The Hindu Temple v1.c6.s3.18

v1.c6.s3.18

The story of the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ is amplified in the ‘Matsya Purāṇa’.²⁸ The Bhūta, Existence, is said to be born of the sweat of Śiva who causes (kāraṇātmā) the dual creation (dvaitasṛṣṭi) when he fought the demon Andhaka (Blindness). The cause itself (kāraṇarūpa) is Tamas, Darkness in which lives the demon Andhaka; it is the quality inherent in the fall from the Principle which Manifestation or the world of duality, implies.²⁹ The fall from the principle is embodied here in the demon Andhaka; in order to fight it a corresponding tendency is expelled as sweat from the body of Śiva. This is the birth of Undefined and Nameless, the Asura.