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Ashoka Sundari- Lord Shiva’s daughter
In some the scriptures, it is believed that previously Lord Shiva was a detached hermit who does not associate in worldly pleasures. But since Lord Shiva gets married to Goddess Parvati, he turns into a complete household and as a part of that life, he became the father of 3 children, one of them is a girl child. Lesser known is the legend that Lord Shiva and Parvathi also parented a beautiful girl named Ashoka Sundari. Apart from few such legends, the existence of Shiva’s daughter is not known by most people. Although in some parts of India, there are few folklores that are popular in Kolkata as it is believed that Goddess Manasa was a daughter of Lord Shiva who was born accidentally in an unintended way. Although Ashoka Sundari is not a well-known deity, she features in a lot of folklore across India in various forms.
The birth of Ashoka Sundari
Ashoka Sundari was born out of Parvati’s wish whilst she was alone. Padma Purana and many other Gujrati folk lore has mentions of her. In the Shiva Purana, there is a detailed description of Lord Shiva’s transformation to a household from a hermit. Translating from Sanskrit, the word Ashoka means without sorrow and she being the reason who got rid of Goddess Parvati’s sorrow, she was then named Ashoka Sundari. Further, Sundari means beautiful. Since the girl was extremely beautiful, she did justice to her name.
According to the various myths around the birth of their daughter, one day lord Shiva and Parvati came across a wish fulfilling tree known as the Kalpavriksha. As back then Lord Shiva was believed to be frequently going out of the Kailash Parvatha to fight demons, Goddess Parvati used to feel lonely. At the sight of this wish fulfilling tree, Goddess Parvati asked for a daughter from the tree. The tree granted the wish that Goddess Parvati asked for and Ashoka Sundari was born.
According to Padma Purana, Shiva and Parvati have three Children, 2 sons namely Lord Kartekeya and Lord Ganesh and one daughter named Ashoka Sundari. Lord Kartekaya was born to relieve the world from Tarakasur’s atrocities. Lord Kartekeya is often referred as Mahasena , he is a great warrior and chief commander for the army of Devas. When Kartekeya leaves Kailash and doesn’t return for a long time , Parvati to come out of her loneliness , asks the Magical tree Kalpavriksh, to grant her a daughter.
Ashoka Sundari & Salt
However, there are no mentions about her in most of the scriptures apart from the fact that she was present at the time Ganesha was beheaded. It is believed that Ashoka Sundari got scared by her father’s act of beheading her brother, and she went and hid behind a sack of salt. When Parvati got to know about her son’s fate, she becomes extremely angry. Out of anger, she also cursed Ashoka Sundari to become a part of the salt. It is believed that later when Ganesha’s head was restored by lord Shiva, they restored life in their daughter and pacified her. This is another legend of how Ashoka Sundari is associated with salt without which food is tasteless. So, the above mentioned are a few legends associated to Ashoka Sundari, Lord Shiva’s daughter.
Kartikeya
According to the Skanda Purana, Shiva’s first wife Sati angrily immolated herself after she felt insulted by her father Daksha when he didn’t invite Lord Shiva for a Yagna Ceremony and further insulted Him. An irate Lord Shiva then destroyed the Yagna with the help of ganas. An ascetic Shiva was married with great difficulty the first time around and a second marriage was nearly impossible. Taking advantage of the fact the demons – Tarakasur and Surapadma thought the boon of being killed only by Lord Shiva’s son would make him invincible.
Kama, the God of Love, awakens Lord Shiva from His penance to remarry Him to Goddess Parvati. Angered by the interruption in his meditation, Lord Shiva burns Kama to ashes with His third eye though He does fall in love with Goddess Parvati. Lord Shiva’s hands His fiery seed fire to Agni who can handle it till the radiance becomes Shiva’s offspring. Unable to bear the heat, Agni gives the radiance to Ganga who deposits it in a lake in a forest Sara Vana where Kartikeya is born (giving him the name Saravana) with six faces – eesanam, sathpurusham, vamadevam, agoram, sathyojatham and adhomugam, and hence the name Shanmuga or Shadanan. Kartikeya was cared for by six women symbolising Pleiades (Kritika in Sanskrit) and thus got the name Kartikeya. He was born to slay the demon called Tarak and his army. He is a widely popular god worshipped in South India and is known by different names like Lord Murugan, Subramaniam, Senthil, etc. He is depicted as a teenager with a spear and mounted on a peacock.
Ganesha – The elephant headed God
Ganesha is the son of Shiva and Parvati and he is the brother of Karthikeya (or Subrahmanya), the god of war. He was created by his mother using earth which she molded into the shape of a boy. As Shiva was away on his meditative wanderings, Parvati set her new son as guard while she bathed. Unexpectedly, Shiva returned home and, on finding the boy, and outraged at his impudence in claiming he was Parvati’s son, Shiva called for his gang of demons, the bhutaganas, who fought ferociously with the boy. However, the youngster easily held his own against such fearsome adversaries and Vishnu was forced to intervene in the form of Maya and, whilst the boy was distracted by her beauty, the demons, or Shiva himself, lopped off his head. At the commotion, Parvati ran from her bath and remonstrated with Shiva for so summarily killing their son. Repentant, Shiva ordered a new head to be found for the boy and, as the first animal available was an elephant, so Ganesha gained a new head and became the most distinctive of the Hindu gods. As a reward for his great courage in fighting the demons, Shiva made Ganesha the leader of the bhutaganas, hence his name Ganesha is worshipped on many religious and secular occasions, especially at the beginning of ventures such as buying a vehicle or starting a business. Ganapati, being the most popular deity in India, is worshipped by almost all castes and in all parts of the country and is often worshipped first before any important event. Devotees believe that if Ganesha is propitiated, he grants success, prosperity and protection against adversity. Also known as ‘Ganapati’, Ganesha is one of the most popular gods. Some believe that Ganesha is a Brahmachari who refused to marry. However, ‘Padmapurana’ states that Ganesha was married to sisters Riddhi and Siddhi. It is said that Ganesha wrote the epic Mahabharata while Veda Vyasa dictated it.
