There's a case of Sati among the Hindu Gods - that fits the standard description - that I wasn't aware of. Probably everyone else knows, but still. For the Fun, then:
"Sati" as in where the female Hindoo decides to immolate herself because her husband is (thought) dead.
(Note, here I'm not talking about a case such as Uma as Sati who went into the fire, because she knew her husband was living, so it wasn't on account of his "death" that she chose to go that route.)
=> "Kumara Sambhavam" by the famous Expert on the Hindu Gods.
The particular reference occurs in the chapter on the grief of Rati Devi over the loss of her beloved husband Kamadeva. At one point she pleads to Smara's close friend Vasanta to show himself (he has momentarily disappeared from sight, I assume this was because he was afraid to be the next target of Shiva for being an obvious aide to Manmatha).
Taking pity on the inconsolable spouse of Kama, Vasanta then appears I think. She begs him to help her construct a pyre - considering he had helped the pair in happier matters before - so that she may enter it to rejoin the now-Bhasmashareera in the Beyond, since she finds she cannot go on living without her dear kind spouse. IIRC, she says to Vasanta that he may provide the water in the couple's rites in one go, and the pair will simply taste of it together in the Beyond.
Fortunately for everyone, Dharma's voice is heard to tell Rati that she need not die: her husband will return to her in the world of the living. That he merely needed to be reduced to bhasmam by Shiva in order to make a shaapam (on Mara) by Brahma come to fruition, but that Brahma and Dharma had then ordained that the punishment would be only temporary: Shiva, once united to Uma, would ensure that the now-Ananga wold be united with Rati once more.
So the loyal spouse Rati, more hopeful, and looking forward to the alliance of Uma and Shiva with an even keener interest than before, stayed on, and was indeed in time rewarded with the return of her most-benevolent and well-loved husband.
The original's narration was very touching - despite being generally immune to dramatic content, I think I got almost sniffly (or maybe that was just due to a cold at the time?) - and my favourite part of the particular section was Rati Devi reminiscing about how whenever Kamadeva was talking jovially with Vasanta while stringing his dhanuh he would always steal loving glances at his beloved dharmapatnI. (Which solves a great mystery: Hindoos are so cute because they take after their ancestral Divine Parents, who are impossibly romantic also. Clearly, their incurable affliction is inherited.)
There were a few further points of particular interest (for me) in the chapters that preceded it that come to mind:
1. The particular missile that Kama had chosen for the purpose - out of his famous arsenal consisting of the 5 puShpas - was the Sammohana. (Was always curious about which of the 5 it was - for potential paw-printing purposes.)
2. On a terribly clinching matter, it seems I was under a false impression all this time:
It turns out - as Kalidasa himself tells us (and he would know) - that Kamadeva never loosed his arrow: [color="#FF0000"](NO. Note sure. See Edit at end)[/color] He had indeed set it to the bowstring, but had not sent it at Shiva yet. Meanwhile, Shiva at that moment was approached by (his actually eternal-spouse) Uma, and he spoke his famous prophetic blessing to his great bhakta: that she will attain a husband that would love none but her. In pronouncing so, he raised his incomparable mukham to her incomparable mukham, and as his gaze lingered on that perfect faultless Chandra-shape for a moment longer than he felt it ought to have, he became suspicious of external factors that may be causing such sammohana. And thus it was that he espied Kama, steeled, *with* the Sammohana aimed in his own direction (but not loosed!). And it is then that the Trinetra opened the central one and the PushpabaaNa (still with the Sammohana in hand!) was made bhasmam.
So, it would seem that Manmatha was "guilty" only of (the very lofty) Motive and (highly worthy) Attempt - to bring the Mother and Father of the universe together - and never quite of having (visibly) committed the "crime" of having struck Shiva with... a Pushpa. <- Not quite a harmless Pushpa, I admit, as it is supposed to be very potent and effective - nothing to laugh at - but nevertheless, as weapons go, you can hardly call this a vicious one. Let alone suspect its wielder of "plotting" against one. Moreover, the motive was entirely only for the good - and under orders from higher up besides (I think Vasava commanded it to speed things up, since Shiva and Uma were taking way too long to get together, so that the promised and much hoped-for Great Miniature was not yet in sight). So Maara was quite blameless overall.
Having not actually "done" anything other than being *about* to try, the Bhasmashareera is still credited with at least a share in the great victory (of the successful match-making) in the end. I now assume this is not because his arrow -which he'd never let fly- had achieved the target, but that his intent had been achieved despite this contradicting the seeming and momentary intent of Shiva. For his willingness to help her, and for going so far as endangering even his own person for it, Uma has forever been his protector and is known to be greatly fond of him and his wife Rati Devi. And Hindus are repeatedly told by well-informed sources that she ensures his victory in all his missions at all times. (Shankaracharya BP would observe the same about Lakshmi's effect on Manmatha: he was ever victorious over the world and even over Vishnu - who's clearly likewise fondly attached to his dear spouse - having obtained the benevolent kataaksham of Lakshmi.)
