The Story of Andhaka

Once upon a time, when Lord Shiva was meditating in his adobe on Mount Kailash, Devi Parvati, Shiva's consort, noticed that though the eyes of Shiva were closed, his third eye was still open. With amusement, she affectionately covered the third eye of Shiva with her palm.

Instantly, the entire universe got shrouded in darkness. Life came to a pause for a brief period of time. Devi Parvati's palm sweated when she felt the intense heat of Shiva's third eye. A small child emerged in the darkness, born of Devi Parvati's sweat. He was pitch black in hue, with a hideous and terrifying visage and no eyes. 

Image by Sudip Paudel from Pixabay

Right after birth, the child began to cry loudly in a hoarse voice. In terror, Devi Parvati removed her hand from Shiva, and the light in the universe was restored. Shiva became awake. As he gazed at her with astonishment, Devi Parvati realized her mistake. Devi knew that Shiva's third eye was responsible for maintaining cosmic balance. As it was closed, the evil became apparent. Devi Parvati chose not to adopt the child, despite the fact that it was born to her. But the child was sobbing at such a loud pitch that everyone on earth could hear it.

Hiranyaksha, the asura king, also heard the sound of crying. He asked his asuras to find out what was making such a terrible noise, and they brought the child to him. Hiranyaksha was taken aback by the child's bizarre appearance, but he also realized that the child possessed great strength. So he decided to adopt the child and named him Andhaka.

 

Andhaka grew into an immensely powerful demon. Even though he was blind, he could sense everything around him. After Varahadeva killed his father, Hiranyaksha, he became the asura king. However, despite his strength and personality, the asuras began to question his authority as he was blind. Thus, he decided to perform austerity in order to obtain blessings from Lord Brahma. He abdicated his kingdom to Prahlada, Hiranyakashipu's son, and withdrew himself into seclusion in the Himalayas. 

After hundreds of years of rigorous penance, at last Brahma became pleased and appeared before him. The creator god told him that he would fulfill his three wishes.

Andhaka asked Brahma to give him a divine vision so that he could see. Brahma fulfilled his wish. Then he asked Brahma to grant him a blessing, ensuring that everytime he suffered a mortal wound on the battlefield, he would be resurrected out of his own blood and flesh from the ground with twice the strength he had before. This was quite tricky because he actually asked for invincibility in disguise. However, Brahma also fulfilled this without realizing the consequence.

As for the last wish, Andhaka asked for immortality from the creator god. However, this time, Brahma refuted, stating that whoever was born must die as well. Andhaka was unaware of the history of his birth. He knew Hiranyaksha was his father. Thus, he requested Brahma that he wished to die at the hands of his father only. Brahma smiled and fulfilled his wish. Andhaka was delighted, as he thought he had obtained the blessing of immortality as well. Thus, he returned to his kingdom and assumed the throne.

Soon, humans and devas began to realize the trouble. Andhaka became too powerful and arrogant day by day. He subdued the three worlds. The devas were defeated and forced to flee into exile. The humans were enslaved. Even some of the asuras under Prahlada became distressed by the brutality of Andhaka and retreated to Patal Loka. 

 

With nowhere else to go, the gods went to see Lord Brahma and urged him to save them from the menace. Consequently, Brahma told them the story of Andhaka's birth. Shiva was his father, just as Parvati was his mother; thus, Andhaka could only be killed by Shiva. The devas then proceeded to Shiva's adobe. Shiva, though, wasn't in Kailash. In a cave in the Mandar Mountains, he was spending time alone with Devi Parvati. Devraj Indra devised a scheme to lure Andhaka into a battle with Shiva. He sought help from Narada Muni.

One day, Narada Muni visited Andhaka's court and began praising him for his strength and wisdom. Then he told him that a king such as himself needed to have a queen who would be equal to him in all aspects. When Andhaka inquired about his prospective bride, Narada Muni replied that Devi Parvati was the only one who fulfilled all the criteria. As a result, Andhaka instructed his generals to locate Devi Parvati. He soon learned that Devi Parvati and Shiva were both on Mandar Mountain. 

Andhaka assembled an enormous army of asuras and headed to Mount Mandar with the intention of snatching her from Shiva. Shiva also came to know from Narada Muni that Andhaka was coming to abduct Devi Parvati. Both Shiva and Parvati were enraged, knowing that Andhaka was inclined to do such an incest. Shiva called his ganas and devas to aid him. On the other hand, Danavas and Daityas joined Andhaka. 

A severe battle broke out between Shiva and Andhaka. Both sides were equal in strength. The battle continued for days, but there was no outcome. At last, Shiva decided to hunt down Andhaka himself. Thus, Shiva approached Andhaka to fight.

Shiva finally succeeded in driving his trident into Andhaka's chest following a harrowing fight. However, to his surprise, a new Andhaka appeared there as soon as his blood hit the ground, and his previous body crumbled into dust. Each time Shiva crushed him, a stronger Andhaka emerged from the ground. The shiva grew frustrated because Andhaka was becoming too strong to be stopped. The Devas were also terrified to see that.

Seeing Lord Shiva struggling to defeat Andhaka, Devi Parvati became furious, and from her anger emerged the goddess Kalika. Devi Kalika had a terrifying appearance and an insatiable thirst for blood. Shiva was comforted when he saw her. After a fierce battle, he impaled Andhaka with his trident and raised his body into the sky. As blood gushed from Andhaka's body, Devi Kalika began to drink every drop of it. Devi Kalika consumed the last drop of blood and then devoured Andhaka's flesh. Andhaka was reduced to a skeleton, clad in skin. But he was still alive.

 

Andhaka himself realized that he was about to die. Thus he prayed to Lord Brahma, asking how he could die in the hands of someone other than his own father. Then Lord Brahma manifested himself there on his lotus and explained the secret of his birth. 

Hearing so, Andhaka burst into tears. He started to repent for coveting Parvati, who was actually his mother. But at the same time, he blamed Parvati for not accepting him as her son. Lord Shiva felt the change of heart in Andhaka, and he released him.

Andhaka was healed by Shiva's divine touch, but he had parted with his divine vision and all of his previous strength. Devi Parvati felt sorry for him because he was set to commit sin without knowing the truth. Andhaka apologized to Shiva and Parvati and became a devout follower of them. Both the gods and the people felt relieved. The asuras retreated as well, and Prahlada became their king. The world was restored to balance again.