So here we come again with another timeless tale shared with us in our old Hindu texts. This tale is about the blind son of Uma and Shiva. A lot of us would not know much about him. So do give it a read.
Long ago somewhere in this planet Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva were in a playful mood. Out of sudden mischief Parvati playfully shut Shiva’s three eyes. Parvati was unaware of the consequences. Darkness fell upon the universe. Some kind juice flowed out of her hands as Shiva’s third eye tried to blink and the heat fired her palm. She pulled her hands away due to the heat. The drops of that juice fell onto the ground. The juice contained the essence of both Shiva and Parvati and immediately turned into an inhuman deformed being. Since he was born out of darkness he was pitch dark in colour and was blind from birth. He had tremendous rage within as he was born out his third eye. He looked so fearful that even Parvati was scared to look at him. Shiva comforted her and told her that she created him this way and he was their son even though he was dreadfully ugly. They named him Andhaka as he was dark and blind and took care of him.
Meanwhile during the same period a demon named Hiranyaksha was very upset with his life. He was childless whereas his brother Hiranyakashipu had 5 sons. The insecurity of losing his kingdom to his brother post his death as there was no one to inherit burnt his soul. He sat in deep meditation calling upon Shiva. Finally after several thousand years pleased with his worship Lord Shiva appeared before him. Hiranyaksha asked for a son. He wanted his son to be as strong as him. However Shiva told him that he shall not have a biological son however will father Shiva’s son himself. Shiva handed over Andhaka to the demon and announced that Andhaka shall be his foster son. Andhaka shall be super powerful like him as he wanted.
Andhaka grew up to be a very powerful demon king. Post the death of his father and his uncle by Lord Vishnu he was not crowned as the next king as he was not biologically born out of demon blood and the demon clan disowned him. Andhaka went into deep meditation to please Lord Brahma. Pleased with his worship Brahma removed his blindness and turned him into a handsome man. He also got a boon of immortality but with one condition that if any day he lusted a woman like his mother he shall die. Andhaka went back more powerful and defeated his cousins to take back the throne. He ruled the three worlds for several thousand years. However Andhaka longed for a beautiful queen by his side. One day on Mount Mandhara his generals happened to see Goddess Parvati. Enchanted by her beauty they went to tell Andhaka that he should have her as his queen as they had not seen anyone more beautiful than her. Andhaka decided to kidnap her and attacked Lord Shiva. They fought a battle for several thousand years. However upon knowing that Shiva and Parvati were his real parents and what a terrible crime he had done he begged for forgiveness from Shiva. Shiva forgave him and took him back as one of his Shiva ganas.
Art Credit: Unknown
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