Shivatandavam

By Srikarthik Dhavala

My name is Shiva, people also call me Parameshvara. But I prefer Shiva. I live in the peaks of Mount Kailash. Anyway, let’s start the story. So, it was a cold breezy evening, and I was doing my meditation. You see when I meditate I get some kind of visions and the vision I saw today whispered “Ahhhh! Run.. It’s the end of the world”. Here’s what happened …… It was pitch dark and two people were sitting and one among them was taking some notes. I recognized them immediately, Yama the God of death and his assistant Chitragupta . Suddenly the ground shook and a shadow started forming . The shadow slowly came out and my reaction was “Whaaaaat!” He looked exactly like me except he was not blue. He held Yama like he was a kitten and boomed.

“My name is Jalandhara, and I have sworn to destroy the world. Go and tell the other gods that a storm is coming”. With that note Yama vanished with Chitragupta and I opened my eyes. My face was dripping with sweat. I quickly freshened up and headed to the council of the gods( basically heaven).For the first-time heaven looked unpleasant. When I entered the big hall all the gods were there. Vishnu said, “Jalandhara had conquered hell and was unleashing spirits from it .He is now marching towards earth and will soon reach heaven. If he succeeds he would be called the conqueror of the three realms.” Brahma spoke up, “Which is why we are sending one God in a human form to kill Jalandhara and the demons he released from Hell, and the god is Shiva.” I calmed myself down .

“This is outrageous I will not stand becoming a human” I said. “That was not a request it was an order” said Brahma, and before I could say something everything went black. When I opened my eyes I was standing near a bus station. Aaargh! I screamed, everyone stared at me, and I walked away. While I was walking I saw two boys getting hit by some bullies. I ran towards them and said “Why are you hitting innocent people? Never lay a hand on one person unnecessarily. I helped the boys up and the boys thanked me. They introduced themselves as Mahesh and Vijay. I gave them my introduction and they invited me to their home. We had so much fun, and we were very similar. At that moment I felt , maybe this human thing wasn’t such a bad idea , maybe . We then went out to get ice cream and that’s when it happened. It looked like it was going to rain. The ice cream shop was closed and when we were heading back a fire suddenly started which almost gave me a heart attack. Emerging from the fire was Andhaka and Jalandhara himself. I concentrated and with a ball of light my weapon appeared. I charged at Andhaka and drove my trishula into his stomach and that was the end of that. Mahesh looked as pale as a ghost and was about to faint and Vijay well, he took it one step further, he fainted! I knew I had to protect them so I swung my trishula and Jalandhara broke it like a toothpick and all I could do was stare. Looking back, it was a dumb move because he punched me, and I went flying. The last thing I remember was seeing a ball of light as big and bright like a supernova and everything went black. I woke up and I was back in Mahesh’s house, and I saw a man. I sat up and recognized him immediately…. Vishnu!!!! He requested to have a word with me in private. “You took quite a hit out there, you’re all over the news” said Vishnu . “ He is stronger than me or maybe you. We need to stop him .If it wasn’t for the human thing none of this would have happened I said. All he did was laugh and went. Mahesh and Vijay came in. Is it true? asked Vijay. I knew there was no point lying to them, so I told them. Mahesh’s mouth dropped and Vijay was taking this surprisingly well. After some time, I thought of a plan. I told them the plan and they agreed to help me. “Just a sec” said Mahesh almost finish packing for the trip “We need weapons to defend ourselves” said Mahesh. I agreed and gave Mahesh a sword which was curved and gave Vijay a dagger. We started and ran into a monster right away. While I was on look for another weapon, I noticed that Mahesh and Vijay were missing. I ran desperately and unexpectedly heard the demon howling in pain. One look and I understood on someone stabbed the back of the demon and it was none other than Mahesh and charging from the front was Vijay and he drove his dagger into the demon’s stomach and the demon fell. “Have little faith Shiva” said Mahesh with an amusing smile. We moved ahead and while we were walking on the roads I saw something that made me stop in my tracks. People were looting ,fighting, kicking, and punching. The earth was radiating negative energy which made my spine quiver. Jalandhara had conquered earth too. We headed to the council of the gods and Jalandhara was there sitting in the throne of Vishnu. “Ah! Hello father” said Jalandhara. Him? My son ? I didn’t know what was going on . “Yes! As hard as it is to believe I am your son” he said as if reading my thoughts. “ I was born when you opened your third eye to destroy Indra for his arrogance, but he was saved, and the energy given, gave birth to me. I was raised by Varuna and later, Shukracharya (Guru of Asuras)”said Jalandhara. Vijay unexpectedly charged and Jalandhara kicked him. Vijay went flying and hit a pole. Vijayyyyyyyyy! I yelled. Anger roared in my ears my mind went blank and I started to dance. Yes Yes I know dance but when I dance it creates positive energy and just like that I killed all the demons except Jalandhara. I had another ritual for him. I had performed shivatandavam. Once finished, it helped me to upgrade to a roopam or costume you could say, Panchanana Mahadev( the one with 5 heads ). And guess what? I got my Trishula back! I charged at Jalandhara thrusting the trishula in his chest and forming a chakra. “Say goodbye Jalandhara” I said but he couldn’t because he had no head. The universe was safe again.

By Srikarthik Dhavala