Daska once celebrated a great sacrifice, but he did not invite his daughter Sati nor her husband Siva, the chief of the Gods. Sati, however, went to the sacrifice, but being greatly humiliated and insulted, threw herself into the fire and perished. When Siva heard this he was gravely provoked, tore a hair from his matted locks and threw it to the ground.
A powerful hero named Virabhdra rose up, thousand-headed and thousand-armed, and awaited his orders. Siva directed Virabhadra: “Lead my army against Daksha and destroy his sacrifice; fear not the brahmins, for thou art a portion of my very self”.
On this direction of Shiva, Virabhadra appeared with Shiva’s ganas in the midst of Daksha’s assembly like a storm wind and broke the sacrificial vessels, polluted the offerings, insulted the priests and finally cut off Daksha’s head, trampled on Indra (the Lord of Heaven), broke the staff of Yama, scattered the gods on every side; then Siva returned to Mount Kailash.
