Shiv Shakti - The Story Goes On....

A Challenge Of Contest

It was the jingling of those anklets that first brought the mendicant Shiva out of his meditation. As he opened his eyes, they landed on the moon face of the mother of the universe. He focused on the soft curve of her red rosy lips that flickered as she also noticed his gaze on her.

"I know you always stare at me so I won't even ask why."

Shiva got up and blew the strand of hair that had fallen on her face.

"Do I need any reason to stare at my lovely wife? I'm fortunate enough to have your presence around me all time and I want to seize every moment of it cause we don't know when it will be cut short. Our destiny has always planned for our seperation sometime or the other..... "

Shiva became lost for a minute but a tender touch from Parvati brought him back.

"Walk with me, darling. We can spend some time together."

Shiva agreed and the two proceeded to take a stroll around the lake of mansarovar. Parvati looped her arms around his and Shiva felt at peace.

"The nature looks so beautiful, isn't it, Mahadev?"

"Of course it does, Uma because it is none other than you yourself."

Just then a mischievous thought came across Shiva's mind.

"I was having a thought. When the world will come to an end and I will dance my tune of destruction, I will be the only one present. Even nature will be destroyed. Then where will you go?"

Parvati slowly untangled her arms from him and looked at him shrewdly.

"So you think that once the world is destroyed, nature will dissolve too? Did you forget that nature is unbeatable. She is beyond creation and destruction."

Shiva let out a laugh, "It might be true, darling but you cannot deny that ultimately everything dissolves in me."

"And did you forget that I'm the residing power in you as well as every being in this universe? I am the power that gives you life, you accept it yourself."

"But" Shiva argued."I'm the eternal destructive source of the universe. What do you have over it?"

"So you are challenging me?" Parvati said, a light mockery in her voice.

"If you want it as a challenge, then it is. Let's see if you can exceed over my destructive."

"I accept. I'm ready whenever you want. I'll be waiting" Parvati said and flipping her hair around, went away. Shiva also went to the cremation ground.

He smeared his body in ashes and sat near a burning pyre. Looking at the flames, he got an idea. He rubbed some of the ashes from his body and as it touched the ground, black smoke arose and from it arose a huge demon.

He was tall and had huge muscles. As he had risen from Ashes from Shiva's body, he was very powerful. He was very dense or 'ghora', so he was named Ghorasur. He saluted Shiva.

"Mahadev, I'm born from you. Now give me my orders. What should I do for you?"

"Ghorasur, I only have one order for you. You are as powerful as me. So go to Devi Parvati and challenge her to a duel. Let's see if she can win against you" Shiva gave his orders. Obliging, Ghorasur went to find Parvati.

................

Parvati had just taken a bath and was coming back from the lake. Her wet hair was still spread on her back. Her face had a fresh glow and she was in a jovial mood. That was the moment when Ghorasur reached there. As he saw her, he couldn't move her eyes. Her beauty made him awestruck and he forgot what he had come for. The Demon slyly approached her and as Parvati was about to leave, she came face to face with him.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" She asked.

"O beautiful lady, I'm Ghorasur. I'm born from Shiva's energy so I'm equally powerful as him. Lady, I've never seen anyone as beautiful as you. So I ask you to marry me."

As soon as Parvati heard that, she realized it was Shiva's tactic to test her powers. She smirked and played into it.

"Ghorasur, if you are born from Shiva, you must know that I am Adi Shakti who cannot be attained so easily. Not even Shiva could. So I put forward my condition that I usually do. If you can defeat me in war, only then I will marry you. And if you cannot, then your end will be by my hands."

Ghorasur sneered at her.

"Who are you? A mere woman like you dares to challenge me, Ghorasur? I will do what I want. If you don't go by choice, then I'll drag you by your hair and bring you with me. No matter what, you are going to be mine."

Parvati realised that Ghorasur had forgone his actual orders from Shiva and his ego and lust had weighed upon him and this made her angry. Shiva on the other hand, who was watching everything also realized that the demon created by him had forgotten his purpose and was working on his own and this worried him. It was supposed to be a joke but it escalated further.

"Aa long as you were following Shiva's orders, I didn't say anything. But now you are following after your own power and lust. So I'm giving you one last chance. Stand down or you will meet your ends at my hands" Parvati warned. The Demon disregarded her words and growled in anger. He went forward with his hands stretched out in order to grab Parvati but a strong kick from her blew him backwards..

Parvati's anger crossed all bounds and her eyes turned red as her face darkened.