The Seven Sages Defame the Guru
Bala Kanda, Chaupai 79
Doha 79 · Movement 1 of 2
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The sages build their challenge from Narada's past. Daksha's sons heard him and never returned home. Chitraketu's household was overturned, and Hiranyakashipu's line also felt the disruptive force of his intervention. Whoever listens to this wandering ascetic, they warn, abandons the house and goes begging.
They portray Narada as inwardly cunning beneath a saintly appearance, making others homeless like himself. Because Parvati trusted him, she now seeks a husband naturally detached from every domestic bond.
Then the ridicule turns upon Shiva: without attributes, shame, family, house, garment, or conventional beauty, wearing serpents and skulls. What happiness could such a groom give? Sati's former marriage ended in death after humiliation. Every word is chosen to make devotion recoil from its own object.
The sages heap ash, skulls, and solitude before Parvati, waiting for her love to turn away.
Read the passage from the Manas
दच्छसुतन्ह उपदेसेन्हि जाई। तिन्ह फिरि भवनु न देखा आई।। चित्रकेतु कर घरु उन घाला। कनककसिपु कर पुनि अस हाला।। नारद सिख जे सुनहिं नर नारी। अवसि होहिं तजि भवनु भिखारी।। मन कपटी तन सज्जन चीन्हा। आपु सरिस सबही चह कीन्हा।। तेहि कें बचन मानि बिस्वासा। तुम्ह चाहहु पति सहज उदासा।। निर्गुन निलज कुबेष कपाली। अकुल अगेह दिगंबर ब्याली।। कहहु कवन सुखु अस बरु पाएँ। भल भूलिहु ठग के बौराएँ।। पंच कहें सिवँ सती बिबाही। पुनि अवडेरि मराएन्हि ताही।।
He went and preached to the sons of Daksha, and they never returned home again. He laid waste the household of Chitraketu, and made the fearsome Trijata take to the forest life. (The Saptarishis recount Narada's track record to Parvati, warning that his counsel leads only to ruin.)