Page:Nine Ideal Indian Women.djvu/13

 and clothed the world in tender, yellow-green and red, Sati knew that it was Siva, the Lord of all, who willed it so.

Thus from her babyhood this worship of Mahadeva grew iii her heart and when she was a tiny child of five she clasped her henna-tinted hands and cried aloud : "Siva-Mahadeva, I want to learn the real, perfect yoga (meditation), come, God and Lord, and teach me."

Her earnest cry reached the Lord of all, as He sat in Kailash upon His prayer-rock and He descended swiftly to the kingdom of Daksha and, taking the tiny girl upon His left knee, taught her how to lix her mind upon the Truth, and Sati learned, and sitting there her soul and God’s were as one and they rose in ecstasy into the air. And often Mahad eva came. Years passed by and Sati was a young maiden. She knew she could never pledge herself to any other, for all her heart and soul and every fibre of her Life, for time and all eternity, were given to Siva, the King of Kailash Bhaban.

Daksha Raj heard of Sati’s choice and was wrathful and cried in scorn: “What Does my precious Sati wish to marry Siva, the beggar-god! No, never shall I give consent to this.”

When he called Siva a beggar, Dakslia Raj spoke truly) for among all the gods there was none so poor as Mahadeva, who owned the whole creation but bad nothing in it to call His own, for He had given all to others and had for Himself only an ox. Upon this ox He rode round strange places, from which all men shrink in horror and disgust.

The places which Siva loved to visit are called shmashatr and here, when the mortal body is quitted, rich and poor, young and old, all leave their worldly desires, their bodies are burnt to ashes and in these ashes there is no difierence. These spots Siva chose as His favourite places to roam, and smeared His body with the ashes of the dead, and He counted these ashes as jewels, for it is only through the fires of suffering and portals of death and the flames of shmashan that souls can meet their God.

Mahadeva was of great majesty. Cobras formed a crown upon His head and from His shoulders hung a tiger’s skin, and in His hands He held the