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Sunday 17 March 2013

5) Story: Shiv Tandav- Origins

So consumed was he in the supra-human powers he had earned from Bramha, that he dared to do what No mortal or God had even dared to think before.

Cloaked in a flame of sheer fury,He stormed to the greater Kailash. So fiery was his Asuric might, that even the Himalayan Lions crouched in their caves as he approached the Snow clad abode. Rabbits and deers curiously basked in the afterglow of the path he had treaded.

There was no region - in either the mortal or nether worlds, that his Pushpaka Vimaan could not enter.
But when he reached Kailash,his charriot was stopped by a dwarfly figure. It was Nandi- the head of Ganas -the divine guardian. Dashavakra  alighted from his mystic charriot and bellowed in a fierce voice to Nandi- " Let me pass. I seek the Lord".

Nandi simply replied :-"You shall not defile the sanctity of Kailash. You may not pass . The Divine Passage to you is denied" and he vanished.

"Lord, Am I not wothy of ascension? It is I - your most powerful Bhakta , It is I - who have mastered the Ten Sacred Commandments :-The Four Vedas and Six Shaastras!! Won't you heed MY call ? Remove my barriers and let me pass my Lord ? Grant me the Divya Drushti - (Divine Sight) so i may see the path. "

But no answer came and his rage knew no bounds. With sheer physical might he sought to provoke the Mahadev out of his trance.

Even the Gods trembled , as the Asura took his stance and began to physicall lifty and dislodge the Kailash - The home of the Creator , Preserver and Destroyer - the seat of Shiva and Shakti - the source of the cosmic energies of the universe.
And He succeeded,albeit only momentarily. The mighty Asura-who was feared in all directions and was described as ten headed in myths in all three worlds- had succesfully lifted Kailash. A terrible sight it was,indeed of the demonic figure standing on top of the Bharat Varsh with the king Mountain -Kailash hovering above him.

Great Winds began to blow and their intensity only kept getting fiercer and fiercer.
Mortals and Gods shuddered alike -as their very world seemed to be struck by a massive earthquake and all beings were temporarily blinded by a brilliant and unbearable light - The Shiva had awakened.

The Mahadev effortlessly put down the mighty "Parvata" with his great toe and Dashavakra was trapped under it. What happened next no-one knows for all -mortals and god's alike - could not witness. But what everyone heard was Dashavakra's fierce cry of pain - as Kailash was put down . His cry of pain echoed in all the three worlds- Deva, Prithvi and Pataal Lokas and after that his very name was forgotten. Even today his name is forgotten - The world remembers him only as Raavana- "the one who cries" .
Legend has it that , Raavana was trapped underneath the Kailash for a thousand years in Shiva's Maya . It is here that he composed the Shiv Tandav Stotra to appease the Mahadev . So pleased was Shiva with his intellectual prowess that he blessed Raavana with the Divvya astra - Chandrahas or "the moon sword" .

Many centuries down the line , even today Sanskrit Pandits extoll the literary genius of this Asura for composing an -on the spot - Hymn in praise of the lord Shiva.

Through this hymn, Raavana also gifted to the mortal realm -a vision of the Lord Shiva as he appeared before him .

"Om Namah Shivayah" :) 

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