Stories 7
Anasuya tests the three gods
Narada provokes the three consorts into sending their husbands to test Anasuya's virtue; she turns them into infants and nurses them; the consorts beg for their husbands and she asks for sons — one three-headed Dattatreya, or three sons.
Krishna's penance for a son
Jambavati asks Krishna for a son like Pradyumna; Krishna spends six months in austerities under the sage Upamanyu, and Shiva appears as Ardhanarishvara to grant the boy Samba, named after that form.
Mohini, the self-burning demon and the birth of Ayyappa
Vishnu as the enchantress Mohini dances a demon into touching his own head, and in Kerala tradition bears Shiva's son Ayyappa; the full record is I-4 in the interactions file.
The birth of Ayyappa
Brahma's boon to Mahishi — that only a child of Vishnu and Shiva can kill her — forces Vishnu to take the Mohini form; Shiva's desire for Mohini yields a son, found and raised by the king of Pandalam, who kills Mahishi and takes his seat at Sabarimala.
The birth of Ganesha
Parvati wants a guard of her own and shapes a boy from the paste on her body.
The birth of Kartikeya
Taraka can be killed only by a son of Shiva.
The girl with three breasts
The childless Pandya king Malayadhwaja and queen Kanchanamalai perform a sacrifice for a son.