Stories 8
Daksha's sacrifice and the death of Sati
At a gathering Shiva stays seated when Daksha enters; Daksha reads it as contempt.
Kannappa gives his eyes
Thinnan, a hunter chief, finds a linga on the Kalahasti hill and is seized by love for it.
Purusha and Narayana on the waters
The cosmic person of the Purusha Sukta and the Narayana who rests on the waters are fused into Vishnu's cosmic identity, pictured as Anantashayana.
Shiva drinks the poison
Gods and demons churn the ocean of milk for the nectar.
The Pushkar sacrifice and Savitri's curse
Brahma kills the demon Vajranabha with his lotus-weapon.
The sacrifice in dwarf form wins the earth
In the Shatapatha Brahmana Vishnu, as the sacrifice itself, takes dwarf form and strides the earth back from the asuras for the gods.
Two origins of the discus
The Sudarshana is either Shiva's gift at Kashi after Vishnu offers his own eye in place of a missing lotus, or Vishvakarma's work from the radiance shaved off the sun.
Vishnu's thousand lotuses and his eye
Vishnu pledges a thousand lotuses to Shiva at Kashi; finding one missing, he offers his own lotus-eye; Shiva restores the eye and gives him the Sudarshana discus. The day is kept as Vaikuntha Chaturdashi; a related Kashi charter has Vishnu's penance create Manikarnika.