________________
ICONOGRAPHY OF THE HINDUS, BUDDHISTS AND JAINS
harassing the gods (sce Narasimha avatāra of Vishnu). Vishnu in this form killed the demon but then could not shed off the violent character he had assumed and became very destructive. The whole world turned to Siva for help. Śiva at once assumed the form of Sarabha, a ferocious monster with two heads, two wings, cight lion legs with claws, and a long tail. He then attacked Narasimha and tore him up. He wore the skin of Narasimha as his garment. This brought Vishnu to his senses and he quietly returned to his abode, praising Siva.
Brahmå who ultimately accepted the superiority of Siva.
Another story tells us that Siva cut off the fifth head of Brahmă because the latter addressed him as 'Kapali' (skull-cup bearer). He felt insulted and so promptly cut off Brahma's head. By so doing however he committed the great sin of Brahmahatyä, the sin of killing a Brahmin. of course, Brahmă survived by the power of bis penance, but the crime had been committed and the head would not fall away from the hands. Then Rudra asked Brahmă how the sin could be wiped out and the head fall off from his hands. He was advised by Brahma to wander about carrying the Kapāla of Brahmā (Brahma's skull. cup) for twelve years After this period, the head would automatically fall off. After this period was over, Rudra-Siva arrived at Käsi. Here, the skull-cup of Brahmă fell away from his hands. He then bathed in the holy waters of the Ganges and returned to Kailasa, his heavenly home.
5. Käläri-müri (Siva Reprimanding Käla or Yama)
(Pls. 50-53)
This story narrates the circumstances leading to the chastisement of Kāla or Yama by his master Siva. Once the Rishi Mrikandu prayed to Siva for a son. Siva while promising to give him a son asked him to make a difficult choice. He offered the rishi numerous useless progeny or one re- markable son with a short life. The sishi chose the latter alternative. In due course his wife bore him a son who was named Märkandeya. As he began to grow his parents, aware of his short life of only sixteen years, became worried. Somehow Märkandeya got to know of this and fervently began to pray to Siva. As he was absorbed in offering worship to the Linga in a shrine, Kāla or Yama, the lord of Death, arrived to take him away from earth. When he started binding him, Siva burst forth from the Linga in great anger and kicked Yama on the chest. Yama went away and Siva blessed Märkandeya with cternal youth so that he became immortal.
6. Brulma-širga-chchedaka-mūrti (Śiva Cutting off
the Fifth Head of Brahmā)
The Kurma-Purāņa describes the dispute between Siva and Brahmã which led to Brahmă losing his fifth head. Once the sages approached Brahm, and asked him as to who had created the universe. Brahmä asserted that he had created the universe. Siva suddenly appeared before this gathering of the rishis and claimed that he and not Brahmä had created the universe. The Vedas themselves supported the claims of Siva. But Brabmå refused to accept the testimony even of the Veda. Then there appeared a huge apparition, Bhairava, the aggressive form of Siva. The latter asked Bhairava to eut off that head of Brahma which had lied repeatedly. Bhairava cut off the fifth head of
7. Kāmāntaka-marti (the Destruction of Kāma, the
God of Lore)
This is the story which tells how Kāma, the God of Love, had to sacrifice his life in order to save the gods from the demon Täraka. Daksha Prajāpati's daughter Sati had been married to Siva, about which her father was not really very happy. When therefore she went to her father's sacrifice uninvited, he insulted her and she committed suicide by jumping into the sacrificial fire-pit. This annoyed Siva, who created the terrible Virabhadra, who destroyed the sacrifice of Daksha and made him submit to Siva. After this incident, Siva began to practise severe penance.
In these circumstances, the demon Tåraka becoming very powerful, began to harass the gods. Unfortunately for the gods, the only person who could kill Tāraka was to be a son born to Siva who was then practising austerities. It was obvious that Siva had to be persuaded to stop his penance and beget a son. The gods feared the wrath of Siva, so that nobody dared disturb him. They deputed Kāma, the God of Love, to create thoughts of love in the mind of the Great Yogi. He, with his characteristic thoroughness, used his flowery darts and made Siva forget his penance, and made him think of female company. But this made Siva very angry. In his anger, he burnt Kāma to ashes. But Kāma had already done his work, so that Siva fell in love with Parvati, who was born to
