The Story of Surya and Sangya

 The Story of Surya and Sangya

This is the story of the great Vishwakarma. He was a divine architect and had a daughter named Sangya who was mesmerized by the Sun. Despite the intense heat, she remains captivated by him. As she grows older, her parents notice her deep affection for the Sun and decide to arrange a marriage between them. Vishwakarma approaches Surya (the Sun) with Sangya's proposal, which Surya accepts on the condition that Sangya can sustain his heat. Confident in her ability, Sangya marries Surya and moves to his realm. The couple has a son named Manu, who is foretold by sages to become an exceptional scholar.

Sages and scholars came to bless the newborn.

"This boy will be the scholar among scholars," they prophesied.

The prophecy was to come true. When Manu grew out of infant years he started receiving education from gurus. The gurus found Manu a promising student whose thirst for knowledge was remarkable. Surya and Sangya prided over their son.

One summer Surya blazed extraordinarily. Everything was getting scorched. Sangya felt the heat. Her skin suffered from sunburn.

Surya called her to his side. Sangya went to him with her eyes covered with her palms.

Surya said, "Sangya, look at me. Why have you covered your eyes? Open your eyes. I am your husband. Don't turn a blind eye to me."

"You are too ablaze for my eyes to take," Sangya pleaded.

"It means you are distancing yourself from me. I had asked you before our marriage if you could tolerate my brilliance or heat and you had claimed that you could. That is how I married you. But now you are going back on your word," Surya spoke somewhat angrily. "My Lord! I am not to be blamed. You are so blindingly..."

Surya was now furious. He said, "Look Sangya, I am the one who provides the energy to keep all the living beings alive. But you turned a blind eye to me. So, the son you are going to bear will be Yama, the god of death."

Sangya wanted to flee but the affection for her children kept her tied to sun domain. Sangya had a companion named Chhaya (Shadow) who was her exact duplicate. She decided to get the help of Chhaya. Sangya confided her problem to the companion and sought her help.

"How can I help you?" Chhaya asked.

"Go to Lord Surya posing as me 'Sangya'. Play the role of his wife and the mother of my children," Sangya revealed her idea.

"If he questions me...?"

"Tell him you are Sangya. Don't betray the truth."

"All right, I will do it for you on one condition. If ever Lord Surya gets angry at me or starts to put a curse on me then I will reveal the truth," Chhaya said.

Sangya nodded her head, "Accepted. Now go and take care of my kids."

"It is a tall order you give me, Sangya. But I will try my best," Chhaya promised and departed. After her departure Sangya thought, 'Now I can go to my parents. They will be happy to see me come. For a long time, I have not seen them. They must have missed me. I will stay with them. But after some time they will start questions...then whatever..."

Sangya started for her parental home. On the way misgivings began to trouble her mind, 'When the father and the mother ask me to go back to Surya what shall I do? Perhaps go to a jungle and leave me to fate...

Sangya was warmly received by her loving father who had really missed her, "Welcome daughter. Is everything alright with Surya?"

"He is alright. This summer he is blazing too hot. So, I decided to take a summer break."

For a month Sangya lived with her parents happily. Then, one day her father said, "Sangya! We are happy to have you here forever. But you have now other responsibilities, namely a husband and three children. Shouldn't you be going back to them since the summer is also over?" "You are right father. I was also thinking on the same lines. I must go."

Sangya set out from her parental home and reached a forest. She said to herself, 'Now I can't go back to Lord Surya. What should I do?

I can transform into a mare and live on in this jungle until some better idea strikes me. As a mare no one will recognize me.' In the mare form, Sangya started doing penance to reduce the heat and the blaze of the sun.

On the other hand, Chhaya had established herself in the place of Sangya. Surya took her for Sangya. He said, "So, you have come back."

"I seek your pardon, my lord. I have vanquished my weakness," Chhaya said apologetically.

"Sangya! I have pardoned you already. Now go and take charge of the household and the care of the children," Surya said magnanimously.

Chhaya went in and began her role as the wife of Surya and the mother of Manu, Yama and Yama's twin sister Yamuna.

