Daksheswarar
Temple, Kanchipuram – Legends
Daksha was one of the Prajapati, son of Brahma,
and among his foremost creations. The name Daksha means "skilled
one". Daksha had two wives: Prasoothi and Panchajani (Virini). Sati (also
known as ‘‘Uma’’) was his youngest daughter; born from Prasoothi (the daughter
of the Prajapati Manu), she was the pet child of Daksha and he always carried
her with him. Sati (meaning truth) is also called Dakshayani as she followed
Daksha’s path; this is derived from the Sanskrit
words Daksha and Ayana (walk or path).
Sati, the youngest daughter of Daksha, was
deeply in love with the god Shiva and wished to become his wife. Her
worship and devotion of Shiva strengthened her immense desire to become his
wife. However, Daksha did not like his daughter’s yearning for Shiva, mainly
because he was a Prajapati and the son of the god Brahma; his daughter
Sati was a royal princess. They were wealthy nobility and their imperial royal
lifestyle was entirely different from that of Shiva.
As an emperor, Daksha wanted to increase his influence
and power by making marriage alliances with powerful empires and influential
sages and gods. Shiva on the other hand led a very modest life. He lived among
the downtrodden, wore a tiger skin, smeared ashes on his body, had thick locks
of matted hair, and begged with a skull as bowl. His abode was Mount Kailash in
the Himalayas. He embraced all kinds of living beings and did not make any
distinction between good souls and bad souls.
The Bhutaganas, his followers, consisted of all
kinds of ghosts, demons, ghouls and goblins. He wandered through garden and
graveyard alike. As a consequence, Daksha had aversion towards Shiva being his
daughter’s companion. However, unlike Daksha, Sati loved Shiva as she had the
revelation that Shiva was the Supreme God. Sati won Shiva as her husband by
undergoing severe austerities (tapas). Despite Daksha's disappointment, Sati
married Shiva.
Once Brahma conducted a huge yajna (sacrifice),
where all the Prajapatis, gods and kings of the world were invited. Shiva and
Sati were also called on to participate in the yajna. All of them came for the
yajna and sat in the ceremonial place. Daksha came last. When he arrived,
everyone in the yajna, with the exception of Brahma, Shiva and Sati, stood up
showing reverence for him. Brahma being Daksha's father and Shiva being
Daksha's son-in-law were considered superior in stature to Daksha.
Daksha misunderstood Shiva’s gesture and considered
Shiva's gesture as an insult. Daksha vowed to take revenge on the insult in the
same manner. Daksha’s grudge towards Shiva grew after Brahma's yajna. With the
prime motive of insulting Shiva, Daksha initiated a great yajna, similar to
that of Brahma. The yajna was to be presided over by the sage Bhrigu. He
invited all the gods, Prajapatis and kings to attend the yajna and
intentionally avoided inviting Shiva and Sati.
After the sacrifice and hymns where offered to the
twelve Aditya gods; Dadhichi noticed that there was no sacrificial portion
(Havvis) allotted to Shiva and his wife, and no Vedic hymns were used in the
yajna addressing Shiva which were part of Vedic hymns. He warned Daksha that he
should not alter the Holy Vedas for personal reasons; the priests and sages
supported this. Daksha replied to Dadhichi that he would not do so and insulted
Shiva. Dadhichi left the yajna because of this argument.
Sati came to know about the grand yajna organized by her
father and asked Shiva to attend the yajna. Shiva refused her request, saying
that it was inappropriate to attend a function without being invited. He
reminded her that she was now his wife more than Daksha’s daughter and, after
marriage, is a member of Shiva’s family rather than Daksha’s. The feeling of
her bond to her parents overpowered the social etiquette she had to follow.
She even had a notion that there was no need to have
received an invitation in order to attend as she was Daksha’s favourite
daughter and no formality existed between them. She constantly pleaded and
urged Shiva to let her attend the ceremony and became adamant in her demands
without listening to the reasons Shiva provided for not attending the function.
