Shiva kept on wandering and eventually arrived in the Vindhyas. In a forest that was there, Shiva established an image (linga) of his. When this linga was set up, the entire earth shook from the tremor.The mountains, the trees and the rivers quaked.

Brahma went to Vishnu and asked, “What is causing this great quaking? Do you know anything about it?”

“This is because of Shiva’s linga being established. Why don’t we go and see what is happening?” replied Vishnu.

Brahma and Vishnu went to the place where the linga was embedded in the earth. It was a huge linga. The upper part disappeared into the sky and the lower extremity reached all the way down into the underworld. Brahma and Vishnu decided that they would try and find the two extremities of the linga. Vishnu climbed onto the great bird Garuda and went down into the underworld. Brahma rode his swan and went up into the sky. But no matter how high or how low they went, they could not find the extremities of the linga.

Their wonder knew no bounds. They returned and started to pray to Shiva.

Shiva appeared before them and said, “Why are you praying to me ? I am distressed at having lost my beloved Sati. Please leave me in peace.”

“We were praying because we were impressed with the linga,” replied Brahma and Vishnu. “From now on, your image of the linga is going to be worshipped by everyone.”

All this while, Madana had been pestering Shiva. Shiva’s eyes now fell upon Madana and he gazed at the god of love with blazing fury. The fire burnt up Madana’s body, from the feet to the chest. When Madana saw that his body was being burnt, he dropped the bow from his hand. The bow broke into five parts and gave birth to the fragrant champaka flower, the bakula tree and other shrubs and creepers. Since Madana no longer had a body, he came to be known as Ananga. The word ananga connotes someone who has no body.

Shiva came to his senses after burning down Madana. He retired to the Himalayas to perform tapasya.

(The sequence of events is slightly mixed up in the vamana Purana, as compared to the accounts in the other Puranas. Many Puranas, like the Matsya Purana, state that Brahma had cursed Madana that he would be burnt down by Shiva. Subsequently, Sati died and was reborn as Parvati, daughter of Himalaya, Parvati wished to marry Shiva, but Shiva was too busy with tapasya, Madana was sent to distract Shiva from his tapasya and, in the process, was burnt up by Shiva. This is the account in the Bhagavata Purana and the Brahmavaivarta Purana. The Vamana Purana however suggests that Madana was burnt down prior to Shiva’s tapasya, although after Sati’s death.)

Nara And Narayana

You will remember the point form which we had digressed. Madana and Rambha had arrived to disturb the meditations of the sages Nara and Narayana.

Narayana realised why Rambha had been brought along. Rambha was very beautiful and Indra’s expectation was that the sages would fall in love with her and forget all about their prayers.

Narayana saw through this game and told Madana, “Welcome, great god of love. Sit here and talk to me.”

While the conversation was going on, Narayana picked up a sprig of flowers and began to knead it on his thighs (uru). From this kneading there emerged a beautiful woman named Urvashi, so named from the word uru. She was far more beautiful than Rambha and at the sight of her Madana forgot all about his mission.

Narayana smiled and told Madana, “Take this woman Urvashi as a present to Indra. Let him make an apsara out of her.”

Terrified at the sage’s powers, Madana fled to heaven and reported what had happened to Indra. Thereafter, Indra left the two sages alone and stories of their powers spread far and wide