Chhaya was happy in Surya family. She would often pity Sangya, 'Poor Woman! How she had to abandon such a nice family setup! Will she never return? In due course of time she too become mother of a son. She was now worried a bit, 'I must remember that infact I am only the shadow of Sangya. Later, Chhaya gave birth to a girl also. After the birth of her children Chhaya's behaviour suddenly changed. She would give loving treat only to her own children. She no more liked Sangya's children and they were meted out ill treatment. She would rebuke them for no reason. Manu ignored her discriminatory treatment. But Yama protested. He particularly didn't like his twin sister Yamuna being thrashed by the mother. Being a girl child Yamuna was easiest for Chhaya to torment.

Yama would grumble, "Mother should not be so merciless to poor Yamuna. She is so affectionate to the youngest pair. Why can't she be also loving to us three as she used to be? Why does mother hate us?"

One day it crossed all limits. Chhaya held Yamuna by her hair and thrashed her with a cane cursing, "Why do you make life hell for me? Even the death does not want to touch you three miserables. May all the epidemics break out on you all!"

Yama could not take it. He grabbed the caning hand of Chhaya and growled, "Enough mother! No more torments to poor Yamuna or...."

Chhaya became a raging fury screaming, "Yama here threatens me, huh? The cheek! I will tell your father that you tried to kill me. He surely will beat the daylight out of you. You will see...yes, it is going to happen.'

It was an empty threat. Of course, she was not going to complain about fear of her reality getting exposed. But Yama and Yamuna had enough of the tormenting by Chhaya. They complained to Surya, "Father, the mother has lately been so cruel to us. We can't believe that she is our mother really. There is some glitch. She is not our mother. Our youngest brother and sister are treated with motherly affection but not us three, the elder ones. How come?"

Surya said patting them, "Come on kids, cheer up. I will see what is going on. You don't have to worry about it. Go and play. Leave the matter to your father who loves you like his own life."

Surya also had noticed the strange behaviour of his wife who he thought was Sangya. She was no longer the same.

There was something wrong.

He wondered, 'Is this woman a sorceress duplicating for Sangya?'

Surya felt outraged.

He marched to the queen's chamber in rage and confronted Chhaya, "Woman! Tell me who you really are. Come out with the truth or I will put a curse on you. You are not the real Sangya I can guess."

"Wait, O Lord!" Chhaya said trembling with fear and confessed, "I am Chhaya, the shadow of Sangya, her exact look alike. She did not want to leave without leaving behind anyone to take care of you and her three children. So, she sent me here to play her role."

"Where did she go?" Surya asked.

"To her parents."

Surya went straight to Vishwakarma and asked, "Where is Sangya?" "She had come here to escape from your heat," the father revealed.

"Where is she now?"

"I can see her through my divine vision living as a mare doing penance to reduce your heat and the blaze," Vishwakarma informed.

"Alright. Please reduce my blaze. Then we will go in search of her," Surya said.

With the help of his divine craft, Vishwakarma reduced the sun's brilliance by 1/8. Then, the two arrived at the jungle area where Sangya roamed about as a mare.

They enquired from locals, "Have you seen a mare here?"

"Yes, she is mostly seen grazing near the river," One man revealed. "A truly baffling creature!"

"In what way?" Surya curiously asked. "She speaks like a human being!"

'Then she certainly is our Sangya!' Surya presumed.

Surya and Vishwakarma located the mare. Surya said to her, "Sangya! I am Surya, your husband. Give up that mare form."

"I won't until my penance is rewarded," the mare Sangya spoke.

"Your wish has been fulfilled already," Surya said.

"He is right Sangya," Vishwakarma affirmed and added, "Eighth part of his heat has been cut down."

Sangya reverted to human form. She clung to her father overwhelmed with happiness and sobbed. Then she touched the feet of her husband and asked, "Are our children safe and sound?"

"They are. But Manu, Yama and Yamuna must get back their mother." Surya smiled at her.

"Now I will never again leave our home," Sangya promised and pleaded, "Please forgive my Chhaya. Allow her to stay with us as one of the family." The reunion of Surya and Sangya gladdened Vishwakarma. He blessed them, "Go and be happy ever."

They reached the sun domain and lived with all the children and Chhaya.

# The Language

 # The Language

Language is a structured system of communication. Languages evolve and diversify over time.

