Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.718

c9.718

Some Purāṇas contain stories somewhat different from the above about the birth of the 60,000 children. e.g. in the 9th Skandha of Devī Bhāgavata, the story is related as follows; “Keśinī delivered the son Asamañjasa and Sumati did not deliver at all. So she did tapas for Śiva for children and because of his blessing she conceived. Sumati delivered only hundred years after continuing to be pregnant, and even that was only a piece of flesh, and she began weeping addressing Śiva, who appeared before her and cut the mass of flesh into 60,000 parts. Each piece of flesh transformed itself into a very powerful and effulgent man.