The problem however was that Vena had no son. In the absence of a king, chaos reigned in the kingdom. Theft and robbery became rife and the subjects began to suffer.

Obviously a king had to be found. The sages stated to knead the left arm of the dead body. As a result of this kneading, a dwarf emerged. “Nishida,” the sages told the dwarf, the word nishida meaning “Sit”. From this word, the dwarf came to be known as nishda and gave birth to a race of hunters.

The sages now began to knead the dead body’s right arm and a divine-looking person emerged. This was Prithu and he held a bow and several arrows in his hands when he emerged. Prithu was appointed king by the gods and the sages. He ruled well and soon made his subjects forget the evil ways of his father.

But Prithu kept on thinking, “My father was evil and a sinner. He must have come to great grief after his death. I wonder how I may free him from his sins.”

While Prithu was thus wondering, the sage Narada arrived and Prithu asked him the whereabouts of his dead father Vena. Narada informed Prithu that Vena had now been born in the land of the disbelievers (that is, those who disbelieved in the Vedas) and was suffering from tuberculosis. Narada also told Prithu that the only way to free Vena was to take him to several sacred places of pilgrimage.

Prithu accordingly went to the land of the disbelievers and hunted out his father Vena. He hired a palanquin for Vena and brought the diseased man to the sacred land of Kurukshetra. In Kurukshetra there was a tirtha named sthanutirtha. Prithu decided that he would bathe his father in the sacred waters that were there.

But just as he was about to do this, divine words were heard from the sky. The voice said, “Don’t dare to do what you are contemplating. This is a sacred tirtha and your father is a great sinner. He is not allowed to bathe here for fear of polluting the holy waters.”

“What am I to do then?” asked Prithu. “I wish to free my father. What is the prescribed form of penance?”

“Bathe in the holy waters of the tirthas yourself,” replied the heavenly voice. “After you have had your bath, sprinkle some droplets of water from your body on Vena. That will suffice.”

That is what Prithu began to do.

Years ago, there was a man who was given the job of looking after the belongings of temples. These rich possessions tempted the guard and he stole some of these objects. As a result of this sin, the guard was born as a dog in his next life. The dog bathed in the waters of the river Sarasvati and came to sthanutirtha. Vena was also there and since the dog seemed to be frightened, Vena stroked it.

As soon as he did this, the water from the Sarasvati touched Vena’s body and he was freed of all his sins. His mind turned to religious pursuits and he started to pray to Shiva.

Shiva was pleased at this intense meditation, and appeared before Vena and said, “I am pleased with your prayers and you may live for some time with me. But you had earlier committed the severe sin of criticising the Vedas and you must suffer for that. You will therefore be born as an asura and your name will be Andhaka. You will be the son of the demon Hiranyaksha. When I kill you with my spear, you will be pardoned all your sins.”

Shiva and Uma’s Marriage

As a result of all this digression, you have probably forgotten by now that Vishnu asked the gods to go and pray to the ancestors in Kurukshetra. This the gods did and the ancestors gladly parted with their daughter Mena. The gods brought Mena to Himalaya and arranged their marriage. Three daughters were born of this union.

These three daughters were named. Ragini, Kutila and Kali. A son named Sunabha was also born. As soon as the daughters were six years old, they went off to the forest to meditate and were discovered there by the gods.

The gods first brought Kutila to Brahma and asked, “Is this the daughter who is going to get married to Shiva?”

“Not she,” replied Brahma. “She will not be able to stand Shiva’s energy.”