Indo-European languages, a family of languages with the greatest number of speakers, span areas of European settlement and much of southwestern and southern Asia. They descend from a single unrecorded language believed to have been spoken over 5,000 years ago in the steppe regions north of the Black Sea. By 3000 BCE, this language had split into several dialects. Migrating tribes carried these dialects to Europe and Asia, where they evolved into distinct languages. The main branches include Anatolian, Indo-Iranian (including Indo-Aryan and Iranian), Greek, Italic, Germanic, Armenian, Celtic, Albanian, Baltic, and Slavic. The study of Indo-European languages began in 1786 with Sir William Jones’s proposal that Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Germanic, and Celtic were all derived from a “common source.”

Indo-Aryan languages, or Indic languages, are spoken by over 800 million people, primarily in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The Old Indo-Aryan period is represented by Sanskrit. Middle Indo-Aryan (circa 600 BCE–1000 CE) includes the Prakrit dialects, such as Pali. Modern Indo-Aryan speech is largely a single dialect continuum spread over an undivided geographical area, making the distinctions between languages and dialects somewhat artificial.

In the Indo-Aryan speech area (the “Hindi zone”), covering northern India and extending south to Madhya Pradesh, the most common language of administration and education is Modern Standard Hindi. Important regional languages in the northern Indian plain include Haryanvi, Kauravi, Braj, Awadhi, Chhattisgarhi, Bhojpuri, Magahi, and Maithili. In Rajasthan, regional languages include Marwari, Dhundhari, Harauti, and Malvi. In the Himalayan foothills of Himachal Pradesh, Grierson’s Pahari languages are spoken. Surrounding the Hindi zone, the significant languages include Nepali (East Pahari), Assamese, Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Gujarati, Sindhi, Punjabi, and Dogri. The Dardic languages in Jammu and Kashmir and the far north of Pakistan include Kashmiri, Kohistani, Shina, and Khowar. The Nuristani languages of northwestern Afghanistan are sometimes considered a separate branch of Indo-Iranian. Sinhalese (spoken in Sri Lanka), Divehi (spoken in the Maldive Islands), and Romany are also Indo-Aryan languages.

The language of all the earliest records of India, whether literary or inscriptional, is Indo-European. The Aryan tribes, who for generations or even centuries swarmed over the mountain passes into Southern Afghanistan and the Punjab, or through the plains of Baluchistan into Sind and the Indus valley, likely spoke a variety of close dialects. Historical evidence shows that this is invariably the case among primitive peoples. Over time, as communities become settled and civilization advances, the dialect of a region that gains importance in religion, politics, or commerce gradually dominates others and becomes the standard language of educated people and literature.

In India, such a standard or literary language first appears in the Hymns of the Rig-Veda, dating from at least 1200 BCE. This 'Vedic' Sanskrit is the language of priestly poets from the region now known as Southern Afghanistan, the Northwestern Frontier Province, and Punjab, differing from the later Classical Sanskrit.

After the Vedic period, Aryan civilization extended south-easterly over the fertile plains of the Jumna and Ganges. This area became the chief political and religious center of Brahmanism and the birthplace of its rival religions, Jainism and Buddhism. The priestly treatises known as 'Brahmanas' and the epic poems, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, were composed in this region.

The language of these literary classes—the Brahmanas, representing the priestly caste, and the epic poems belonging chiefly to the warrior caste—is transitional between Vedic and Classical Sanskrit. The Brahmanas’ Sanskrit gradually merges into Classical Sanskrit, while the epic language retains its archaic features and irregularities. By 500 CE, when Yaska's Nirukta, the first work in strictly Classical Sanskrit, appeared, there were three well-defined types of Sanskrit: the poetical language of early Aryan settlers, the language of bards, and the cultivated, literary language of the Brahmans.

Classical Sanskrit, fixed as a literary language, ceased to undergo material change while the centralization it represented continued. Its spoken form, however, varied according to the civilization level of each speaker or writer. While local dialects continued to evolve, the literary language remained essentially unaltered over nearly twenty-five centuries.

Local dialects, though fixed alongside the literary language, continued to evolve and grow independently. Inscriptions and coin legends of Ancient India illustrate this process: initially written in Prakrit, they gradually adopted Sanskrit as the dominant literary language by around 400 CE.

