Feb 16, 2004, 12.00am IST
There is an interesting legend connected with Mahashivratri , the day Shiva got married a second time to Shakti , his divine consort.
Once Shiva and Sati or Shakti were returning from the ashram of sage Agastya, after listening to Ram Katha or the story of Ram.
On the way when Shiva saw Rama roaming the forest — in search of Sita who was kidnapped by Ravana — he bowed his head in reverence. A surprised Sati inquired of Shiva why he was paying obeisance to a mere mortal.
Shiva told her he did so because Ram was the incarnation of Vishnu. But Sati was not satisfied. Then Shiva asked her to go and verify the truth for herself.
Sati assumed the form of Sita and appeared before Ram who recognised her true identity. He asked: "Devi! Why are you alone, where's Shiva?" Sati realised the truth about Ram. Sita was like a mother to Shiva. Since Sati had adopted Sita's form, her status had changed.
Shiva mentally detached himself from her as a wife and Sati was saddened by the change. But she did not leave Mount Kailash; she just stayed on.
One day Sati's father Daksha organised a yagna, but did not invite his daughter and son-in-law as Shiva and Daksha had had an altercation in the court of Brahma.
But Sati wanted to attend the yagna and she went despite Shiva's advice to the contrary. Once there, Sati felt humiliated — for neither did she receive a warm welcome, nor did Daksha bother to offer sacred prasad to Shiva, who was, of course, not even invited.
A grief-stricken Sati jumped into the yagna fire and immolated herself.
A furious Shiva began His dance of destruction, the Rudra Tandava, carrying the body of his now dead wife. A perturbed Vishnu, in order to mollify the enraged Shiva, severed Sati's body into 12 pieces and threw them on earth.
Wherever the pieces fell, there emerged a Shakti Peetha, including the Kamaroopa Kamakhya in Assam and the Vindhyavasini in UP.
Meanwhile, Taraka the demon was ruining the peace of the rishis. The sages predicted that only Shiva's son could kill him. But Shiva could have a son only if he remarried.
So Kamadeva, the god of love, was sent to arouse passions in Him but got burnt by Shiva instead. At this time Sati or Shakti was reborn as Parvati.
She performed penance to marry Shiva. Persuaded by the sages, Shiva relented. And the marriage was solemnised a day before Amavasya in the month of Phalgun — this day is celebrated as Mahashivratri.
On this day devotees offer milk, fruits and bel leaves to the lingam. There is a myth behind the bel offerings: Suswar, the hunter, lived near Varanasi.
Returning one day from a hunting expedition, he lost his way. He climbed a bel tree where he spent the night. Nervous, he kept plucking the bel leaves, dropping them down one by one.
Beneath the tree was a Shiva lingam. That night happened to be Shivratri. The hunter had unknowingly worshipped Shiva on this auspicious day.
So, in his next birth, the hunter was reborn as king Chandra-bhanu, who is believed to have evolved all rituals connected with Shiva worship.
Shiva is ashutosh or easy to please; abdar or bestower of boons; Papkateswar or reliever of sins; Mukteswar or liberator, Hara the destroyer and a preserver.
Since destruction in Hinduism implies regeneration, Shiva represents the reproductive power which perpetually restores that which has been destroyed or dissolved.
He is also represented as the Ardhnarishwara — half-man, half-woman, signifying the power of the Shiva-Shakti combination.
C D Verma
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