Malyavan
demonic intermediate Hindu single tradition · 1
Malyavan was an attendant of Shiva who constantly quarrelled with another attendant named Pushpadanta. During one quarrel, he cursed Pushpadanta to become an elephant in his next birth, and was himself cursed by Pushpadanta to become a spider. As a spider in his next life, he constructed webs over the Appu Lingam to protect it from dust and sunlight, and ultimately died biting the elephant (Pushpadanta) after the elephant repeatedly destroyed his webs.
When
- Historical notes
- Received moksha from Shiva after death as a spider due to devotion.
Relationships
- serves
- Śiva
- enemy of
- Pushpadanta
- co occurs with
- Adi Parashakti, Kamadhenu, Parvati, Akilandeswari
Mentioned by
Sources
wikipedia (1)
Source passages
“Two attendants of Shiva, namely Malyavan and Pushpadanta always quarrelled...Malyavan cursed Pushpadanta to become an elephant and the latter cursed the former to become a spider...The spider constructed a web to prevent dust, dry leaves and direct”
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