Sanskrit's history is closely associated with Brahmanism, much like Latin with the Roman Catholic Church. Jainism and Buddhism, however, revolted against the Brahman tradition of speech, leading to the development of Prakrit versions of Buddhist scriptures and the literary language Pali. Pali, the literary form of some Indian Prakrit, became the sacred language of Buddhism in Ceylon, Burma, and Siam. In India, by the fifth century CE, both Jain and Buddhist traditions increasingly used Sanskrit, which became the lingua franca of religion and learning across the continent.

The early literature of India and Ceylon, preserved in these languages, is vast and varied, covering almost every intellectual activity except for the sciences developed in the last 250 years. However, ancient Indian literature lacks the art of historical composition found in Greek and Latin classics. While it provides detailed records of daily life, social systems, religions, and progress in arts and sciences, it rarely mentions events or provides chronology. Dynastic lists, although present, are often inaccurate and discrepant, providing no fixed points for determining Indian chronology. This has led to significant errors in historical timelines based solely on these documents.

Ancient India has no historians comparable to Herodotus, Thucydides, Livy, or Tacitus. Its literature offers rich materials to trace the cultural and intellectual life of its people but lacks a coherent historical record with a clear chronology.

Ref.

1.     Skeat, English Dialects, in the series of Cambridge Manuals.

2.     Vedic Sanskrit language | language | Britannica

3.     Indi European Languages-Wikipedia.

 

 

Dakshayani-is Adi-Shakhti

    Kardama Muni and Devahuti (Grand Parents)

    Daksha Prajapati (Husband) and Prasuti (Wife)

    Dakshayani (Granddaughter)-The 24^th daughter of Daksha Prajapati.

When Daksha Prajapati was doing a yagnya desiring to have a 24th daughter, Lord Brahma manifested before him.

Daksha’s Yagna had pleased Lord Brahma. Beat it. He became intoxicated by his power of creation and granted a boon to Daksha Prajapati without any consent of Lord Shiva that the great Goddess Adishakti would be born as Dakshayani, as his 24th daughter. The condition was to give back her in a marriage to Lord Shiva. Daksha Prajapati agreed to do so.

When Lord Shiva learns about the boon bestowed to Daksha Prajapati, Shiva becomes furious. The great goddess Adi-Shakti, who was sitting next to Lord Shiva, seeing the Lord unhappy at that proposal, said, “Lord Brahma flawed by his arrogance! Arrogance is dangerous and it becomes a destructive force.”

Lord Brahma, then, was performing a yagnya along with Goddess Sarasvati to seek good wishes for this concert as well to his children. Pleased with Yagnya Lord Shiva appeared along with the great goddess Adi Shakti.

Lord Brahma explained, “Oh Shiva! Oh, gracious Devi, as you know the creation is set into forming several billion earths that need a perfect Nature that is possible once Adi -Shakti manifests as Dakshayani! Thou shall join Lord Shiva, marry, and become his Sati!

Thus, Lord Brahma reasoned on the necessity of incarnation as the 24th daughter of Daksha Prajapati, who is responsible for the procreation of the Human Kingdom. He created the sages, Gandharvas, Asuras and Nagas.

With his first wife, Asikni produced 5000 sons. He then married Vairuni and produced 1000 sons and sixty daughters. The daughters were married to Sages- Kashyapa, Brighu, and Lord Chandra etc. The 27 wives of Chandra are 27 stars that are in the moon’s orbit.

Daksha Prajapati, young, handsome, and strong, married Prasuti and fathered 23 daughters, including Lajja, Dhriti, Kriya, Pushti, Tulsi, and Lakshmi. He desired to have a 24th daughter to bring marital happiness and longevity, thus requesting a boon from Lord Brahma, who granted it, selecting Adi Shakti for creation's needs.

Lord Shiva expressed concern to Brahma, saying, “Daksha is arrogant, callous, and devoid of compassion. This isn't a suitable environment for Adi Shakti's incarnation.” Shiva emphasized his inseparable bond with Adi Shakti, yet Brahma insisted, angering Shiva, who decapitated Brahma in his rage. Brahma, with Lord Vishnu's persuasion, sought forgiveness, and Shiva reluctantly agreed to part with Adi Shakti for creation's benefit.

