The Man from the Egg Read online

  Amused, Shiva made another attempt, merging his body with Parvati’s—one vertical half of the body was Shiva’s and the other half was Parvati’s. Bhringi, though, realized what the lord had done, and so he went around half of Shiva’s body and exited through the belly button.

  Parvati was completely distressed by now. She cried out, ‘Foolish Bhringi, you don’t understand, do you? Shiva and I are like father and mother to the world. We are more important together than individually. Isn’t it vital for our children to have both parents? A child gets his nerves and skeleton from the father, while the blood and flesh come from the mother. Shiva and I are inseparable. Worshipping only Shiva or me individually is nothing but incomplete reverence. As you have degraded the role of the mother, from now on you will only have your nerves and your skeleton; your blood and flesh will disappear. Your appearance will be so ugly and horrifying that people will always remember how you chose one between the mother and the father.’

  The sage realized his mistake and asked for forgiveness. In time Parvati forgave him, and Bhringi became a guard at Shiva’s abode along with Nandi.

  This incident inspired the worship of Shiva as Ardhanarishvara, the form of half-man and-half woman. Sculptures of this form can be seen in many places in India; it is particularly well depicted in cave two of the Badami Caves in Karnataka.

  Folk Tales

  The Gift of Life

  Sage Mrikandu and his wife, Marudmati, were faithful devotees of Lord Shiva. One day, they prayed to him earnestly until he appeared.

  Shiva asked the couple, ‘What do you desire?’

  ‘We want a child,’ they replied in unison.

  Shiva thought for a moment and said, ‘I will give you a choice—you can either have a son who is extraordinary but will only live till the age of sixteen or a son who will live a long life but will always be a burden to you.’

  The couple considered the choice carefully and said, ‘We’d rather have a good son for a short duration than a bad one who will stay with us forever.’

  Shiva smiled, blessed them and vanished.

  Mrikandu and Marudmati soon had a beautiful child, whom they named Markandeya. He was a good son, a wonderful student and a compassionate boy. He grew up to be a great devotee of Shiva.

  As the days and years rolled past, Mrikandu and Marudmati grew more and more depressed. Every now and then, they would curse the moment they had made that fateful choice. ‘Maybe we should not have asked for a child at all. Having a son like Markandeya and losing him will be too painful,’ they would say to each other sadly.

  Markandeya was aware of his impending death, yet he continued to live his life in the best way possible and remained devoted to Shiva.

  On the morning of Markandeya’s sixteenth birthday, Mrikandu and Marudmati clung to their son and cried bitterly. Markandeya looked at them with love and said gently, ‘I could not have had better parents than you. I have been fortunate to be born in your home.’

  Bidding his sorrowful parents goodbye, Markandeya headed to Shiva’s temple. He embraced the shivalinga and began chanting the Panchakshari mantra.

  As the time of death was fast approaching, Yama sent his assistants to fetch the young lad. When they reached the temple, they found Markandeya lost in meditation, his arms around the shivalinga. Fearing Shiva’s wrath, the assistants did not dare disturb the boy and went back.

  Yama decided to perform the task himself. He went charging to the boy on his black buffalo and threw a noose around his neck. The rope, however, landed on the shivalinga instead.

  A furious Shiva appeared in front of Yama, ready to fight. ‘How dare you put a noose around me?’ he thundered.

  Yama hung his head in surrender.

  Shiva offered to let the matter go but only if Yama returned without claiming Markandeya.

  The god of death agreed and Markandeya’s life was spared, much to the joy of his parents.

  Markandeya’s story represents the belief that the Shiva Panchakshari mantra can turn the tide.

  This incident is said to have happened in the temple town of Thirukkadaiyur in the state of Tamil Nadu.

  Markandeya eventually resided in a place now known as Markandeya Tirtha, which is on the way to Yamunotri, the source of River Yamuna. He is said to have written the Markandeya Purana there, one of the eighteen major Puranas.

  The Innocent Hunter

  Kannappa was an orphan boy, who had been brought up by a gang of hunters in the forest. He had no formal education—the only thing he knew was how to survive, hunting and eating his kill and sustaining himself on fruits from the forest and water from the river.

  One day, he lost his way and chanced upon a stone structure on a riverbed. People were walking in and out of it, carrying flowers, fruits and coconuts. The structure was a temple, but Kannappa had never seen one before and so was curious to know more about it.

  He waited until almost everyone had left for the day. Finally he saw a young boy coming out of the stone building and decided to speak to him.

  Kannappa asked him many questions in his crude language. ‘What is this building called? Why are people bringing things with them and leaving them inside?’

  The boy was surprised at his ignorance and baffled by his questions, but still tried his best to answer them. ‘This is the temple of Lord Shiva. People come here to offer fruits and flowers to him. They ask Shiva for whatever they desire and Shiva listens to all their prayers.’

  Kannappa immediately wanted to visit the temple. The boy showed him the way inside and told him about the shivalinga.

  Kannappa asked the boy innocently, ‘This shivalinga . . . does it give us whatever we ask for?’

  ‘Yes, that’s what we believe,’ he said. ‘It is getting dark now—I must get home.’ And he went away, leaving Kannappa alone.

  Hesitantly, Kannappa entered the temple. He sat down in a corner and wondered how a stone could give anyone what they wished for. So he decided to test it.

  ‘O Shiva, please let me hunt enough prey so that I do not remain hungry. I don’t have any fruits or flowers to offer you. But if you give me the prey, I will share it with you. I promise I will not cheat you,’ he declared.

  The next morning, Kannappa went hunting. He searched for prey all day but did not find any. Hungry and frustrated by late afternoon, he was sure that the boy at the temple had lied to him. Still, he continued the hunt. Just as evening fell, he spotted two rabbits coming out of their burrows and killed them. Since he had promised the lord that he would share his prey, he went to the temple with one of the dead rabbits.

  It was late and the temple was deserted. Kannappa entered and said out loud, ‘Please come and take your share, my lord. This is for you.’

  He sat and waited till it was dark but the lord did not appear. Kannappa began feeling hungry and sleepy, and decided to leave the rabbit in the temple. He entreated Shiva to take the promised share once more before heading home.

  When people came to the temple the next morning, they found the dead rabbit in front of the shivalinga. The devotees were very upset. ‘Who has brought this here? How dare they desecrate our temple?’

  The dead rabbit was thrown out.

  The next day, Kannappa went to hunt for his meal again, but this time he had no luck. He thought, ‘I should go to the temple tonight and ask Shiva how he enjoyed his rabbit meal.’

  To his surprise, there were hordes of people at the temple that night. It was the night of Shivratri, but how was the orphan hunter boy to know that?

  Kannappa looked around and noticed the young boy he had spoken to praying to Shiva inside the temple. Since he was not used to being around so many people, he decided to wait and climbed a bael tree nearby. It was a long wait and, having nothing better to do, he started plucking the leaves off the tree and throwing them to the ground. Unknown to him, there was a small shivalinga under the tree, which had not been worshipped for a long time. The bael leaves fell on this shivalinga.

  Meanwh