[color="#0000FF"]CORRECTION To point 2 in the above: I could possibly be entirely wrong, though I'm not certain of even this (Reading And Comprehension issues, as usual).
I retraced over some of the chapter, and it looks like there's a shloka where Kalidasa describes Kamadeva as either repeatedly twanging his dhanuh OR repeatedly fiddling with it. Can't make out which. <- Which is ironic, as the two conclusions imply totally opposite things... As in:
1. If repeated twanging:
then surely it was a shower of puShpas that had hit Shiva (in which case Kama, though not totally 'innocent' anymore, is at least restored to an Active Hero position in the drama, rather than a passive one). Plus Shiva is IIRC described shortly after as noticing his thoughts being suddenly befuddled (though I suppose that could equally be explained as the glorious vision of umA's mukham - rising like a koTi suns to suddenly dawn on him - rendering his thoughts incoherent for a space). In any case, the names of the puShpas that would have got him do not appear to be mentioned (whereas the Sammohana which specifically *didn't* get him was explicitly named), which is most unfortunate because it was exactly the sort of detail that I was snuffling through the text for in the first place for making paw-prints. On the upside, a shower of puShpas - falling onto Shiva almost like some sacred garland of fate - would confirm the famous ongoing depictions of the event by traditional Hindoo artisans. But their works express it all as a flurry, so I can't make out identifiable individual culprits in the haze of stems and petals. Sigh.
2. However, if at this point Kama was still merely fiddling with the dhanus to get the right shot:
he would still not have sent any puShpaastras, which I suppose could explain(?) why no puShpas were named at this stage. Some shlokas afterward though, the Sammohana would finally be identified by name, but only as the one that Kama had readied, and not as one he had ever loosed I think, because it's at this very point that Shiva's on to him and turns him into bhasmam.
Either way, the primary lesson in this is not that "Match-making does not pay, look at poor Kama" (though I could have told him that...) but rather "Don't be illiterate like Husky." Hindoos should learn their father-tongue Samskritam alongside their mothertongue. Then they don't have to go all <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':blink:' /> "Huh, what just happened??" like me and be forced to hound conveniently-elusive relatives to get them to translate the "What'd I just miss" bits, assuming one can catch them.
:Sigh:
Illiteracy. Not cool.[/color]
"Sati" as in where the female Hindoo decides to immolate herself because her husband is (thought) dead.
(Note, here I'm not talking about a case such as Uma as Sati who went into the fire, because she knew her husband was living, so it wasn't on account of his "death" that she chose to go that route.)
=> "Kumara Sambhavam" by the famous Expert on the Hindu Gods.
The particular reference occurs in the chapter on the grief of Rati Devi over the loss of her beloved husband Kamadeva. At one point she pleads to Smara's close friend Vasanta to show himself (he has momentarily disappeared from sight, I assume this was because he was afraid to be the next target of Shiva for being an obvious aide to Manmatha).
Taking pity on the inconsolable spouse of Kama, Vasanta then appears I think. She begs him to help her construct a pyre - considering he had helped the pair in happier matters before - so that she may enter it to rejoin the now-Bhasmashareera in the Beyond, since she finds she cannot go on living without her dear kind spouse. IIRC, she says to Vasanta that he may provide the water in the couple's rites in one go, and the pair will simply taste of it together in the Beyond.
Fortunately for everyone, Dharma's voice is heard to tell Rati that she need not die: her husband will return to her in the world of the living. That he merely needed to be reduced to bhasmam by Shiva in order to make a shaapam (on Mara) by Brahma come to fruition, but that Brahma and Dharma had then ordained that the punishment would be only temporary: Shiva, once united to Uma, would ensure that the now-Ananga wold be united with Rati once more.
So the loyal spouse Rati, more hopeful, and looking forward to the alliance of Uma and Shiva with an even keener interest than before, stayed on, and was indeed in time rewarded with the return of her most-benevolent and well-loved husband.
The original's narration was very touching - despite being generally immune to dramatic content, I think I got almost sniffly (or maybe that was just due to a cold at the time?) - and my favourite part of the particular section was Rati Devi reminiscing about how whenever Kamadeva was talking jovially with Vasanta while stringing his dhanuh he would always steal loving glances at his beloved dharmapatnI. (Which solves a great mystery: Hindoos are so cute because they take after their ancestral Divine Parents, who are impossibly romantic also. Clearly, their incurable affliction is inherited.)
There were a few further points of particular interest (for me) in the chapters that preceded it that come to mind:
1. The particular missile that Kama had chosen for the purpose - out of his famous arsenal consisting of the 5 puShpas - was the Sammohana. (Was always curious about which of the 5 it was - for potential paw-printing purposes.)
