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Humanity and Divinity. The Human Purnendu Narayana Sinha, M. A., B. L. 83 Form constitute a Duality. It is in this dual form that Sri Krishna incarnated Himself. From Dharma we pass to Agni. [Agni is used in many senses. It means the channel of communi- cation between different kingdoms in nature, specially between Man and Deva, as also a vehicle of consciousness, and sometimes con- sciousness itself. It also means the Rupa or form-giving principle in the Universe. It is frequently used in the Puranas in the last sense. ] Agni was wedded to Svahda, the 14th. daughter of Daksha. His three sons are Pavaka or the Purifier, Pavaman or that which is being purified and Sachi or Pure. They have 45 sons who with their fathers and grandfather form the Forty-nine Fires. They are separately men- tioned in the Vedic Sacrifices in honour of Agni. Svadha is the 15th. daughter of Daksha. She was married to the Pitris. Agnishvatva, Barhishad, Somapa and Ajyapa are the names of the Pitris. They are with fire (Sagni) or without fire (Niragini). Svadha bore two daughters to the Pitris, Vayuna and Dharini. Both of them were well-versed in the Supreme wisdom. [Vayana is knowledge, wisdom, faculty of perception. Dhdarini means that which bears, holds, carries, supports. Sometimes the word is used to mean the earth. This two-fold classification means that some of the Pitris give the body, which is the receptacle or carrier, with its sub-divisions, and others give knowledge, wisdom and the faculties of perception]. Sati is the last daughter of Daksha. She was wedded to Siva. We shall specially notice her in the succeeding chapter. THE QUARREL BETWEEN SIVA AND DAKSHA. SKANDHA IV., CHAP. 2. Of old the Prajapaties performed a Yajna, and the Devas and Rishis all graced the occasion with their presence. Prajapati Dak- sha entered the assembly, when all stood up to receive him, except Brahma and Siva. Daksha saluted his father Brahma and with His permission took a seat. But he was so mortified by the conduct of Siva that he could not contain himself, and indignantly broke forth thus:—"O you, Rishis, Devas and Agni! Witness this disgraceful con- 84 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana duct of Siva my own son-in-law, rather my disciple. This senseless being would not do so much as rise up and receive me. He has no sense of respect and dis-respect, of purity and impurity. He is mind- less of all injunctions and observances. Do you know, what he does? He roves like a mad man in the crematories, with his host of Bhitas, Pretas and Pisachas, sometimes laughing, sometimes weeping, his body covered over with the ashes of dead bodies, their bones serv- ing for his ornaments. His name is Siva (auspicious). But he is really A-Siva (inauspicious). He is fond of intoxication, and his compan- ions are the impure and senseless Bhitas. Oh! that I have given my daughter Sati in marriage to him. That was simply to obey the orders of Brahma." Siva remained unmoved. Daksha went on abusing Him and at last he cursed Siva saying "This vilest of Devas shall not participate in the sacrificial offerings to Indra, Upendra and others." He then left the place in a rage. Nandisvara, the chief companion of Siva, could not bear the gross and wanton insult done to his master. He retorted in angry tones the unkind words of Daksha and the approbation of some of the council- lors. "Siva bears malice to none. It is Daksha who makes differences, where there are none. Ignorant people follow him and blame Siva. The Vedas deal with transitory objects. Worldly attachments receive an impetus from the Karma Kanda of the Vedas and they beget vices and evil deeds. This Daksha looks upon the body as the soul. He shall be as fond of women as a beast and his face shall he that of an Aja (goat). Verily he deserves this, as he looks upon Avidya as Tat- vavidya. He publicly insults Siva. The Brahmanas who follow him shall go through the repeated course of births and deaths and shall resort to the apparently pleasing Karma Kanda of the Vedas. These Brahmanas shall have no scruples to eat anything and they shall make a profession of their learning, their Tapas and their austerities (Vrata). They shall consider their riches, their body and their Indriyas to be all in all. They shall beg about from door to door." Bhrigu, the leader of the Brahmanas, thus returned the curses of Nandi on the followers of Siva:—"Those that will follow Siva, shall be disregardful of the Sat (real) Sastras and shall be irreligious. With braids of hair on their head, and ashes and bones round their body, Purnendu Narayana Sinha, M. A., B. L. 85 they shall frequent places where wine is indulged in. The Vedas have at all times laid down the approved path. The Rishis of old followed their injunctions and Narayana is at their very