Angered by Shiva's actions, Daksha vowed not to worship him, declaring only Brahma and Vishnu as gods. He performed deep penance, and pleased, Adi Shakti appeared, granting his wish to incarnate as his daughter but with a condition: any disrespect towards her husband would lead to dire consequences. Daksha vowed to honour this.

Adi Shakti was born Dakshayani, who grew up loving and respecting her father. She married Lord Shiva despite Daksha's disapproval, leading to strained relations. Daksha excluded Shiva from a grand yagna, further fueling enmity.

Meanwhile, Tarakasura, born to Vajranga and Vajrangani after intense penance, sought boons from Brahma, becoming a formidable threat. He waged war against the gods, overpowering them, leading Indra to seek Brahma's help. Brahma revealed only Shiva's son could defeat Tarakasura, prompting prayers for Shiva and Parvati's union.

Dakshayani, unaware of the brewing conflict, decided to visit her father's yagna despite not being invited. Shiva cautioned against it, foreseeing trouble, but she insisted, believing in reconciling with her father. Shiva's refusal led to a tense departure, with Sati determined to go alone.

As she left, Shiva, sensing impending doom, instructed Nandiswara to ensure her safety. Dakshayani recalled her joyous childhood memories while heading towards her father's palace, hopeful for reconciliation.

 

A provocation

 It was 1973 when many Arab nations decided to cut the oil supplies of the West to support Israel during the Arab-Israeli war.

Henry Kissinger told Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia:

“If Saudi Arabia doesn’t lift the boycott, America will come and bomb the oilfields.”

To which the King replied:

“You are the ones who can’t live without oil. You know, we come from the desert, and our ancestors lived on dates and milk, and we can easily go back and live like that again.”

Arundhati-Vasistha.

 Arundhati-Vasistha.

Arundhati

As per the Bhagavata Purana, Arundhati is the eighth among the nine daughters of Kardama and Devahuti. She is the grandmother of Parashara and the great-grandmother of Vyasa.

The Shiva Purana describes her (Arundhati)  as being Sandhya, the mind-born daughter of Brahma, in a previous birth. On the instruction of Vasishtha, Sandhya pleased Shiva with penance to purify herself from passion, and Shiva asked her to jump into the fire.

The Mahabharata describes Arundhati as an ascetic who used to give discourses to even the sages.

Vasishtha

Vasishtha is one of the oldest and most revered Vedic rishis or sages. He was one of the Saptarishis (seven great Rishis). Vasishtha is credited as the chief author of Mandala 7 of the Rigveda. Vasishtha and his family are mentioned in Rigvedic verse 10.167.4. His ideas have been influential, and he was called the first sage of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy by Adi Shankara.

Vasishtha is known as the priest and preceptor, teacher of the Ikshvaku kings clan. He was also the preceptor of Manu, the progenitor of Kshatriyas and Ikshvaku's father. Other characters like Nahusha, Rantideva, lord Rama and Bhishma were his disciples. When the Bharata king Samvarta lost his kingdom to the Panchalas, he became the disciple of Vasishtha. Under Vasishtha's guidance, Samvarta regained his kingdom and became the ruler of the earth.

Mizar is known as Vashista and Alcor is known as Arundhati in traditional Indian astronomy. The pair is considered to symbolize marriage. Arundhati and Vashistha were a married couple. Arundhati and Vasistha were considered an ideal couple, symbolic of marital fulfilment and loyalty. During the marriage ceremonies of Hindus, one of the rituals is the groom showing the bride the double stars of Vasishta and Arundhati.

In some Hindu communities, priests conducting a wedding ceremony allude to or point out the constellation as a symbol of the closeness marriage brings to a couple.

The secret behind watching/pointing to the stars is that in most twin star systems one star is stationary and the other rotates around it, while Arundhati and Vashistha both rotate in synchrony.

To say that both husband and wife must do all things in synchronization and that the husband must not rotate around the wife or that the wife should not dance to the tune of her husband, this ritual was made a part of the marriage ceremony.

This is not explained in marriages although the Pandit takes the couple out and shows the twin star.

The greatness of our ancestors/scholars was that they could know that such a twin star system exists and how they rotate even without the telescope.

