Daksha

In Hindu mythology, one of the sons of
the god Brahma, and the father of the
goddess Sati. Sati has been given in
marriage to the god Shiva, and Daksha’s
most famous mythic story has to do with
this divine pair. According to legend,
when Daksha feels that Shiva has not
shown him proper respect, he wants to
put Shiva in his place—even though in
this mythic story Shiva is clearly identified as the supreme deity. Inflated with
pride, Daksha plans a great sacrifice to
which he invites all the other gods, but
as an insult purposely excludes Shiva.
When Sati learns about the sacrifice, she
insists on going to it, despite Shiva’s
warning that it is unwise to go without
an invitation. When she arrives at the
sacrificial ground, and asks why her
husband has been excluded, Daksha
responds with a stream of abuse
denouncing Shiva as worthless and
despicable. Humiliated by these public
insults, Sati commits suicide—in some
versions, by leaping into the sacrificial
fire, in others by withdrawing into a
yogic trance and giving up her life. Shiva
becomes furious when he hears of Sati’s
death, and in his rage creates the fierce
deities Virabhadra and Bhadrakali. He
comes storming with his minions (gana)
to the sacrificial ground, destroys the
165
Daksha
Image of the Hindu god Daksha. His head was
replaced with the head of a goat as the result of a
conflict with the god Shiva.
sacrifice, and cuts off Daksha’s head.
Daksha is eventually restored to life, but
with the head of a goat rather than a
human being. He repents of his arrogance and worships Shiva as the highest
god. In this story, Daksha is a symbol for
the foolish pride that eventually causes
one’s destruction.
In another mythic story, Daksha is
portrayed in a more sympathetic light.
Chandra (the moon) has married
Daksha’s twenty-seven daughters, but
was paying attention to only one of the
daughters, named Rohini. Daksha
remonstrates with Chandra to give each
of his wives equal time, and when
Chandra ignores this advice, Daksha
curses him to lose his luster. As Chandra
begins to wane, the other gods intercede
with Daksha, and implore him to modify
the curse. At their urgent prompting,
Daksha decrees that Chandra will only
wane for half the month and then wax
for the other half. He then directs
Chandra to take a bath at the Somnath
temple in Gujarat state, which will heal
him from the original curse. Here
Daksha is still powerful and imperious,
but his actions are rooted in his concern
for his daughters.