Shiva: Epic Characters of Puranas

By T.R. Krishnamurthy

'Shiva' means 'auspicious' and everything about Lord Shiva is auspicious. A great personality, he is delineated in the Vedas, Agamas and the Puranas. He is all powerful, an embodiment of austerity, penance and renunciation. During the churning of the mighty ocean, he is said to have consumed the deadliest of poisons, 'haalaahala', in order to save the world. When Shiva tried to kill Andhakasura who was his own creation, the demon turned into the Lord's devotee as the touch of the Lord's trident destroyed the ignorance that had pervaded his being. Shiva took his son Ganesha's help to bring the Tripura demons together as Brahma had decreed that their end would come only if they were brought together. Equipping himself with all possible divine force, Shiva wrecked havoc on the three cities of Tripura. In the end, however, due to the devotion of Banasura, the city of Suvarna was saved.

Shiva relented in one of the fiercest battles that he faced with Gajasura and in the end, wore the demon's skin , blessed the asura such that a linga would come out of the earth and be consecrated as Krithivaseshwara. Just as Lord Narayana took ten incarnations, Lord Sankara manifested himself as a Linga in twelve places.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana
• Release date: May 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9789389020571

Book preview

EPIC CHARACTERS OF PURĀNAS

shiva

Written by

T.R. Krishnamurthy

Retired Headmaster and President, Surabhi Sangama,

Turuvekere (Tumkur Dt)

Translated by

Prof. G. S. Mudambadithaya

© Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana, Bengaluru. All rights reserved.

Published by:

Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana

C/o. Bharatha Darshana,

163, Manjunatha Road, 2nd Block,

Thyagarajanagar, Bangalure 560 028,

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॥ Sri Ranga Sadguruve Namah ॥

We joyfully invoke the blessings of the Lord, Purana Purusha to the sacred fourth blossom of Sri Bharatha Darsana and Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana.

The two pioneer publishing organizations have so far brought out the Epic Characters of the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha and the ten Great Maharshis the makers our immortal culture, in the form of ten small books each with the sole object of introducing our young boys and girls to veritable storehouse of Indian cultural heritage and by doing so the publishers have endeared themselves to the reading public. Now they have taken up the laudable task of introducing great characters from another branch of literature relating to our culture, called the Puranas.

A purana is a form of literature which delineates vedic principles in the form of history, stories, examples, plays and images, in a simple but interesting style so that even common men can understand and enjoy them. The principles are not presented in a mandatory form, but in a simple form just like the advice given by a friend and that is why it is called Mithrasammitha. Great men are of the opinion that a thorough knowledge of the Puranas is essential to explain the meaning of the Vedas. Ithihasa puranabhyam. Vedam samupa Brhmayeth॥

The puranic literature besides telling us about the original creation, the later subsidiary creation, family history, it also describes the evolution of our great culture.

We get references to puranas in the vedas. We also see parts of some of these puranas in the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha. Though they were written at different times, they were collected and edited by sage Vedavyasa and this collected work come to be called Purana Samhita. There are eighteen puranas and the same number of upapuranas. The Purana literature is as wide as an ocean and this great flow has come down to us in three great forms namely Satvik, Rajas and Tamas. Here only a few models have