Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India (Vintage International) by Roberto Calasso

Author:Roberto Calasso [Calasso, Roberto]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
ISBN: 9780804151665
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2013-10-29T23:00:00+00:00

Śiva bent down at the ocean shore, as the black mass began to lap around his feet. The Devas and Asuras watched, amazed, as though he were about to let himself be swallowed up by that unknown liquid. “This poison is born of the desire for immortality,” said a voice among them. Then they fell silent. Śiva plunged his left hand into Kālakūta, then raised it to his mouth, his face set in the expression of someone expecting delectable refreshment. He drank, swallowed, took the poison into his body, let it seep down and course through him like a secret river. The Devas and Asuras watched him, ever more amazed. An efflorescence formed on Śiva’s neck, like a tattoo, of a deep blue, whose brightness was reminiscent of a peacock feather or a sapphire. Śiva went on drinking, and the stain spread over his neck. Nor would it ever go away. They called him Nilakaṇtha, the Blue-Necked One. One day a blushing Pārvatī would confess that the first time she saw him—when she was still a solemn child—and Śiva turned toward her, so that she saw his neck, all her desire had concentrated on the tip of her tongue, which longed to lick that blue stain, even if it meant splitting in two, as the snake’s tongue did.

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