kicked the Lord on his chest. Lord Vishnu woke up from his sleep, and instead of
becoming angry at Bhrigu asked for his forgiveness as he was unaware that the
Brahmin has arrived as he was asleep. Further, Vishnu showed Bhrigu great respect
and said that instead of feeling insulted on being kicked on the chest, he is feeling
honoured that a great sage had blessed him by touching his body with his august feet.
This stunned Bhrigu; he was dumbfounded at the gracious and forgiving nature of
Vishnu. But Vishnu’s consort Laxmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, was
extremely peeved, and she cursed the Brahmin that henceforth the entire Brahmin
race will have to suffer because of lack of wealth and would be forced to beg for their
sustenance.
Lord Vishnu wears the mark made by the sage’s footprint on his chest as a token
of respect that he has for learned Brahmins.
Bhrigu came back and narrated the entire thing to the assembly of sages. They
decided that indeed it was Lord Vishnu who was the greatest because he had
conquered anger, the worst of all the negative qualities and the cause of all strife and
destruction. Anger was to become the greatest of evils and vices in this world, and
forgiveness as the greatest of virtues.]øı0. ‚◊ÊøÊ⁄U ‚’ ‚¢∑§⁄U ¬Ê∞ – ’Ë⁄U÷º ̋È ∑§Á⁄U ∑§Ù¬ ¬ΔUÊ∞H 1H
¡Çÿ Á’œ¢‚ ¡Êß ÁÃã„U ∑§Ëã„UÊ – ‚∑§‹ ‚È⁄Uã„U Á’Áœflà »§‹È ŒËã„UÊH
2H
caupā’ī.
samācāra saba saṅkara pā'ē. bīrabhadru kari kōpa paṭhā'ē. 1.
jagya bidhansa jā'i tinha kīnhā. sakala suranha bidhivata phalu dīnhā. 2.
When Lord Shiva got the news (of Sati’s death and the cause of it)^1 , he became
furious. He angrily sent Beerbhadra^2 to take revenge and punish the perpetrators. (1)
He (i.e. Beerbhadra) went immediately and laid to waste the fire sacrifice of
Daksha, punishing the various gods and other attendees in a proper manner. (2)
[Note—^1 How did Shiva come to know of the developments that resulted in the death
of Sati? One anwer is that his attendants, whom he had sent with Sati to escort and
protect her (as narrated in Doha no. 62), came rushing back to inform him of the
developments at Daksha’s place.
But there is a different version given in Shiva Puran, Kashi Khand, Canto 89,
verse nos. 5-12. According to it, sage Narad came to Shiva and reported how and why
Sati had died. Shiva showed indifference, saying that it is the way of the mortal
world, that one should be detached from such developments and remain aloof from
being honoured or insulted, or being attached to wordly relationships such thinking
someone as one’s wife or father-in-law. Sage Narad told Shiva that though this is a
highly correct way of spiritual thinking but from the practical point of view it is
counter-productive. Say, what will the world think if Shiva remains indifferent and
does not take any action? The wicked world, which does not realise Shiva’s stellar
spiritual philosophy and highly enlightened state of being, would think that Shiva was
afraid to take action, or he was too weak or impotent to seek retribution for his own
insult as well as the ignominous way his wife Sati had died. His exalted stature in the
community of gods would be severely undermined. This motivated Shiva to send
Beerbhadra to punish those who were responsible for Sati’s death.
The same story is narrated in Kedaar Khand, Canto 3.
(^2) Beerbhadra—The name means “a gentleman (“Bhadra”) who is very brave
(“Beer or Veer”)”.