The name Buddha today is associated with the founder of Buddhism. It means ‘awakened one’ and was used as a title by a number of religious groups in India. Gradually, it got associated with Buddhism. Buddha was born Siddhartha. He was born in the Sakya republic of Kapilavastu in present day northern Bihar. Therefore he was called Sakyamuni (the sage of the Sakya). He belonged to a kshatriya clan of the Gautama gotra and got called Gautama (Sanskrit) or Gotama (Pali). The Buddha referred to himself as Tathagata (the one who has thus gone) while the earliest Buddhist texts referred to him as Bhagavat (Lord). Vardhamana was the original name of Mahavira, who is credited with popularizing Jainism.

The picture is from Ayuthaya in Thailand.

Picture Credit: S. R. Ramanujam

Daksha was the Son of Brahma. His daughter Sati was married to Shiva, Rudra. Daksha was performing a great yagna lasting many many years. Daksha felt offended as Rudra did not pay respects to him during the yagna. Since then Rudra and Daksha were not in good terms. Daksha continued the Yagna. As the Yagna was nearing culmination, several Devas were headed there. Sati heard about this and wished to go to her father’s house. She told Rudra that the rightful place for a daughter then is to be at her father’s place. Rudra advised her against going citing that Daksha would not respect her. Sati did not pay heed and went to the Yagna without Rudra.

As predicted by Rudra, she was humiliated at the Yagna. Unable to bear this, she gave up her life in the Yagna. Rudra became ferocious on hearing this news. He took the form of Veerabhadra. His head touched the skies. His three eyes resembled three suns. He wore a garland of skulls. He reduced the place of Yagna to ashes. He then beheaded Daksha.

He picked up the body of Sati and started Tandava, the dance of destruction. Frightened by the Tandava the Devas pleaded to Vishnu to stop the destruction. Vishnu cut off the body of Sati into several parts with his Sudarshana Chakra so that Rudra would eventually stop the Tandava. The body parts of Sati fell into 51 sacred tirthas all over India which are called Shakti Peeths.

The site of Yagna is in Kankhal close to Haridwar in Uttarakhand. The picture is of the Daksheshwara temple in Kankhal.

Picture Credit: SR Ramanujam