Daksha Yagna – Shiva – {Ep.129}

In this episode, we’ll see that the consequences of not inviting your son-in-law to a party could be as drastic as an involuntary head transplant. If said son-in-law is the destroyer. Now, in this context, the “destroyer” is not a Ship in the Navy, and neither is it a comic book villain from Asgard that almost destroyed Thor at Loki’s command. Those are just destroyers on a teeny-tiny scale. The Destroyer I am talking about is the Destroyer of the entire Universe. Of course, that is Shiva. And the event he wasn’t invited to was the Daksha Yagna

Shiva is part of the holy trinity that takes care of the Universe. Together with Vishnu the preserver, Brahma the creator.

Anyway, our story begins not with Shiva himself, but with Brahma. Brahma, besides creating the Universe, also had several children. And some of those children ended up very famous indeed. Shameless plug here, but the most famous of whom, I would argue, is myself. Yup, I am Brahma’s son. Not something I should be proud of, if you’ve listened to all of Brahma’s blunders throughout the show. But I’m going to talk a lot about Brahma, instead I’m going to talk about the other black sheep of the family. Who was… a goat.

Daksha wasn’t born a goat, and neither did he completely transform into one. You’ll see what I mean later on.

Daksha had an unusual birth – he was born from Brahma’s thumb. If you’re wondering how that is even possible, don’t even bother. My dad’s a show-off. Just because he’s got the powers of creation…

Despite having an unusual birth, Daksha had a normal childhood. Eventually he married Prasuti, who was the daughter of Manu and another of my dad’s creations – Shatarupa. Just a quick note, this Manu was not the same Manu from our very first episode – Unicorn Fish. See show notes for more on that. 

Daksha and Prasuti had many children, one of whom was Sati. Usually, children have different priorities, some like to play with dolls and some like to read, others like to play some kind of sport. Not so with Sati. The only theme Sati was interested in was Shiva. She was absolutely a fan of Shiva. Even more so than me being a fan of Vishnu. At least I find time to do non-Vishnu things, like this podcast. But Sati was absolutely devoted to Shiva.

This continued into adulthood. At dinner one night, Daksha and Prasuti brought up the topic that it was time for Sati to marry. Sati looked down at her Shiva themed dinner plate, and the Shiva-cola she was drinking and the bowl of Mt. Kailas ice cream and made a silent and sudden decision. She would only marry Shiva and no one else.

Sati knew her parents would not understand if she told them. She had to take matters into her own hands. And she knew exactly how. She had seen, as we have on this show, that Rishis had had plenty of success praying to members of the Trinity. So she did the same.

Sati set up a calm, quiet place and began meditating. Years passed. Nothing could break her concentration – not pleas from her parents, nor basic things like hunger and thirst. Rain or shine she went on.

Ultimately, Shiva heard her and responded! Only after he appeared before her did Sati open her eyes. After all those years of keeping them closed, the light must have been hurtful. But Sati was beyond pain. She greeted Shiva warmly and in answer to his question, expressed that all she wanted was to be married to him.

Shiva agreed, but he did caution her first about the harsh life on Mt. Kailas. “It’s cold, incredibly cold even at the height of summer. I do have a great home security system though,” he said, gesturing at a bull, Nandi.

“I travel frequently, to see my devotees, to go destroy parts of the Universe and so on. Ooh, and speaking of which I just love dancing. Especially the Tandav” he added

None of that seemed in any way objectionable to Sati. In fact, big fan that she was, she probably had a better idea of Shiva’s home and his habits and interests than Shiva realized.

The only thing left was to get an okay from Daksha and Prasuti. Normally, that’s something that the groom’s parents would do. But Shiva decided to have Brahma be his spokesperson.

Now say what you will about my dad. He may be terrible at granting wishes – almost always he’s granted all kinds of superpowers to supervillains. But he’s a really great negotiator.

Daksha had serious apprehensions about the idea of his daughter marrying Shiva. “It gives me the chills,” he said. “Not least because of the below freezing temperatures on Mt. Kailas”. Daksha’s primary concerns were about Shiva himself. He did not consider the Lord of destruction to be the son-in-law one presents at the annual Kings’ convention. I mean look at his appearance. A snake around his neck, greasy hair with the moon on it, and a river flowing through it. And a third eye! That one particularly made Daksha nervous. Daksha just didn’t understand the purpose of the eye. Was this evolution gone wrong? What was the third eye on Shiva’s forehead? It was always closed, but why was it there?

