SHIVA AND SATI

SHIVA AND SATI- A LOVE STORY SHIVA Of all the Hindu gods, Shiva is a bizarre charactor. I think he never takes bath. He covers his body with ashes, carries a cobra on his shoulders, which holds its hood high, like a sentinel and a lady named Ganga, secretly in his coiled hair, which is neither cut nor cared of. He travels on the back of a bull. He wears nothing, except a tiger skin to cover his nakedness. Who will like to marry him? Sati, a self willed, obstinate girl, fell madly in love with him. Her father, a King (Daksha Prajapathy), who never liked Shiva, advised her, threatened her with dire consequences, and ultimately threw her out of his palace. Undeterred, the girl went to Lord Shiva and prayed to him, for their marriage. Thus, they became husband and wife; but their alliance was short lived. Daksha decided to conduct a Yagam, involving animal sacrifice. All powerful Kings did so, to prove their might and to please the gods. He invited all and sundry, but deliberately omitted his son-in-law. Sati had hoped in her heart, that her father would forget his enmity with Shiva and forgive her, by extending an invitation, for such a grand occasion. But her hopes were belied by the despotic King. Sati decided to go alone, ignoring the warnings of her husband, who knew Daksha, but too well. His army of mustlemen, virtually goondas, accompanied her. Daksha, who was in the midst of his Yagam, ignored her. Sati pleaded desparately, but her father remained unmoved. In her shame and desperation, Sati jumped into the sacrificial fire and ended her life. Enraged by this sudden tragedy, the army of Shiva’s goondas, ran amock, killing, throwing things here and there and setting fire to the tent. Daksha was killed in the melee. Thus ended the first love story in India. Here, we do not tolerate love between boy and girl, even now !