Chapter 35 - Siva’s grief for the death of Sati—Narada consoles him

When the sacrifice was duly finished, the gods, Rishis, men and others went back to their respective places, but Siva remained behind. Daksha and his wife were overwhelmed with grief at the loss of their daughter, and cursed themselves for not having known Siva before, and for not listening to the wise precepts of their beloved daughter.

Siva also was mad with grief, and constantly cried out, “Where is my Sati, oh, where is she”?

After a short time he left the place, crying, “Sati, Sati, Kali, Kali,” and proceeded to the North. His fury at the time was so great that not even the gods dared look him in the face, and Daksha and others kept themselves at a safe distance. By and by, he reached the place where Sati’s corpse was lying, and found it uncovered with the face downwards. It was, however, as fresh as ever, and quite radiant with its own lustre.

Siva gave vent to his grief like an ordinary human being for some time, and thereafter lifted the body with his hands and placed it on his head. Having done so, he began to dance, transferring the corpse from head to shoulder, and from shoulder to arms, and back to head again.

The dance extended from one end of the earth to another, and the earth began to tremble under Siva’s weight. His locks of hair flew up to the sky, and the constant whirling thereof brushed many a star off from its place. The tortoise, the elephants and the serpent who supported the earth on their heads could no longer maintain their balance. The wind generated by Siva’s constant whirling and rapid movement from place to place blew away the mountains, and stirred the waters of the seas.

The gods became uneasy, and began to devise means for pacifying Siva. Vishnu secretly began to throw bis discus^[1] at the whirling corpse, and cut it into pieces. These pieces fell at different places and at great distances, and each such place became a great place of pilgrimage. All the different portions of the body, as soon as they fell down upon the earth, were turned into stones, and the goddess, Sati, pervaded them all.

When the body was thus cut into pieces and flew away from Siva’s head in different directions, he was relieved of the weight, and felt light. His dance also became less agile than before. Then Narada slowly approached him, and began to sing his praise, standing near him with folded hands.

Seeing Narada, Siva asked him whether he could tell him where Sati was [.?]

Narada said,

“My Lord, rest assured you will get back your Sati. Why are you so perturbed in mind and why do you bring on an untimely deluge? You are the lord and protector of this universe, but you are going to destroy it by your dance. Is it meet that you should destroy your own creatures?”

Hearing this, Siva said,

“Narada, I am quite myself again. Let gods, men and others give up their fear. Tell me, however, where the body of Sati is, and where I should go to find her?”

Narada said,

“My Lord, your unprecedented dance filled every one with fear, and so, Vishnu had to cut the body into pieces in order to relieve you of the weight and put an end to your, dance. All the places where the different parts of the body have fallen have become great places of pilgrimage. Kamarupa is one of them, and the greatest. You go and sit down there to practise Yoga while I go out in search of Sati”.

Siva did as requested by Narada, and Narada ascended to the sky. The gods went in a body to Vishnu to offer him thanks for the step he had taken to save the universe.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Called Sudarsana Chakra. It was used by Vishnu alone and by no other god. On being hurled at an object, it finished its work of destruction without fail, and came back into the hands of Vishnu immediately thereafter.