indra became the owner of this divine and extremely powerful weapon. After getting this weapon, Devraj accepted the challenge of war from Vritrasura and killed Vritrasura. In this way, Sage Dadhichi had donated his bones to kill an Asura.

Article written by and Editorial credit: State Bureau Chief Himanshu Nauriyal.