For big tasks, team works best

Sai R Vaidyanathan

At the abduction of Goddess Sita at Panchvati, Lord Rama and Lakshman would have felt helpless. In the jungle, they were princes without an army. As they had almost no clue where to begin their search for Sita, they decided to form a team.

With Sugriva and Hanuman, the exiled duo from Ayodhya set up an army of Vaanaras and bears to look for Sita. And soon, they found and rescued her from the captivity of King Ravana of Lanka.

Similarly, Lord Shiva — when faced with a near-impossible task — decided to take a few good men along.

The demonic trio of brothers Kamaraksha, Taarakaksha and Vidyunmali had let loose a reign of terror in the universe. To get rid of them, the only way was to destroy the three revolving cities they lived in — collectively called Tripura.

These cities could only be destroyed in one shot and these came in line only once in 1,000 years. As people couldn’t afford to wait another 1,000 years for the next chance, celestial architect Vishwakarma turned the Earth into a chariot, the Sun and Moon as its wheels, the four Vedas as horses and Brahma as a charioteer. Mounting it, Shiva — with mount Meru as the bow, serpent King Vasuki as the string, the ocean as the quiver, Vishnu as arrow, Agni as the tip and Vayu as its end — shot a missile and reduced Tripura to ashes.

Kartikeya’s birth

Another demonic trio that made the gods form a team was of Surapadman, Simhamukha and Tarakasur. To vanquish them, a son of Lord Shiva was needed.

Shiva assumed a form with six faces. A spark each shot forth from each head and turned into a seed. Gathering the seeds, gods Agni and Vayu took them to the Ganga river, who further deposited them into the Sharavana (forest of reeds).

There, they turned into six baby boys. Nymphs called Krittikas nursed them till the time Parvati and Shiva arrived on the scene. When Parvati held them, they turned into one baby.

For their contribution to the effort, Shiva named the boy Skanda for Parvati’s effort; Sharavana as the son of the forest; Kartikeya for the Krittikas’ care; Kumar for Ganga’s role; as Agni’s son Mahasena and Shiva’s Guha.

When Kartikeya came of age, he killed Tarakasur. Surapadman and Simhamukha were defeated and became the mounts of Kartikeya and Durga, respectively.

Churning of ocean

To draw affluence and nectar out of the Ocean of Milk by churning it, Lord Vishnu took three forms — Kurma (tortoise), physician Dhanvantri and the ultimate seductress Mohini.

The Mandara mountain became the churn-dasher and Vasuki snake the rope. Eagle Garud transported the mountain to the ocean and Lord Vishnu’s tortoise incarnation supported it on his back. The gods and demons did the churning. When the Halahal poison emerged, Lord Shiva consumed it.

Remember that when shared with friends, sorrow halves and joy doubles.

The author can be contacted at [email protected]