7. Fight with Andhakāsura

In the Śiva Purāṇa, it is described that one day Śiva was meditating on Mandāra mountain. At that time Pārvatī came to him and playfully covered his eyes with her hands. As soon as she covered his eyes, the whole universe became dark. Sweat formed as Pārvatī touched Śiva and it dripped out of her hands and fell into the ground and from this a terrible looking blind boy was born. The name of that boy was Hiraṇyākṣa. After a long time when Hiraṇyākṣa had no son, he performed penance to attain the blessing of lord Śiva. Lord Śiva was delighted by his austere penance and gifted him a son named Andhaka. Thereafter Andhaka became the leader of the Asuras. One day Andhaka sent a messenger to Śiva and told him to hand over his beautiful wife Pārvatī to him. On hearing the haughty speech of Andhaka, lord Śiva became furious and a great battle started between Śiva and Andhaka. Śiva finally killed Andhaka by separating his head from his body.^[1]