A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1239

c5.1239

NANDĪSA, NANDĪSWARA. ‘Lord of Nandi.’ A title of Siva. It is related in the Rāmāyana that Rāvana went to the Sara-vana, the birthplace of Kārttikeya, and on his way through the mountains he beheld “a formidable, dark, tawny-coloured dwarf called Nandīswara, who was a follower of Mahā-deva, or rather that deity himself in another body. This being desired Rāvana to halt, as Siva was sporting in the mountain, and no one, not even a god, could pass. Rāvana asked derisively who Siva was, and laughed contemptuously at Nandīswara, who had the face of a monkey. Nandīswara retorted that monkeys having the same shape as himself and of similar energy should be produced to destroy Rāvana’s race. In reply to this menace, Rāvana threatened to pull up the mountain by its roots and let Siva know his own danger. So he threw his arms round the mountain and lifted it up, which made the hosts of Siva tremble and Pārvatī quake and cling to her husband. Siva then pressed down the mountain with his great toe, and crushed and held fast the arms of Rāvana, who uttered a loud cry which shook all creation. Rāvana’s friends counselled him to propitiate Siva, and he did so for a thousand years with hymns and weeping. Siva then released him, and said that his name should be Rāvana from the cry (rāva) which he had uttered. The origin of this story is sufficiently manifest, it has been built up on the name Rāvana, to the glory of Siva, by a zealous partisan of that deity.