When Bhasmasur chased Shiva..........

Lord Shiva, the God of Gods, is believed to put on the skin of tiger and use to rub the Bhasm or chaal (ash) on his body. For procuring ash for his daily purpose, he had appointed a special gan (Shiva’s devotees are called gan) Bhasmasur. Bhasmasur used to procure ash for the daily use of Shiva.

Once it happened that Bhasmasur couldn’t manage to bring the ash. When Shiva asked him for the reason he gently replied “O God of all Gods, forgive me, for I failed to manage any ash for you today. I tried very hard everywhere but nowhere could I find any ash for your worships. Forgive me Lord”.

On hearing Bhasmasur’s plea, Lord Shiva bestowed him a boon that if he couldn’t find ash, he could create ash by placing his hand over anything. Wherever he will place his hand will instantly turn into pyramid of ash. Thereafter whenever Bhasmasur couldn’t find ash he would create ash by himself.

Over the time, Bhasmasur realized that since he had great powers now, why should he serve Shiva anymore. He thought himself to be more powerful than Shiva. Also he fell in love with Parvati and wanted to marry her by killing Shiva. Having this thought in mind, he went to Kailash and planned to place his hand on Shiva’s head and burnt him down.

Watching him come and knowing his evil plans, Shiva fled, and was chased by Bhasmasur. Wherever Shiva went, Bhasmasur chased him. Somehow, Shiva managed to reach Vishnu to seek a solution to this predicament. Vishnu on hearing Shiva's problem, agreed to help him out.

Vishnu, in the form of Mohini, appeared in front of Bhasmasur. Mohini was so exceedingly beautiful that Bhasmasur immediately fell in love with her. Bhasmasur asked her to marry him. She told him that she was very fond of dancing, and would marry him only if he could match her moves identically. Bhasmasur agreed to the match and hence they started dancing. The feat went for days at an end. As Bhasmasur matched the disguised Vishnu's move for move, he began to let his guard down. While still dancing, Mohini, struck a pose where her hand was placed on top of her own head. As Bhasmasur imitated her, he was tricked into touching his own head, and hence Bhasmasur immediately burnt up and turned into ashes, due to the power he had recently gained.

This story comes to an end this way and again shows that however powerful evils may be, they have to finish one day before the goodness.