Sage Markandey

Sage Mrikandu and his wife were childless. They both prayed Lord Shiva to beget a son. Pleased with their penance , Lord Shiva appeared and blessed them to ask for boon. Sage expressed his desire to have a son. Lord Shiva gave them choice between a son with high intelligence with a short life span or a son of low intelligence with a long life span. The couple chose the first option. The couple blessed with a divine son. They named as Markandey. He possessed unusual intelligence and mastered all the vedas in a very short span. As the time progressed, parents were more worried because the time of death of their son was fast approaching. Finally they told Markandey about the truth that he would going to die at the age of sixteen. Markandey did not get afraid to hear this. Instead he started praying Lord Shiva with great devotion. At the age of sixteen, when the time of death came, Lord Yama came to take his soul to his abode, Yamlok. Markandey embraced the Shivalingam . Yama was in dilemma because he could not take the Shivlinga along with the soul of Markandey.When he tried to drag him forcefully, Lord Shiva appeared and stopped Yama to take his soul. He blessed Markandey to be immortal and also gave him "Mahamrityunjay Mantra" to conquer the untimely death. Since the Lord Shiva got it name "Kaalantak" means 'who kill the death". It is belive that this event happened at Thirukkadaiyur (TamilNadu). It was Sage Markandey who created the holy book named as "Markandey Puraan". From here the "Durga Saptashati" was derived.

Legend behind Dhan Teras

Dhanteras is also known as Yamadeepdaan and lamps are kept burning through the night to pray Lord Yama to keep away death and despair. A very interesting story about this day is associated to the sixteen year old son of King Hima. As per his horoscope he was doomed to die by a snake-bite on the fourth day of his marriage. On that fateful fourth day of his marriage his young wife did not allow him to sleep. She laid all the ornaments and lots of gold and silver coins in a big heap at the entrance of her husband's palatial room and lighted infinite numbers of lamps all over the place. After all these, she went on telling stories and singing songs so that her husband is not able to sleep. When Yam, the god of Death arrived there appearing in form of a Serpent his eyes got blinded by the dazzle of those brilliant lights and he could not enter the Prince's chamber. Thus the young wife saved her husband from the clutches of death. Since then this day of Dhanteras came to be known as the day of "Yamadeepdaan" and lamps are kept burning throughout the night in remembering Yam, the god of Death. Thirteen lamps made of wheat flour and lit with oil are placed outside the house, facing southwards (direction of Lord Yama), in the evening. A lamp is never kept facing southwards except on this day.

Legend 2- Sage Durvasa cursed Lord Indra due to which Godess Laxmi abandon him. The demons, attacked heaven and defeated Lord Indra.Brihaspati, the Deva Guru found a solution. For that the ocean of milk had to be churned to become potent ambrosia, which, if consumed by the gods, would bring immortality. The churning would also bring back Lakshmi. Mandara Mountain was used as a churning rod and Vasuki, the king of the serpents, as a rope & Lord Vishnu, who took the form of a tortoise and lifts the mountain on his back. During the churning the divine goddess raised from the depths of the ocean of milk. She stood on a fully blossomed lotus, wearing a garland of lotus and neck. The sages began reciting hymns in praise of her. Gandharvas sang and Apsaras danced. Even the elephants on either side of her, sprinkled sacred Ganga water on her, bathing her with it, letting her be called Gajalakshmi. As she was born from the ocean of milk, she was referred to as Samudratanya. The king of the ocean appeared in his natural form and welcomed Lakshmi as a daughter The gods and demons continued to churn the ocean for Amrit. Ultimately, Dhanavantri emerged from the ocean of milk, carrying a jar of the amrit. Both the asuras and the devas wanted the ambrosia, but Vishnu was able to give the immortal nectar to the gods, and the asuras were defeated. The churning of the ocean resulted in the immortality of the devas and was the reason for Lakshmi's emergence.

Contributed by
Mr Gaurav Rustagi ji