Home > Forms of God

shlokam:

With four shoulders, three eyed, with the matted hair wound as a crown, sword and arrow in His right hand, bow and mace in His left, with projecting teeth, with a frightening face, powerful, with a terrible roar, accompanied by bhadrakALi, (I) think of that karALa.

purANa of the deity

karAlar: dreadful one (vIra mUrthi)

shakti as dAkshAyaNi appeared as the daughter of daksha, who was the son of brahmA. She prayed Lord Shiva to get married to Him. The Lord accepted dAshAyaNi ignoring the ostentation of daksha. daksha felt insulted as the Lord did not get married to his daughter with his pompous arrangements. He did a yAga in which he worshipped all gods and purposefully ignored the God, Shiva. All other dEvAs out of their fear attended the yAga and accepted the offering. A great sage dadhIchi advised dakshA not to do such things and warned him it will be fatal for him. Ignoring his advice, dakshA continued his yAga. dAkshAyaNi came to the yAga to advise Her father to do offering to the Lord of gods, Shiva. But he ignored Her advice and accused Her and Lord Shiva. She got angry and prayed the Lord to teach dakshA a lesson, left the form of dAkshAyaNi by getting into the yAga fire and appeared as the daughter of king of Himalayas (see kaLyANa su.ndarar).

The Lord created vIra bhadrar(also called karALar) and bhadra kALi. (karALar is the only deity in the 25 mAhEshwara mUrtis, who is not Lord Shiva Himself, but is a power of Lord Shiva). Lord asked them to destroy the yAga of dakshA. They stormed into the yAga and mutilated the dEvAs who took part in the yAga. He cut the head of dakshA. Nobody could stop Him. (A more detailed description can be found in daksha kAnDam of kan^da purANam (1). thiruvun^dhiyAr(2) in thiruvAcakam sings this victory. thakkayAgap paraNi (3) is a literature dedicated to this storming by the valorous vIrabhadra). Lord viShNu came for a fight, but in vain. All the dEvAs surrendered to Lord Shiva and pleaded for mercy. The Giver of refuge, forgave them and on their request gave dakshA also life by putting the head of a goat in place of his cut head. dakshA repented for his sin. thirup paRiyalUr is the temple associated with the destruction of daksha yAgam

See Also:
1. kandha purANam
2. thiruvundhiyAr
3. thakka yAgap paraNi

Back to mAhEshvara mUrtham page
Back to Shaivam Home Page