2. On a terribly clinching matter, it seems I was under a false impression all this time:
It turns out - as Kalidasa himself tells us (and he would know) - that Kamadeva never loosed his arrow: [color="#FF0000"](NO. Note sure. See Edit at end)[/color] He had indeed set it to the bowstring, but had not sent it at Shiva yet. Meanwhile, Shiva at that moment was approached by (his actually eternal-spouse) Uma, and he spoke his famous prophetic blessing to his great bhakta: that she will attain a husband that would love none but her. In pronouncing so, he raised his incomparable mukham to her incomparable mukham, and as his gaze lingered on that perfect faultless Chandra-shape for a moment longer than he felt it ought to have, he became suspicious of external factors that may be causing such sammohana. And thus it was that he espied Kama, steeled, *with* the Sammohana aimed in his own direction (but not loosed!). And it is then that the Trinetra opened the central one and the PushpabaaNa (still with the Sammohana in hand!) was made bhasmam.
So, it would seem that Manmatha was "guilty" only of (the very lofty) Motive and (highly worthy) Attempt - to bring the Mother and Father of the universe together - and never quite of having (visibly) committed the "crime" of having struck Shiva with... a Pushpa. <- Not quite a harmless Pushpa, I admit, as it is supposed to be very potent and effective - nothing to laugh at - but nevertheless, as weapons go, you can hardly call this a vicious one. Let alone suspect its wielder of "plotting" against one. Moreover, the motive was entirely only for the good - and under orders from higher up besides (I think Vasava commanded it to speed things up, since Shiva and Uma were taking way too long to get together, so that the promised and much hoped-for Great Miniature was not yet in sight). So Maara was quite blameless overall.
Having not actually "done" anything other than being *about* to try, the Bhasmashareera is still credited with at least a share in the great victory (of the successful match-making) in the end. I now assume this is not because his arrow -which he'd never let fly- had achieved the target, but that his intent had been achieved despite this contradicting the seeming and momentary intent of Shiva. For his willingness to help her, and for going so far as endangering even his own person for it, Uma has forever been his protector and is known to be greatly fond of him and his wife Rati Devi. And Hindus are repeatedly told by well-informed sources that she ensures his victory in all his missions at all times. (Shankaracharya BP would observe the same about Lakshmi's effect on Manmatha: he was ever victorious over the world and even over Vishnu - who's clearly likewise fondly attached to his dear spouse - having obtained the benevolent kataaksham of Lakshmi.)
[color="#0000FF"]CORRECTION To point 2 in the above: I could possibly be entirely wrong, though I'm not certain of even this (Reading And Comprehension issues, as usual).
I retraced over some of the chapter, and it looks like there's a shloka where Kalidasa describes Kamadeva as either repeatedly twanging his dhanuh OR repeatedly fiddling with it. Can't make out which. <- Which is ironic, as the two conclusions imply totally opposite things... As in:
1. If repeated twanging:
then surely it was a shower of puShpas that had hit Shiva (in which case Kama, though not totally 'innocent' anymore, is at least restored to an Active Hero position in the drama, rather than a passive one). Plus Shiva is IIRC described shortly after as noticing his thoughts being suddenly befuddled (though I suppose that could equally be explained as the glorious vision of umA's mukham - rising like a koTi suns to suddenly dawn on him - rendering his thoughts incoherent for a space). In any case, the names of the puShpas that would have got him do not appear to be mentioned (whereas the Sammohana which specifically *didn't* get him was explicitly named), which is most unfortunate because it was exactly the sort of detail that I was snuffling through the text for in the first place for making paw-prints. On the upside, a shower of puShpas - falling onto Shiva almost like some sacred garland of fate - would confirm the famous ongoing depictions of the event by traditional Hindoo artisans. But their works express it all as a flurry, so I can't make out identifiable individual culprits in the haze of stems and petals. Sigh.
2. However, if at this point Kama was still merely fiddling with the dhanus to get the right shot:
he would still not have sent any puShpaastras, which I suppose could explain(?) why no puShpas were named at this stage. Some shlokas afterward though, the Sammohana would finally be identified by name, but only as the one that Kama had readied, and not as one he had ever loosed I think, because it's at this very point that Shiva's on to him and turns him into bhasmam.
Either way, the primary lesson in this is not that "Match-making does not pay, look at poor Kama" (though I could have told him that...) but rather "Don't be illiterate like Husky." Hindoos should learn their father-tongue Samskritam alongside their mothertongue. Then they don't have to go all <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':blink:' /> "Huh, what just happened??" like me and be forced to hound conveniently-elusive relatives to get them to translate the "What'd I just miss" bits, assuming one can catch them.
:Sigh:
Illiteracy. Not cool.[/color]