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The gods no longer set foot on the stairways of heaven. Where Indra’s throne had once stood, a demon now sat at his ease, and the three worlds trembled at the flick of one eyebrow. When Narada asked the grandfather Brahma why the marriage of Parvati had become so urgent a matter, Brahma began the story that runs back to the birth of Tarakasura. He told of the fierce austerity that demon had performed, of how he had won the exact boon he desired, and of how he had then conquered gods and demons alike and installed himself in the very office of Indra.
The three worlds in one fist
Brahma tells the tale. Once Tarakasura had bent the three worlds to his will and seated himself as Indra, no ruler anywhere remained his equal. Master of his senses, sole lord of the triple universe, the demon governed in a strange and startling fashion. He stripped every god of his office and set demons in their places. The Vidyadharas and all the other celestial races he seized and harnessed to his own labors. Those who had once been called lords of the worlds now stood before a single demon with their hands folded in submission.
The gods’ plea
At such a time, Indra and all the gods, tormented by Tarakasura and brought to helplessness and grief, came to us for refuge. Every one of them bowed to me, the lord of creatures, praised us with deep devotion, and laid out the tale of their terrible suffering. They said, “Lord, you are our recourse, you are the one who instructs us in our duty, you are our sustainer and our deliverer. All of us gods are burning in a fire named Tarakasura, and that fire refuses to go out.”
“As in the fever of sannipata the strongest medicine loses its power and falls away spent, so this demon has turned every one of our harshest measures to nothing. One hope of victory remained to us, the Sudarshana discus of Lord Vishnu. Even that discus, striking his throat, was blunted. Coming to rest at his neck, it looked as though someone had draped the demon in a garland of flowers.” As they said this, the eyes of the gods were lowered and their voices shook.
The one remedy
Hearing what the gods said, we gave them counsel fit for the hour. We said, “Gods, this demon Tarakasura has grown so great by a boon of ours. For that reason it is not right that he be slain by our own hands. When a man has watered a tree of poison with his own care and raised it high, it is held unfit that he cut it down with his own hand. Lord Shankara alone is equal to accomplishing your whole purpose, yet even at your asking he cannot himself go out against this demon. The demon Tarak will perish by his own sin. Do exactly as we instruct you now. By the power of our own boon, neither we nor Lord Vishnu nor Lord Shankara can kill him. No other hero, and not all the gods gathered together, can slay him; this we tell you as truth.”
Then we opened the secret on which the whole plan rested. We said, “If a son be born from the seed of Lord Shiva, he and he alone can slay Tarak, no other. Best of the gods, do now the thing we prescribe, and by the grace of Mahadeva it will surely come to pass.”
We reminded them, “In an earlier age, Sati, the daughter of Daksha, who gave up her body at Daksha’s yajna, has now been born again as Parvati, from the womb of Mena, the wife of Himalaya. This much is already known to you all. Mahadeva will certainly take that daughter’s hand in marriage. Even so, gods, you too must strive toward it. Work in such a way that Lord Shankara may place his seed in that daughter of Mena, in Parvati.”
We explained to them the nature of Shiva. Lord Shankara is urdhvareta; his energy is forever drawn upward. To turn that energy downward, Parvati alone has the power, and no other woman can accomplish it by her own strength. That daughter of the mountain king has now entered her youth, and every day she serves Mahadeva as he sits in austerity upon Himalaya. At the word of her father Himavan, Kali attends the meditating Shiva with two companions, steadfast in her service. The loveliest being in the three worlds, Parvati stays before Shiva and worships him without fail, and still the meditating Maheshvara does not stir even in mind from his meditation; the thought of so much as looking toward Parvati never rises in him.
“For that reason,” we said, “gods, make haste to contrive some means by which a desire may wake in the mind of Chandrashekhara Shiva to take Kali as his wife. As for the demon, we will go to him ourselves and try to move Tarakasura from his obstinacy. Now return, all of you, each to his own place.”
Reasoning with Tarak
Having said this much to the gods, we went at once to Tarakasura, called him near with great affection, and spoke. “Tarak,” we said, “this heaven is the essence of our own radiance, and at present you are ruling it. The thing for which you performed your excellent austerity, you have now begun to crave far beyond its measure. The boon we granted you was smaller than this; we never gave you the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, best of demons, leave heaven and rule instead upon the earth. Every pleasure and every office worthy of the gods will come to you there with ease. There is no need to think otherwise in this.”
Having counseled the demon in this way, and calling to mind the Goddess and Shiva, we vanished from that place. Tarakasura too left heaven and came down to earth, and settling in Shonitapura he began to rule. On their side, the gods accepted our word, bowed to us, and returned with Indra to Indraloka, watchful and glad at heart. When they arrived, they took counsel among themselves and said to Indra, the king of the gods, with affection, “Lord, by whatever means a longing for Parvati may wake in Shiva’s mind, all that effort which Brahma has described is now yours to undertake.”
Having laid the whole account before Indra, the king of the gods, in this manner, the gods went gladly to their several places, and from that day they bent themselves to a single end: that by some means Shiva and Parvati should be married, and that the son should be born by whose hand the end of Tarak was written.
Source: Shiva Purana (Gita Press, Sankshipta Shivapurana edition), Rudra Samhita, third (Parvati) section