Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.2365

c4.2365

BHRṄGĪ. A Maharṣi who was a devotee of Śiva. Once he went to Kailāsa and began to go round Śiva to pay homage to him. But since Pārvatī and Śiva were sitting together as one body, he could not go round Śiva separately. He did not have much reverence for Pārvatī. So he took the form of a female beetle (Bhrṅgī) and bored my way through a hole made in the place where their bodies were united and thus went round Śiva alone. Pārvatī was angry at this slight shown to her and cursed him to become physically weak. His legs became so weak that they were unable to support his body. So he prayed to Śiva again and he blessed him with a third leg. In this way Bhrṅgī became a Maharṣi with three legs. (Maharṣis).