DIVINEINFORMATION 2-32 Matsya Purana part 23 Posted by: "DILIP KUMARRAVINDRAN" [email protected] prdili TueSep 28, 2010 2:23 am (PDT)
Kali Becomes Gouri Onone particular occasion, Shiva addressed Parvati as "Kali." The word kali means dark and Parvati thought thatShiva referring to her dark complexion. She did not realize that Shiva wasmerely trying to tease her a bit.Greatly incensed at the imagined slight, Parvarti decided that she would meditate so that she mightbecome fair. She wore clothingmade of barks of trees and performed tapasya. Inthe summer she prayed inside a ragingfire and in the winter she prayed under the water. Sometimes,she ate only roots and fruits. At other times, she fasted. Prior to leaving forher tapasaya,. Parvati had instructed Nandi that he was to standguard at Shiva s door and permit noother woman to enter. Therewas a demon named Adi. This fellow had performed a lot of tapasya and had manage to please Brahma. When Brahmaagreed to grant him a boon. Adi asked for the boon of immortality. Brahmanaturally refused this boon. He howevergranted Adi the boon that the demon would die only when he changed his form twice, not otherwise. Adihappened to come to Shiva and Parvati shouse and discovered Nandi standing guard at the door. Wondering what there was to beguarded, he adopted the form of a snakeand slithered in. Nandi did not notice the snake, but this was Adi s first transformation. Insidethe house, Adi encountered Shiva andthought that he would play a trick on Shiva. He adopted Parvati’s form. This was his secondtransformation. In the form of Parvati,Adi went up to Shiva and greeted him. Initially, Shiva did not realize that this was not Parvati. Hegreeted the demon and said, "Darling, I am delighted that you have returned. I can see that your rage has cooled down." But in alittle while Shiva realized that thiswas not Parvati. He slew the demon. Meanwhile,Parvati was continuing with her tapsaya and pleased Brahma with her prayers. Brahma granted her the boon that shewould become fair. Since theword gouri means fair, Parvati was thereafter known as Gouri. Agoddess named Koushiki emerged out of Parvati’ s cells, thus named because theword kosha means cell. The darkness of Parvti’ s complexion entered Koushiki’s body. Brahmarequested the goddess Koushiki to goand live in the Vindhya mountains. She is therefore also known as Vindhyavasini. (According to theMarkandeya Purana, Koushiki emergedfrom Parvati’s cells when Parvati was engaged in fighting the demons Shumbhaand Nishumbha.) Kartikeya and Taraka Kartikeya or Skanda was born after some days.The boy shone with the radiance of athousand suns and had six (shada) faces (anana). He was therefore also known asShadanana. (Some other Puranas like the Brahmavaivarata Purana state that Skanda gotlost when he was small and was broughtup by the Krittikas. That is how he acquired the name of Kartikeya. TheKrittikas were goddesses, also identified as stars (the Pleiades) Thegods armed Kartikeya with diverse weapons and appointed him their general. They requested him to kill the demonTaraka and arrangements were made for the battle. Then Taraka saw Kartikeya he said,"What is a boy like you doing in a battlefield? Go and play with a ball instead." Abattlefield is not the place for idle talk," replied Kartikeya."Show me your prowessinstead." Atthese words, Taraka flung a club at Kartikeya. But Kartikeya easily repelledthe club with a vajra. The demon next hurled an axe, but Kartikeya effortlessly caught the axe in hishand. He then struck the demon with aclub of his own. This angered Taraka so much that the demon showered all sortsof weapons on Kartikeya. But the boy repelled all of these and started to kill demons with his ownweapons. Many demons fled in dismay. Asfor Taraka himself, Kartikeya’s spear pierced him in the chest and killed him. Thus it was thatBrahma’s boon became true. Posted to google groups on 4-12-2021 by R.Gopalakrishnan on 4-12-2021 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1410579531.160247.1638587437909%40mail.yahoo.com.
