SIVA PURANA by Menon Ramesh

Author:Menon, Ramesh [Menon, Ramesh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SEVEN

‘Only if Siva has a son’

Brahma’s son Marichi sired Kashyapa, who took thirteen of Daksha’s daughters to be his wives. Kashyapa’s eldest wife, Diti, bore the golden Asuras, Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashyapu, who terrorised the worlds, until Vishnu, as Varaha and Narasimha, slew them and there was peace in creation once more. Diti was inconsolable and she prayed fervently for more children. After an age of worship, she became pregnant again with a mighty child who could kill her sister Aditi’s son Indra, the Deva king. When Indra heard of it, he spirited himself into her womb and attacked the foetus with his thunderbolt. By the power of Diti’s tapasya, the embryo did not die; it was cut in seven. Diti bore seven sons instead of one and they were the Maruts. Indra took them into the heavens and made them Vayu the Wind’s companions.

Again, Diti resorted to her husband with worship and she bore an adamantine son called Vajranga. He was born full-grown and as powerful as the greatest deva. At Diti’s instance, Vajranga abducted Indra and held him captive. Brahma and Kashyapa interceded for the Deva king and Vajranga released Indra.

Vajranga, who was an innocent, said humbly to Brahma, "Pitama, teach me the essential dharma by which I can achieve happiness. I kidnapped Indra only because my mother told me to: it brought me no joy."

Brahma smiled and created Vajrangi to be Vajranga’s wife. The Creator said to the Demon, "Only sattvik feelings can make you joyful. Be happy with your wife."

Vajranga, lord of the asuras, was the most peaceful of Diti’s children. Not so his wife. She always said to him, "Give me a son who will conquer the worlds and bring misery to Vishnu."

The pure-hearted Vajranga was distraught. Much as he loathed to, it was his dharma to give his wife what she wanted. He worshipped Brahma, his guru. The Lotus-born One appeared before him in light. Vajranga said, "Lord, bless me with a son who will be as his mother wants. But for my sake, let him also be a tapasvin."

Brahma said, "So be it."

Vajrangi conceived and for years her pregnancy lasted, while her mysterious child grew slow and strong within her. At last, one night, when thunder crashed, bolts of lightning and comets fell together out of the sky, when meteors flew up into heaven from an earth that shook with giant tremors and the rough wind swept land and sea in hurricanes, uprooted the greatest trees and blew them along like straw puppets; on a night when gales billowed blind with dust, when the sun’s haloes were dim with Rahu’s ominous shadow, when mountain crevasses resounded with terrifying explosions, when macabre vixens howled and vomited fire in the villages of men, when dogs bayed and their bitches sang dismally, when beasts of the jungle wandered lost and shivering into human habitations, when birds of day wheeled in maddened flocks, darkening the night sky, when cows sprayed blood through their teats in fear and clouds

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