Elements of Hindu Iconography v2.c16.18

v2.c16.18

**Trinetra.** Śiva has three eyes; the third eye came into existence under the following circumstances. Śiva was sporting with his consort Pārvatī on the slopes of the Himālayas, when she playfully closed with her hands the two eyes of Śiva. The whole universe was at once submerged in cosmic darkness and all activity was suspended; sacrifices stopped and gods became quiescent. Mahādēva dispelled the darkness, by the fire bursting out of his forehead, in which a third eye, as luminous, as the sun, was formed.