STORY OF GODDESS KALI - DEMON RAKTABIJA

Story of Goddess Kali Demon Raktabija

Goddess Kali is the embodiment of Parvathi, the consort of Lord Shiva. The intention of this incarnation was to destroy the fierce demon Raktabija. He came to know by this name after he was blessed with a unique boon by Lord Brahma. As per this boon, if a drop of blood from his body was fallen on the ground, one thousand times more powerful so many Raktabija could take rebirth from that. Thus within a short span of time there would be millions of similar demons on the battle field. This exceptional advantage persuaded him to torture gods and goddess, sages, saints and men. His unbearable disturbances forced other gods and sages to seek help from Goddess Parvati who is considered as the divine manifestation of eternal energy. Thus she decided to rescue the Universe by her appearance as Goddess Kali Ma.

Incarnation of Goddess Kali

The complexion of Goddess Kali was extreme dark whereas her eyes reddish. She had worn a garland of human skulls around her neck and a waist belt from which hanged numerous dismantled human limbs. The third eye on Kali’s forehead and the highly tangled luxurious hair increased her terrifying character. Her long teeth were sharp and looked like fangs. The extra long tongue that slings down from her mouth exhibited her blood thirsty nature. In all her pictures she is seen with eight arms. She is depicted as holding a blood smeared sword in her upper left hand and a severed head of a demon in her lower left hand. With the upper right hand she offers refuge to her devotees. Thus Kali was with unique capacity to overcome the powers of Raktabija.

Battle With Raktabija

In the battle field Goddess Kali appeared in gigantic and fierce form which made the demon to get frightened. She fought against him vigorously with the support of her carrier lion. As per legend, Goddess Kali stabbed Raktabija with her spear and then with her enormous tongue drank the whole blood from the wounds created. Thus she prevented the rebirth of Raktabija from his own blood drops. This process was continued till he died at last. The intake of the demon’s blood influenced the Goddess to run across the universe and destroy everything. To cool down her aggressiveness, other Gods sought the help of Lord Mahadeva who suggested an alternative by himself lying down under her feet. When Goddess Kali came to know that she touched her husband with her feet, all her ferocious behaviors vanished.

source : http://www.hindudevotionalblog.com/2013/04/story-of-goddess-kali-demon-raktabija.html

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STORY OF TRIPURANTAKA FORM OF SHIVA

Story of Tripurantaka Form of Shiva

 Lord Shiva is known as Tripurantaka since he has destructed the three cities of demons. The story is about three sons of Tarakasura whose names were Vidyunmali, Tarakaksha and Viryavana respectively. Once they performed a tough penance to pacify Lord Brahma. They had been in this feat for thousands of years. At last Brahma appeared in front of them. But to his surprise, they requested for immortality. But Brahma confessed his inability to offer that boon. Thus they demanded three huge forts constructed of gold, silver and iron respectively and liked to live there for thousands of years. After that, they wanted these forts in a combined form called ‘Tripura’. They chose their ends together with its collapse which they desired to happen with only one arrow. Brahma granted these boons and they lived there comfortably.

Day after day the glory of demons increased considerably. They lived in utmost virtue and not committed any sins. This made demigods to have fears of loosing their dignity and heaven. So they presented the matter in front of major gods and requested to save them. All except Lord Vishnu discarded their request. He told them that the demons cannot be punished unless they were doing any type of sins. For this purpose Vishnu appointed an individual and asked him to approach demons in Tripura. Before leaving, Vishnu taught him that both heaven and hell are on earth and the outcome of deeds is vanished by death. He was asked to propagate these versions among demons and persuade them to do sins. This was absolutely successful. Thus they deviated from doing rights and preferred only wrongs.

Photo Courtesy - Dinamalar.com

As per the boon, thousand years were over by this time and the three forts got united. The sinful life leading by demons, gave Gods a chance to destroy Tripura. They visited Lord Shiva and revealed the conditions going on there. He also came to know that the demons already stopped worshipping Siva Linga. This made him so angry and decided to destroy the three cities. For this requirement he used a magnificent chariot constructed by Viswakarma, and Brahma himself came forward to ride the same. Along with Shiva Shankar all other gods participated in this attempt with their featured abilities and weapons. Lord Siva installed a divine power called ‘Pashupatha’ into his arrow and shot at Tripura which burnt the cities to ashes within seconds. This is how Lord Siva came to know as Tripurantaka or Tripurantakesvara or Tripurantakeshwara.

An ancient temple of Tripurantaka form of Shiva is located in Balligavi town of Shimoga district in Karnataka, India.

source : http://www.hindudevotionalblog.com/2013/02/story-of-tripurantaka-form-of-shiva.html

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LORD KRISHNA & JAMBABATI MARRIAGE STORY

Krishna Jambavati Marriage Story

Story of Sri Krishna with Jambavati for Janmastami Festival 2013. The name Jambavati is a patronymic which means the daughter of Jambavan. The story of Jambavan appears with slight differences in the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavatapurana, Vishnupurana and Devibhagavata. 

The story of Krishna’s marriage with Jambavati is closely linked with the well-known story of Syamantaka. Syamantaka was a precious diamond which belonged to the Sun God. A nobleman named Satrajit, belonging to the Yadavas community, prayed to Lord Surya to obtain this dazzling diamond. Pleased by the prayer of his devotee, Sun presented him with the diamond. Satrajit returned along with the jewel to Dvaraka, the capital of the Yadava kingdom. Sri Krishna requested him to present the jewel to Ugrasena, the supreme leader of the Yadavas. Satrajit did not comply. 

Satrajit presented Syamantaka to his brother Prasena, who was the ruler of a Yadava province. Once Prasena went for hunting in the forest wearing the diamond. He was attacked by a lion and was killed. The lion fled with the jewel. It entered into the mountain cave of Jambavan. The lion was attacked by Jambavan. He killed it and took the diamond. Jambavan gifted it to his young son who used to play with it. 

Following the incident, there escalated a rumour that Sree Krishna who had an eye on the Syamantaka jewel, murdered Prasena and stole the jewel. Srikrishna felt annoyed by this false allegation and decided to find out the truth. Lord Krishna, his brother Balarama and other kinsmen set out in search of Prasena. They followed the same trail that Prasena had taken and discovered the corpses of Prasena and his horse. In the mouth of the horse, pieces of teeth and nails of a lion were seen. They then followed the trail of the lion and reached the cave, where the dead lion was lying. Sri Krsna entered the cave alone. He saw a child playing with the priceless jewel. The child was Jambavan’s son. As Srikrishna was nearing the child cried aloud which alerted Jambavan. There took place a fierce combat for several days between Srikrishna and Jambavan. 

Jambavan finally realised that Srikrishna with whom he was fighting was none other than Lord Vishnu, who was his benefactor Srirama in the Tretayuga. Jambavan gave up his fight and returned the jewel to Srikrishna. As a token of gratitude and devotion to Srikrishna, Jambavan offered his maiden daughter Jambavati in marriage to him along with the Syamantaka jewel. Srikrishna accepted both and went back to Dvaraka along with his brother and kinsmen. 

Jambavati had no progeny of Srikrishna for a long time. On the request of Jambavati, Srikrishna prayed to Lord Shiva and he blessed them. A son was born to Jambavati who was named Samba. Samba grew up and married Lakshana, the daughter of Duryodhana. 

source : http://www.hindudevotionalblog.com/2013/08/krishna-jambavati-marriage-story.html?