Women in India had a higher stature in society. It’s Arundhati-Vashistha and not Vashistha-Arundhati. Women had more respect than men.

The two stars Arundhati and Vasistha are now identified as a part of a multiple star system. They have a mutual orbital motion typical of multiple star systems. So, to a terrestrial observer, Arundhati can appear as positioned ahead of Vasistha (or Vasistha can appear as positioned ahead of Arundhati) due to the changing position of Arundhati in its orbit around the centre of the multi-star-system. Since the orbital period is very long, till almost around 4000 BCE Arundhati was ahead of Vasistha and after that Vasistha became ahead of Arundhati, like it is now. Nilesh went by the statement of Vyasa in Mahabharata, that Arundhati is moving ahead of Vasistha and deduced that the Kurukshetra War must be placed in the time sector preceding 4000 BCE.

Vyasa tells about both (Arundhati is moving /positioned ahead of Vasistha and the mark on the moon has shifted) as if they both happened suddenly close to the start of the Kurukshetra War. But since based on Nilesh's admission, Arundhati was indeed positioned ahead of Vasistha for so many years (not just moments, days, or months, but years!) from around 11,500 BCE to around 4000 BCE. 

Ref:

Chapple 1984, p. xi.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundhati_(Hinduism)

 Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam (ed.). India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. 

Sage Kapila

 Sage Kapila was the champion of Samkhya Philosophy—an ancient Hindu school of thought that postulates two eternal realities: Purusha (souls) and Prakriti (matter or nature). Samkhya philosophy teaches salvation through knowledge of the dualism of matter.

Kapila is believed to have been born in Prabhas Kshetra near Dwaraka in Gujarat, India, around 600 BCE, although some sources suggest an earlier period. He was the son of sage Kardama and princess Devahuti, a descendant of Manu and grandson of Lord Brahma. Considered an avatar of Lord Vishnu, Kapila came to earth to restore spiritual balance. He is renowned for teaching bhakti yoga and the Samkhya philosophy of liberation. Kapila is also recognized as the brother and teacher of Anusuya, and he instructed his mother, Devahuti, in Krishna-bhakti, leading her to achieve liberation. His father, Kardama, became a hermit after his birth. Kapila is additionally identified as an incarnation of the Fire God (Agni) and as Lord Vishnu’s fifth incarnation in the Puranas. His name, meaning “the Red One,” associates him with the sun. 

According to Srimad Bhagavatam, the sage Kapila is the son of Kardama Muni, one of the Prajapatis, the ancestors of humanity, and Devahuti, the daughter of Svayambhuva Manu. The couple was aware of the divine origin of their son. 

Even before Kapila was born, Lord Brahma Himself appeared before Devahuti and revealed that an incarnation of the Supreme Lord would be born from her womb and that the Lord, incarnated as her son, would give her spiritual knowledge. However, the sage’s precise birth time and place cannot be determined. Many years later, the golden-haired Kapila Muni was born with eyes sparkling like lotus petals and feet marked with lotus marks.  Maharishi Kapila is described in the Puranas as an avatar of Lord Vishnu who came to earth to restore spiritual balance through his teachings. He is known for teaching a process of liberation known as bhakti yoga.

Kapila is the brother and teacher of Anusuya, also known as “Sati Anasuya,” the chaste wife and the mother of Dattatreya. He is a descendant of Manu, the primal human being, and a grandson of Lord Brahma. 

Kapila is described within the Puranas as an incarnation of Vishnu, an avatar who came to earth to restore spiritual balance through his teachings of bhakti yoga. Buddhist sources present Kapila as a well-known philosopher whose students built the city of Kapilavastu, according to one tradition the birthplace of the Buddha. Kapila shared many similarities with Buddha, including an emphasis on meditation as a technique for removing suffering, the belief that the Vedic gods were subject to limitations and conditions, and a dislike for ritual and Brahmanic doctrines. 