He allowed Sati to go to her parents' home, along with his followers
including Nandi, and attend the ceremony, but refused to accompany with
her.
Upon arriving, Sati tried to meet her parents and
sisters; Daksha was arrogant and avoided interacting with Sati. He repeatedly
snubbed her in front of all the dignitaries, but Sati maintained her composure.
Because of Sati’s persistence in trying to meet him, Daksha reacted vehemently,
insulting her in front of all the other guests at the ceremony to which she had
not been invited. He called Shiva an atheist and cremation ground dweller. As
planned, he took advantage of the situation and continued shouting repugnant
words against Shiva.
Sati felt deep remorse for not listening to her beloved
husband. Daksha’s disdain towards her, and especially her husband Shiva, in
front of all the guests was growing each moment she stood there. The shameless
insult and humiliation of her and her beloved, eventually became too much to
bear. She cursed Daksha for acting so atrociously toward her and Shiva and
reminded him that his haughty behavior had blinded his intellect. She cursed
him and warned that the wrath of Shiva would destroy him and his empire.
Unable to bear further humiliation, Sati committed
suicide by jumping into the sacrificial fire. The onlookers tried to save her,
but it was too late. They were only able to retrieve the half-burnt body
of Sati. Daksha's pride in being a Prajapati and his prejudice against his
son-in-law created a mass hatred within himself, which resulted in the death of
his daughter. The Nandi and the accompanying Bhootaganas left the yajna place
after the incident. Nandi cursed the participants and Bhrigu reacted by cursing
the Bhootaganas back.
Lord Shiva was deeply pained upon hearing of his wife's
death. His grief grew into a terrible anger when he realized how Daksha had viciously
plotted a treachery against him; but it was his innocent wife who fell into the
trap instead of him. Shiva learned of Daksha’s callous behavior towards Sati.
Shiva's rage became so intense that he plucked a lock of hair from his head and
smashed it on the ground, breaking it into two with his leg.
Armed and frightening, two fearsome beings Virabhadra and
Bhadrakali (Rudrakali) emerged. Lord Shiva ordered them to kill Daksha and
destroy the yajna. The ferocious Virabhadra and Bhadrakali, along with the
Bhutaganas, reached the yajna spot. The invitees renounced the yajna and
started running away from the turmoil. Sage Bhrigu created an army with his
divine penance powers to resist Shiva’s attack and protect the yajna.
Bhrigu’s army was demolished and the entire premises
were ravaged. All those who participated, even the other Prajapatis and the
gods, were mercilessly beaten, wounded or even slaughtered. The Vayu
Purana mentions the attack of Bhutaganas: the nose of some goddesses were cut, Yama's
staff bone was broken, Mitra's eyes were pulled out, Indra was
trampled by Virabhadra and Bhutaganas, Pushan's teeth were knocked
out, Chandra was beaten heavily, all of the Prajapatis' were beaten,
the hands of Vahini were cut off, and Bhrigu's beard was cut off.
Daksha was caught and decapitated, the attack culminated
when the Bhutaganas started plucking out Bhrigu’s white beard as a victory
souvenir. As the obstruction of the yajna will create havoc and severe ill
effects on the nature, Brahma and the god Vishnu went to the
grief-stricken Lord Shiva. They comforted and showed their sympathy towards
Shiva. They requested him to come to the yajna location and pacify the
Bhutaganas and allow the Yaga to be completed; Shiva agreed.
Lord Shiva found the burnt body of Sati. Lord Shiva gave
permission to continue yajna. Daksha was absolved by Shiva and the head of a
ram (Male goat) meant for yajna was fixed on the decapitated body of Daksha and
gave his life back. The yajna was completed successfully. Lord Vishnu, Lord
Brahma, Sages, Daksha, Devas and other celestial beings installed Shiva Linga at
this
place and worshipped Lord Shiva to get rid of the sin for attending Daksha
Yagna.