And Shiva’s followers, the Shiva-dutas, looked and smelled terrible according to Daksha. If Shiva and Sati were visiting, he didn’t want to host all the Shiva dutas in his palace.

But Brahma, the silver-tongued negotiator, spoke to him for hours. Sure, Kailas was in a generally cold area, but Shiva’s home was actually quite comfortable. And the views from the top were amazing! It was featured in the anniversary edition of the Luxury Homes magazine. And what did personal appearance have to do with anything? Shiva was being Shiva. Had Daksha considered that maybe the problem was with himself and not with Shiva’s appearance? Besides, how many Kings at the Kings’ convention could actually claim that their daughter was married to a member of the Holy Trinity?

It was probably the last point that made Daksha agree. He was still reluctant but finally agreed to the marriage. Because it would certainly boost his ranking in the Kings’ club leaderboard. He might even make it all the way to the top of the board.

Turns out, though he got a boost, Daksha didn’t make it to the top. That left him a little bitter. And during the marriage, observing Shiva, with ash smeared on his body and looking his usual self, all his feelings about Shiva’s appearance came rushing back.

And his followers were worse in Daksha’s opinion.

He made a silent promise never to invite Shiva over. And by extension that meant never inviting Sati over either.

Just such an occasion came up a few months later. Daksha decided to perform a major sacrifice. This was a grand event for any King. It was about expanding his Kingdom, building relations with other Kings, with the Gods and having a grand party that everyone who was anybody was invited to. Everyone except the residents of Mt. Kailas.

Daksha didn’t care how his daughter would feel if she heard about the party from her neighbors or her pen pals. The answer to the question Daksha didn’t bother with was that Sati felt extremely puzzled. She thought about it and came to the conclusion that not inviting Sati and Shiva was not an oversight, but that Daksha had decided to dispense with a formality. Or maybe the postal service had lost the mail. Or they were just taking too long. After all, Mt. Kailas was a hard place to climb. Maybe she should talk to Shiva about setting up a mailbox at the bottom of the mountain rather than at the top.

When Sati explained to Shiva that they must go to her parents’ palace, Shiva did not share her enthusiasm. Clearly, he had a better idea about what Daksha had intended by not inviting them. He couldn’t talk her out of it however. Sati’s mind was made up and she simply couldn’t accept his explanation that Daksha genuinely didn’t want them there. Ultimately they decided that Sati would go and Shiva would stay back.

But Sati would be accompanied by some Shiva dutas. Because it was a long journey.

It took several days, but Sati and the Shiva dutas made it just in time to the party.

And what a party it was! There was a grand hall that seemed to stretch in every direction for miles! And there were thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people there. Definitely a pre-COVID scenario. In the very center of the hall was a huge flame around which several Rishis sat. They were chanting a number of different Shlokas or prayers and at appropriate points pouring common household ingredients, like ghee, milk, and sugar into the fire. That’s basically how these parties went. This particular one was to ensure a longer reign for Daksha and a stable one.

Sati stepped in, and some heads turned. Some guests greeted her warmly, others nodded politely. But most had no idea who she was. This last group was puzzled at the appearance of the Shiva dutas, who looked, well, let’s just say they weren’t conforming to the dress code.

Finally, Sati located her parents and approached them. Daksha and Prasuti were surprised to see her, and Sati was surprised by their surprise. But Sati was sensible, she decided not to bring it up right away. She’d raise it with them after the party.

Prasuti hurriedly signaled a maid to go and set up an extra place at the dinner table for Sati.

Daksha completely ignored his daughter.

It was awkward. He was seen smiling and greeting all other guests. He was causal with his other children. It was only Sati who was being ignored.

This was too much for Sati to bear as she realized that the absence of an invitation was intentional. Daksha didn’t want her there. Shiva had been right, and she had overridden him and come anyway.

She had seen for the first time in her father’s eyes, hatred. Hatred for her, her husband, his way of life, his followers. Come to think of it, she had seen it in Daksha’s eyes on her wedding day too. She had dismissed it as a trick of the light. How could she have been so stupid? She asked herself.

The only way out was to go out with an impact. Daksha would be forced to notice her. She stepped closer to the great fire. “I’m going to a place where daughters are respected. Goodbye Cruel World” she said. But her gaze was firmly fixed on her parents. Daksha and Prasuti knew what she meant. They meant the world to her and she was renouncing them. She was leaving the party. “Hooray,” thought Daksha, but he wasn’t prepared for what happened next. Because Sati stepped right into the fire. She disappeared in a flash. One moment she was there and the next she had vaporized.