root. Those that forget all this shall only attain the Tamasic Siva, the Lord of Bhittas and Pishachas." Siva with his followers then left the place. The Prajapatis per- formed the Yajna for 1,000 years. Sometime after, Brahma made Daksha the head of the Prajapatis, and his pride knew no bounds. He commenced a sacrifice called Vri- haspati Yajna and to it he invited all except Siva and his own daughter Sati. Sati heard of the grand preparations made by her father and be- came impatient to witness the Yajna herself. Siva at last yielded to her expostulations much against His own will. She left for Daksha’s house accompanied by the attendants of Siva. At last she reached her father’s house and went to the place of sacrifice. But her father would not receive her. She did not find any offering to Siva. She could easily make out that Daksha had disregarded her husband. No attention was also paid to her. She grew furious with rage and ad- dressing her father said:—"With Siva, all are equal. He has enmity with none. Who else but thee could be envious of his virtues? Thou hast attributed evil things to Siva. But do not the Devas know all that and knowingly worship Him? If the devoted wife cannot kill her hus- band’s calumniators, she must leave the place with ears closed with her hands. But if she is strong enough, she must in the first place sever the tongue of the calumniator from his body by force and then put an end to herself. Thou art the calumniator of Siva. This my body is from thee, so I shall not keep it any longer. If prohibited food is taken, the best thing is to throw it out. True, there are the two Paths of Inclination (Pravritti) and of Renunciation (Nivritti). But one can- not adopt both the Paths at one and the same time. What action is there for Siva? He is Brahma Himself. Thou speakest of His ashes and bones. But hast thou any idea of His Yogic powers, in compar- ison with which thy powers as a performer of Vedic sacrifices are nothing? But there is no use wrangling with thee. I am ashamed of this body which has connection with thee. The sooner I get rid of it the better." So saying Sati gave up her body, and there was great uproar. Her 86 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana attendants made ready for an attack, when Bhirgu, who acted as Ad- hvaryu, invoked the Ribhus. They appeared and beat the attendants of Siva, who ran away on all sides. Narada informed Siva of what had happened. Siva bit His lips in anger and tore up a Jata (matted hairtuft) from his head. The Jata glowed with electric fire. He threw it down on the earth and the terrible Virabhadra sprang from it. His tall body reached the high heavens. He was dark as the clouds. He had one thousand hands, three eyes burning like the sun, teeth terrible to look at, and tufts of hair bright as fire. He had a garland of human skulls round his neck and there were various weapons in his hands. "What are thy behests, O Lord?" exclaimed Virabhadra. "Thou art clever in fight, child, thou hast nothing to fear from the Brahmanas, for verily thou art part of myself. Go forth at the head of my army. Put an end to Daksha and his Yajna." Such was the command of Siva. Virabhadra rushed forth with trident in hand, and the attendants of Siva followed him with enthusiasm and noise. The priests, the Brah- manas and their wives present at Daksha’s sacrifice saw a huge dust storm, as it were, coming from the north. "Can it be the hurricane?" thought they, "but the wind is not strong. Can this be the march of robbers? But King Prachinabarhi is still alive. In his reign there is no fear from robbers. No one is driving cattle. What can be the cause of this approaching volume of dust?" The attendants of Siva arrived in no time. Some of them were brown coloured, some yellow. Some had their belly, some their face, like Makara. They broke the im- plements of sacrifice and scattered them around. They pulled down the buildings and put out the fires. They made all sorts of sacrilege, ran after the Rishis and Devas and frightened the women. Maniman caught hold of Bhrigu and tied him up. Virabhadra captured Daksha; Chandesa captured Siryya and Nandisvara captured Bhaga. Seeing this, the other Brahmanas and Devas took to flight, but they were grievously hurt by the stones cast at them by the followers of Siva. Virabhadra began to uproot the beard of Bhrigu, for while scoffing Siva he made his beard prominent. Nandishvara pulled out the two eye-balls of Bhaga, for he had encouraged Daksha by side glances. Virabhadra did not also spare Paishan, and pulled out all his teeth. Purnendu Narayana Sinha, M. A., B. L. 87 Paishan had showed his teeth while smiling in approval of Daksha’s abuse. But the crowning act of Virabhadra was still to come. He sprang upon Daksha and made several attempts to cut off his head. But the head resisted all his strokes.