In the Bhagavata Purana, after Vishnu deceives the demons by his maya female form, Shiva wishes to see the bewildering Mohini again. When Vishnu agrees and reveals his Mohini form, Shiva runs crazily behind Mohini, "bereft of shame and robbed by her of good sense," while the abandoned wife Parvati (Uma) looks on. Shiva is overcome by Kāma (love and desire or Kamadeva, the god of love and desire). His "unfailing" seed escapes and falls on ground creating ores of silver and gold. Afterwards, Vishnu comes to his true form and reveals that his maya (illusory power) cannot be surpassed even by Shiva. Shiva then extols Vishnu's power.
The Tripurarahasya, a south Indian Shakta text, retells the
story, giving more importance to the Goddess. When Shiva wishes to see Vishnu's
Mohini form again, Vishnu fears that he may be burned to ashes like Kamadeva by
the ascetic Shiva. So, Vishnu prays to goddess Tripura, who grants half
of her beauty to Vishnu, begetting the Mohini-form. As Shiva touches Mohini,
his seed spills, indicating a loss of the merit gained through of all his
austerities.
In the Brahmanda Purana when the wandering sage Narada tells Shiva about Vishnu's Mohini form that deluded the demons,
Shiva dismisses him. Shiva and his wife Parvati go to Vishnu's home. Shiva asks
him to take on the Mohini form again so he can see the actual transformation
for himself. Vishnu smiles, again meditates on the Goddess, and in place of
Vishnu stands the gorgeous Mohini. Overcome by lust, Shiva chases Mohini as
Parvati hangs her head in shame and envy. Shiva grabs Mohini's hand and
embraces her, but Mohini frees herself and runs further. Finally, Shiva grabs
her and their "violent coupling" leads to discharge of Shiva's seed
which falls "short of its goal," suggesting the act was not
consummated. The seed falls on the ground and the god Maha-Shasta ("The Great
Chastiser") is born. Mohini disappears, while Shiva returns home with
Parvati.
Shasta is identified primarily with two
regional deities: Ayyappa from Kerala and the Tamil Aiyanar. He is also identified with the classical Hindu gods Skanda and Hanuman. In the later story of
the origin of Ayyappa, Shiva impregnates Mohini, who gives birth to Ayyappa.
They abandon Ayyappa in shame. The legend highlights Vishnu's protests to be
Mohini again and also notes that Ayyappa is born of Vishnu's thigh as Mohini does
not have a real womb. Another variant says
that instead of a biological origin, Ayyappa sprang from Shiva's semen, which
he ejaculated upon embracing Mohini. Ayyappa is referred to as Hariharaputra, "the son of Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva
(Hara)", and grows up to be a great hero. Another tale says after Surpanaka's destruction, Shiva wishes to
see Mohini and mesmerized by her looks, has union with her resulting in the
birth of Ayyapppa.
Kanda Puranam narrates about the birth of
Shasta identified with Aiyanar. The text tells just before the tale that Vishnu
is Shiva's Shakti (wife and power)
Parvati in a male form. The legend begins with Shiva's request and Vishnu's
agreement to show his illusionary Mohini form, that he assumed for the
distribution of amrita. Shiva falls in love with Mohini and proposes a union
with her. Mohini-Vishnu declines saying that union of two same sex women was unfruitful.
Shiva informs Mohini-Vishnu that he was just one of forms of his Shakti.
Thereafter, their union resulted in the birth of a dark boy with red locks, who
was named Hariharaputra. Further, he was also known as Shasta and Aiyannar.
In the Agni Purana, as the enchanted Shiva follows Mohini, drops
of his semen falls on the ground and become lingas,
Shiva's symbols. His semen also generates the monkey-god Hanuman, who helps Vishnu's avatar Rama in
his fight against Ravana in the Ramayana. Shiva Purana says that by the mere
glimpse of Mohini, Shiva spurts out his seed. The seed was collected and poured
into the ear ofAnjani, who gave birth to Hanuman, the incarnation of Shiva. The
latter is retold in the Thai and Malaysian version of the Ramayana. Though
Hanuman strings from Shiva's seed, he is also considered as a combined son of
Vishnu and Shiva.
The Buddhist version of the Bhasmasura tale
continues with Shiva (Ishvara) asking the female-Vishnu, who is seated on a
swing, to marry him. She asks Shiva to get the permission of his wife
Umayangana to take her home. Shiva returns with Umayangana's consent to find
the female-Vishnu pregnant, who sends him back to get permission to bring a
pregnant woman home. When he returns, a child is born and female-Vishnu is
pregnant again. She requests Shiva to seek approval to bring a pregnant woman
with a child home. This happens six more times. Finally, Shiva brings
Umayangana with him to witness the miraculous woman. Vishnu then returns to his
male form. Umayangana embraces the six youngest children merging them into the
six-headed Skanda, while the eldest, named Aiyanayaka ("eldest
brother") remains intact. Aiyanayaka is identified with Aiyanar.
Mohini plays a lesser role in a Shaiva legend
in the Skanda Purana. Here, Vishnu as Mohini joins Shiva to teach a lesson to
arrogant sages. A group of sages are performing rituals in a forest, and start
to consider themselves as gods. To humble them, Shiva takes the form of an
attractive young beggar (Bhikshatana) and Vishnu
becomes Mohini, his wife. While the sages fall for Mohini, their women wildly
chase Shiva. When they regain their senses, they perform a black magic
sacrifice, which produces a serpent, a lion, an elephant (or tiger) and a
dwarf, all of which are overpowered by Shiva. Shiva then dances on the dwarf
and takes the form of Nataraja, the cosmic dancer. The legend is retold in the Tamil Kovil Puranam and Kandha Puranam with some variation. This legend is also told in the Sthala Purana related to the Chidambaram Temple dedicated to Shiva-Nataraja.
Another legend from the Linga Purana says that the embracing of love-struck Shiva and Mohini led to
be their merging into one body. At this moment, Mohini became Vishnu again,
resulting the composite deity Harihara, whose right side of the body is Shiva and left side
is Vishnu in his male form. In the temple in
Sankarnayinarkovil near Kalugumalai is one of the rarest
exceptions to iconography of Harihara (Sankara-Narayana). The deity is depicted
similar to the Ardhanari, the composite form of Shiva-Parvati, where right
side of the body is the male Shiva and left side is female. This image's female
side represents Mohini and it, as a whole, symbolizes the union of Shiva and
Mohini. The influence of Shakta traditions on Shaiva ones may have led to the
development of composite images like Harihara, where Vishnu is identified with
Shiva's consort, or Mohini. Like the Kanda Puranam narrative, the Shaiva saint Appar identifies Vishnu as Parvati (Uma), the female counterpart of
Shiva.
Most of this was new to me. Good research.
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