Friday, July 4, 2008

VANQUISHING OF DEMON JALANDHARA


Have you per chance ever heard of this story of ancient times, wherein several thousands of years ago as the folklore goes, there was a demon king by the name of Jalandhara, who through his harsh austerities and penance had obtained several boons from the Gods, and it was on account of these boons he had become so powerful that had gone on to capture all the worlds and rule over them !

Since he went unchallenged it came into his head one day that he should take on the might of the Devas , and so he went on to challenge them to fight against him.Since none of the Devas was prepared to fight against him since he was very powerful, everybody gave in to him without much resistance.

Further encouraged by this, Jalandhara went on to take on the more powerful worlds of Satya loka and Vaikuntha where again nobody was prepared to do battle with him, but he was informed that only Lord Shiva can fight against him.

Being stupid enough to take on the might of Lord Shiva, he went to Mount Kailash the abode of Lord Shiva, to fight with the God ! Lord Shiva wanted to teach the demon a lesson and therefore took the form of an old man and stood on his way. The old man asked Jalandhara where he was going. to which he got the reply that he was going to fight against Lord Shiva.

On hearing this the old man smiled and asked him to lift a disc (chakra) lying on the ground so as to check his strength by lifting the same above his head, prior to his fighting with the All Powerful Lord Shiva . "

On hearing these words Jalandhara was quite amused since he felt that the old man twas not aware of Jalandhara's strength, and just to show him his strength , he started lifting it and realized that it was not an easy job., and it was then that he realised that it was not an easy task. It was therefore with great diffculty that he took the disc and put it on his head.

Immediately he did so, the disc not only cut off his head but also decimated his entire body into small pieces ! This was the end of the so called invincible demon who had ventured to conquer the entire world , but he had overestimated his strength in taking on the might of the Almighty Lord Shiva.

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