As I Know: The Lord of the Mountains – Shiv Purana: 50

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The act of Sati creates tremendous chaos and noise and a divine voice asks Vishnu, Sri Hari and Brahma, gods and goddesses and other celestial souls to leave the place of yajna or else everyone will face annihilation…fears and uncertainty prevail as prophetic voice warns – Sage Narada appears before Shiva … and anger of Shiva fills fears.

Mystifying words from the sky instilled fears and surprise in the minds of gods and saintly guests. They were unable to say a word as the impact of maya immobilised. They neither could sit nor stand nor speak out. The affect of the mantra of Bhrigu was over, and therefore, the fury of Ribhus did not hurt ganas. Ganas sought shelter at the feet of Shiva. After saluting Sankara they narrated the sequence of events that took place at the palace of Daksa.

They told Shiva, “O lord, Daksa is a sinner and full of pride. He did not greet goddess Sati properly and even gods forgot to welcome and worship her. Daksa, Prajapati of extreme pride and ego, did not allocate a part of the sacrificial offering to the goddess but offered share of it to gods…and said many reproachful words against you O lord.”

Counselors of Shiva told about the anger of goddess Sati, words of wisdom and reprimand, and the obstinacy of Daksa. Woefully, they related to Shiva the sacrifice of Sati and the self-inflicted sufferings of ganas. Ganas’ immense anger and firm determination to destroy everything revealed intensity of loyalty. Shiva learnt about the mantras of sage Bhrigu, birth of Ribhus, the violent war, and killings and deaths of many ganas. Fear of death and destruction from Ribhus drove them to seek shelter at the feet of the lord.

Shiva was naturally quite worried but kept cool and remembered sage Narada, who knew everything whatever had happened in the three worlds whether he was present or not. Shiva wanted to know the facts from the sage of truth and tapa. The moment he remembered, sage Narada appeared before Shiva. Sage Narada, without hesitation told everything that occurred at the large ground of yajna.

A terrible truth stood revealed before the lord. Goddess Sati sacrificed life because she had lost courage to face Shiva whom father Daksa had humiliated. Shiva, the destroyer of the world and created beings, was immensely angry and out of disquieting rage, uprooted jetted hair (jata – a tiny cluster of hair) and thrashed it against the mountain. It split jetted hair into two parts and created terrible noisy sound. Out of the first part of hair, mighty and frightening Virbhadra, the leader of ganas of lord Shiva appeared. He overshadowed the entire universe and stood still. Even then, he was taller and bigger than the created beings of the entire earth. With one thousand arms, he appeared very tall as if it were the fire of perdition. He created many diseases and deadly ailments the moment he breathed.

Mahakali emerged out of the second part of hair. She was equally fearsome. Crorers of ghosts (bhutas) surrounded the mighty goddess Mahakali. Diseases and ailments took bodily shape, which were dreadful for the health of the three worlds. In fact, fear-provoking creations were invincible. Another moment of great crisis emerged and one could foresee another lethal and fearsome war.

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