The Thousand Lotuses

The gods in trouble

Once the daityas grew so strong that they overran the worlds and trampled dharma. The gods, beaten, came to Viṣṇu, the protector of the gods: Lord, have mercy. Where shall we go? What shall we do? We have only you.

Viṣṇu thought of Śiva's lotus feet and said: these enemies are very strong, and must be conquered with great care. I will worship Śiva, and then I will do your work. The gods went home, counting the demons as already dead.

Worship at Kailāsa

Viṣṇu went to the foot of Mount Kailāsa. With his own hands he dug a fire-pit and set up the sacred fire, and before it he began his tapas. He made a liṅga of earth, as the rites prescribe, and worshipped it with many mantras and hymns, and with lotuses gathered from Lake Mānasarovara. He sat firm in his posture and did not move. “Until Śiva is pleased,” he resolved, “I will stay just like this.”

But Śiva, the master of play, was not pleased. Viṣṇu served him in every way he knew, and still Śiva did not come.

The thousand names

Then Viṣṇu, full of wonder and the highest devotion, began to praise Śiva with a thousand names. With each name he offered one lotus: Śiva, the auspicious — a lotus. Hara, who takes away the devotee's sins — a lotus. Mṛḍa, the giver of joy — a lotus. Rudra, who drives away sorrow — a lotus. And so on, name after name, a thousand names and a thousand lotuses.

To test Viṣṇu's devotion, Śiva quietly hid one of the lotuses. Viṣṇu, caught in Śiva's māyā, did not see it happen — only that, as the thousandth name came, there was no lotus left to offer.

The lotus eye

Viṣṇu, who never breaks a vow, searched the whole earth for one more lotus, and could not find one. Then he thought: if the lotus is gone, let it go. Are my eyes not called lotuses? And steadying himself in pure sattva, he took out one of his own eyes and offered it to Śiva with the last name.

“Do not do this — do not!” cried Śiva, and he burst out of the earthen liṅga that Viṣṇu had made, blazing with light, in his true form.

Sudarśana

Śiva looked at Viṣṇu, standing before him with folded hands, and laughed with love. I know the work of the gods that fills your mind, he said. For their success, and so that you can destroy the demons without effort, I give you this finest of discuses. Its name is Sudarśana.

And Śiva gave Viṣṇu the discus that had come forth from his own feet — bright as ten million suns, destroyer of enemies. Viṣṇu turned to the north, purified himself with the proper rites, and received it. With it he destroyed the mighty demons easily and quickly, and peace returned to the worlds.

Śiva told him: in battle, remember this discus, this form of mine, and these thousand names, and the gods' sorrow will end. Then he offered Viṣṇu another boon. Viṣṇu asked only this: let my devotion to you never waver, and let your devotees never come to grief. Śiva touched him with both hands and said: your devotion to me will never fail, and you will be worshipped even by the gods. By my grace you will be called Viśvambhara, the one who sustains the universe.

The place of this worship is honoured as the liṅga of Harīśvara — Śiva as worshipped by Hari. And the thousand names Viṣṇu sang that day are given in full in the next chapter of the Śiva Purāṇa.