There is a Ganesha Asta Namavali Stotram found in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana. It was narrated by Lord Vishnu to Goddess Parvati. That stotram has the name Guhaagrajam which has the same meaning as Skandapurvaja.
Vande Guhaagrajam Devam Sarvadevaagra pujitam/
Yetanmaashtakam Durgey Namaabhih samyuktam param,
Putrasya pasya Vedey cha tadaa kopam thathaa kuru/
Yetanmaashtakam Stotram naanaartha samyutam shubham,
Trisandhyam yah pathennithyam sa sukhee sarvato jayee
Tato Vighnaam palaayantey vaina teyaad yathoragah,
Ganeswaraprasaadena mahajnaani bhaved dhruvam
Putraarthi labhatey putram Bhaaryaarthi vipulam striam,
Maha jadam Kaveendrascha vidyaa vaancham bhaved dhruvam
This sloka when translated: Mother Parvati! your son has eight names viz. Ganesha, Ekadanta, Heramba, Vighnanayaka, Lambodara, Shurpakarna, Gajavaktra, and Guhaagraja. Please listen to the meanings of these names; this Great Stotra is the essence of several Stotras and is the demolisher of all kinds of obstacles.
Sukesh
There was the third son of Shiva named Sukesh. The story is that there were two demon brothers: ‘Haiti’ and ‘Praheti’. Praheti became a godly man and Heti married Kaal’s daughter ‘Bhaya’ to expand his empire. A son called his electric kesh was born from Bhaya. Vidyutkaish was married to Sandhya’s daughter Salkata. The ‘Salkatankata’ is believed to be an adulterer. So, when his son was born, he was left unclaimed. Even Vidyutkaish did not care to know of the son who he was his son. According to the Puranas, Lord Shiva and mother Parvati saw the orphaned child and provided him with protection. He named it Sukesh. It was from this sukesh that the total of demons went on.
Jalandhar
There was the fourth son of Lord Shiva whose name was Jalandhar. It is said that according to the Srimad Bhagwat Purana, once Lord Shiva threw himself into the sea, it produced Jalandhar. Jalandhar is believed to have immense power and his power was due to his wife Brinda. Because of Brinda’s patriarchal religion, all the deities were unable to defeat Jalandhar. Jalandhar had planned to defeat Vishnu and snatch Goddess Lakshmi from Vishnu. Then Vishnu broke down Brinda’s patriarchal religion. Brinda’s husband’s religion was broken and Shiva killed Jalandhar.
Ayyappa
Lord Ayyappa’s father is Shiva and Mata Isherini. It is said that Lord Shiva had ejaculate after seeing the siren form of Vishnu. His semen was called parad and his semen was later born with a son called Sastav, who was called Swami Ayyappa in South India. Because of the origin of Shiva and Vishnu, they are called Hariharputra. The famous temple of Ayyappa Swami is located at Sabarimala in the Indian state of Kerala, where people from all over the world come to visit the temple of this son of Shiva. A light is seen near this temple on the night of Makar Sankranti in dense darkness. Millions of devotees from all over the world visit this light every year.
Bhuma
The Hindu scriptures say that once upon a time when Lord Shiva was sitting in the Samadhi on Mount Kailash, three sweat drops from his forearm fell upon the earth. With these drops, the earth gave birth to a beautiful and beloved child, who had four arms and blood color skin. This son began to nurture the earth. It was only then that because he was the son of the land, he called Bhooma. When something big went, Mangal Kashi reached and performed a severe penance of Lord Shiva. Then Lord Shiva was pleased and gave him the planet Mars (Mangal Kashi).
Andhaka
This Asura was the foster son of Hiraṇyākṣa. Śiva was really his father. While once Śiva was immersed in yoga his daughter closed his eyes playfully with her hands, and lo! a darkness rose and enveloped the whole place. From that darkness, with a sound as that of thunderbolt, appeared a Rakṣasa. He got the name Andhaka as he was born from darkness. At that time Hiraṇyākṣa was doing tapas for a son. Śiva appeared before him and bestowing on him Andhaka as a foster son said as follows: “If he (Andhaka) earns the hatred of the world or desires even the mother of the three worlds or kills brahmins I will myself burn him to ashes”. After saying this Śiva disappeared. One day, Andhak sees the beautiful Goddess Parvathi, and falls in love with her and decides to marry Her.
Even after being warned and preached that She was his mother, the Asura did not listen and thus it was necessary to teach Andhak a lesson. A fierce battle starts between Shiva and Andhakasura. And whenever a drop of his blood fell on the ground, many more Andhakasuras took birth. Finally, Goddess Shakti supported Shiva in the form of Mahakali or Rakta dantika. She drank all the blood that oozed out and ate up all the new Andhakasuras. Mahadev created the Sapta Matrukhas, the 7 divine goddesses and they assisted along with Kali to put an end to Andhaka. Finally, Shiva lifted Andhaka with His trident and burnt Him with the fire of his third eye. This way Andhaka was killed by his own father lord Shiva as per the boon that was granted to him.