Cries went out in the hall. Most people were shocked but it was the Shiva Dutas who were the most anguished. They couldn’t believe their eyes. They had been tasked by Shiva to protect Sati. And they had failed. They wailed out loudly.

Of all the people, the least affected was Daksha. He went to the extent of not caring that he had just lost his daughter. He instead signaled for his guards to eject the Shiva Dutas. And the guards obeyed.

The Shiva dutas rushed back to Kailas. This was not something they could try to handle on their own.

Shiva was meditating when the Dutas reached Kailas and broke the news that Sati was no more.

Shiva was furious when he heard all the details. His followers had never seen him so angry. Shiva began to dance. That might have been a strange reaction by a husband who had just lost his wife. But it was absolutely the reaction everyone expected from the Lord of Destruction. He was dancing the Tandav. The dance that could destroy all of creation.

Luckily for Brahma, who would otherwise have to create the entire universe all over again, Shiva stopped after a few steps. It had the effect not of destroying anything, but of creating. Sounds counter-intuitive? Well, Shiva created two creatures – Virabhadra and Bhadrakali. They were created with the express purpose of getting revenge. Imagine the Hulk, if you’ve seen the Marvel comics character, take out whatever little humanity he had, and amplify the rage about a hundred times, and you’ll get Virabhadra. Bhadrakali was about the same, but a female version.

The two of them rushed to Daksha’s party. Meanwhile, at Daksha’s party, the Rishis had to start all over after Sati’s grand departure. It disrupted everything because their fire had been used for a purpose they had not intended.

The rishis complained about it being a trifle disruptive and grumbled about the miserly Daksha not having listened to them when they asked for a security barricade around the fire. But they kept a stiff upper lip and carried on.

Right when they had set a good pace and were half way through their Shlokas for a second time, there was another disruption.

It was Virabhadra and Bhadrakali. To call them disruptive was putting it mildly. They spared no one. It was like watching a Quentin Tarantino movie, so I’ll spare you the details. All I’ll say is that at some point Virabhadra decapitated Daksha and threw his head into the fire.

The Rishis frowned at this and protested loudly, but became quiet the moment Virabhadra turned to face them with a very bloody sword.

The next morning, Virabhadra and Bhadrakali had retired, their jobs completed.

Shiva came in. He figured he could enter now. There was no one left alive to invite it, so it must surely be okay to walk in.

He looked around at the destruction his anger had caused. And he thought to himself, what would Sati have said? Surely, she wouldn’t have wanted this to happen to everyone at the party. So he decided to forgive them. He took a special powder and blew it all around him. Instantly all the wounds healed and the party guests started getting up, as if waking up from sleep, completely healed now. All except Daksha. Daksha was missing a head, thanks to Virabhadra who had promptly tossed it in the fire.

But Shiva had the perfect solution for this. He took the head of a goat which was one of the animals that was part of the rituals. Performing one of the earliest head transplants in history, he transferred it to his father-in-law’s body.

“Maaeeh,” Daksha said. Ah yes, Shiva thought, I’ll need some translation. He took another powder and blew it at Daksha’s goat-face, and instantly the bleats were transformed into words.

Daksha apologized for the way he had treated Sati and Shiva. He said he had been very unfair and had realized it before the loss of his own human head. And to prove that he didn’t care about people’s appearances anymore, he would be content with his goat head.

“So be it,” Shiva said and blessed his father-in-law. This is unusual because normally the direction of the blessing is the other way around.

Daksha asked about Sati. And Shiva assured her that she was fine. “She has just transformed and is now being born to another King. They’ll name her Parvati. But if you want to learn more about what happens to her, wait for a future episode of Narada’s podcast. I’m sure he’ll cover it.”

And Shiva’s right, you know. I definitely will.

That’s all we have time for this week

Some notes on the show

Swayambhuva Manu, who was Prasuti’s father, is not the same as the one in Episode 1 – Unicorn Fish was Vaivasvata Manu. There are many other Manus, as that role was the character of the week in 33 – Uprooted!!

That’s all for now. 

Next Time

In the next episode, I’m very excited to begin Chandrakanta. It’s a fantasy novel that was made into a very popular tv series