His parents are given in the Bhagavata Purana as Kardama Muni, an ascetic, and Devahuti, a princess. After Devahuti had served her husband devotedly for many years, he offered to show his appreciation by sharing his wisdom with her. She reminded him that they had a duty to further humans. Kardama then used his yogic powers to create a romantic seven-story flying palace, in which they traveled to romantic places all over the world. After they returned home, Devahuti gave birth to nine daughters. Many years later, when the nine daughters were grown, Devahuti conceived a son. Krishna came to visit them and told them that their son, a manifestation of Vishnu, was to be named Kapila and would become a renowned sage. After his birth, with the permission of Kapila and Devahuti, Kardama took a vow of silence and went to live a life of meditation in the forests.

After his father left home, Kapila instructed his mother Devahuti in the philosophy of yoga and worship of Lord Vishnu, enabling her to achieve both liberation (moksha) and pure love of God.

The Lord then appeared as the Kapila incarnation, being the son of the Prajapati Brahmana Kardama and his wife, Devahuti, along with nine other women [sisters]. He spoke to His mother about self-realization, by which, in that very lifetime, she became fully cleansed of the mud of the material modes and thereby achieved liberation, the path of Kapila. 

Kapila Muni, an esteemed ancient sage, focused on distinguishing between matter (Prakriti) and spirit (Purusha), explaining the principles of the physical universe through rational analysis. This philosophy also combines a spiritual aspect, leading to self-realization and liberation (moksha) through devotion (bhakti). Kapila taught this system to his mother, Devahuti, helping her achieve liberation.

Kapila is celebrated in sacred texts like the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. In these texts, Lord Krishna praises him as a supreme sage, and his teachings are extensively quoted. Kapila’s approach through devotional service is highlighted as so effective that devotion guarantees liberation within one's lifetime, as opposed to the uncertain outcomes of other philosophical or yogic paths.

Buddhist sources present Kapila as a well-known philosopher whose students built the city of Kapilavastu, the birthplace of the Buddha. Kapila shared many similarities with Buddha, including an emphasis on meditation as a technique for removing suffering, the belief that the Vedic gods were subject to limitations and conditions, and a dislike for ritual and Brahmanic doctrines. 

The destruction of the three Castles by Mahadeva

 The destruction of the three Castles by Mahadeva

On one occasion Siva killed Three asuras who dwelt in three forts constructed of metal and who caused great damage to the rishis! The story is given in detail in the Karnaparvan of the Mahabharata, an abstract of which is given below.

Tarakasura was an asura who had a boon that he could only be killed by Shiva's son. He fought with the Devas and Indra but was finally defeated by Kartikeya, the son of Shiva and Parvati.

The three sons’ of Tarkasura, having performed great penances, obtained from Brahma the boons that they should occupy the three castles wherefrom they should move as they desired and after a thousand years the three castles should unite into one and should be only destructible with a Single arrow. The asura architect Maya built them the three Castles, one of gold which was in heaven, another of Silver in the air and the third of iron on the earth: each of these was appropriated by one of the asuras, and they started on their tour of harassing the gods.

Indra attacked them with the vajra but failed to put them down. The gods then repaired Brahma to consult him as to the means of destroying these asuras. He told them that they should only be killed with a Single arrow and that such a weapon could be wielded only by Mahadeva and directed them to pray to him for help. They prayed accordingly and succeeded in inducing him to undertake the task of killing Asuras. Mahadeva then demanded of them one-half of their Powers (Shakti) to add to his strength, as otherwise, it was impossible to kill those strong demons. They consented and parted with half of their strength.

Mahadeva became now stronger than all other gods and hence came to be known by the name Mahadeva, the great god. The various gods served Mahadeva in other capacities also.

Vishnu became his arrow, Agni its barb and Yama its feather. Mahadeva made the Vedas, his bow and Savitri his bowstring.  Brahma became his charioteer. With the three barbed arrows consisting of Soma, Agni and Vishnu the castles with their inhabitants were destroyed by Mahadeva.

The destruction of the three Castles by Mahadeva is based upon older accounts found in Samhitas and Brahamanas. In Yajurveda, it is stated that the asuras being defeated, by the gods, performed austerities and built three castles which were destroyed by Agni.

In Brahmanas, it is told that the gods and the asuras fought together, though born of the same father Prajapati. The latter built for themselves three castles which, excited the envy of the gods. For destroying them Indra is said later to be preparing his thunderbolt with Agni as the shaft, Soma as the iron and Visnu as the point.