Markandeya Held On

Death came for him at sixteen. He grabbed Shiva's linga and wouldn't let go. Death couldn't touch him.

Markandeya was a special boy. His parents had been told he would only live to be sixteen. On the morning of his sixteenth birthday, Yama, the god of death, came riding his black buffalo to take him. Markandeya ran to a Shiva temple, wrapped his arms around the stone Shiva-linga, and would not let go. What happened next is why families still chant his name when a child needs protection.

A Gift With a Price

Long ago, in a small ashram by a river, there lived a sage named Mrikandu and his wife Marudvati. They wanted only one thing in the world. A child of their own. A boy or a girl, it did not matter. Just one little face to call them Amma and Appa.

They had been waiting for years. They had been praying for years. Finally, one day, they sat together in deep meditation and called out to Shiva, the kindest of the gods.

Shiva appeared, exactly the way Shiva always appears, with his calm half-smile and his cool blue throat and his quiet eyes.

"You want a son," he said. "I will give you a choice. Listen carefully."

Mrikandu and Marudvati nodded.

"You can have a son who is dull and ordinary," said Shiva, "but who lives a long, long life. Eighty years. Maybe more. He will be a normal boy. Nothing special."

They nodded again.

"Or," said Shiva, "you can have a son who is brilliant. Brave. Devoted. Full of light. A boy who will be loved by everyone who meets him. The kind of son who fills a whole house with sunshine. But."

They held their breath.

"He will only live until he is sixteen."

The room was very quiet. Marudvati looked at Mrikandu. Mrikandu looked at Marudvati. It was the hardest choice anyone has ever had to make.

Finally, they both said the same word at the same time. "The brilliant one."

Shiva smiled gently. "It is done." And he was gone.

The Boy of Light

Nine months later, a baby boy was born. They named him Markandeya.

From the very first day, everyone could see what Shiva had meant. The baby was extraordinary. He smiled before any other baby smiled. He spoke before any other baby spoke. He could already say Om Namah Shivaya before he could walk.