Dakshayani
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In the
Other names for Dākshāyani include Aparnā, Sivakāmini, and over a thousand others; a listing is to be found in the Lalithā Sahasranāmam.
The Act of Sati ,in which a Hindu widow immolates herself on her husband's funeral pyre as a final and consummate act of loyalty and devotion, is patterned after Goddess Sati, from whom the name of the act is derived.[2]
Legend
The Goddess Sati, a personification of the divine
Dakshayani weds Shiva
In bidding the Goddess Sati to take human birth, Brahmā's design was that she should please Shiva with humble devotions and wed him. It was natural that Sati, as a child, adored the tales and legends associated with Shiva and grew up an ardent devotee.
As Sati grew to womanhood, the idea of marrying anyone else, as proposed by her father, became
To win the regard of the ascetic Shiva, the daughter of Daksha forsook the luxuries of her father's palace and retired to a forest, there to devote herself to austerities and the worship of Shiva. So rigorous were her penances that she gradually renounced food itself, at once stage subsisting on one bilva leaf a day, and then giving up even that nourishment; this particular abstinence earned her the sobriquet Aparnā. Her prayers finally bore fruit when, after testing her resolve, Shiva finally acceded to her wishes and consented to make her his bride.
An ecstatic Sati returned to her father's home to await her bridegroom, but found her father less than elated by the turn of events. The wedding was however held in due course, and Gaurī made her home with Shiva in Kailāsa. Daksha, depicted in legend as an arrogant king, did not get on with his renunciate son-in-law and basically cut his daughter away from her natal family.
Daksha's Arrogance
Daksha once organized a grand
Dakshayani's Self-Immolation
Sati was received coldly by her father. They were soon in the midst of a heated argument about the virtues (and alleged lack thereof) of Shiva. Every passing moment made it clearer to Gaurī that her father was entirely incapable of appreciating the many excellent qualities of her husband. The realization then came to Gaurī that this abuse was being heaped on Shiva only because he had wed her; she was the cause of this dishonour to her husband. She was consumed by rage against her father and loathing for his mentality.
Calling up a prayer that she may, in some future birth, be born the daughter of a father whom she could respect, Dākshāyani invoked her yogic powers and immolated herself.
Shiva's Rage
Shiva sensed this catastrophe, and his rage was awesome. He created Virabhadra and
According to some traditions, it is believed that an angry Shiva performed the fearsome and awe-inspiring Tāndava dance with Sati's charred body on his shoulders. During this dance, Sati's body came apart and the
pieces fell at different places on earth. According to another version, Shiva placed Sati's body on his shoulder and ran about
the world, crazed with grief. The Gods called upon Lord
After the night of horror, Shiva, the all-forgiving, restored all those slain to life and granted them his blessings. Even the abusive and culpable Daksha was restored both his life and his kingship. His decapitated head was substituted for that of a goat. Having learned his lesson, Daksha spent his remaining years as a devotee of Shiva.
Aftermath
Dākshāyani was reborn as
This legend appears in detail in Tantra literature, in the Puranas and in Kālidāsa's lyrical Kumārasambhavam, an epic that deals primarily with the birth of
See also
- Sati (practice)
- Hindu deities
List of Hindu deities - List of Hinduism-related articles
References
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