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Word reached Sati that her father, Daksha, planned to host a gathering of many eligible men in an attempt to find her a husband. Sati knew that she did not desire any of the men who would attend the gathering for they were not whom she desired to be with, as her real true love was Shiva. Upset, Sati lamented and continued to pray to Shiva as a devout soon- to-be bride.
On the day of the gathering, Sati looked out into the court but did not see her Shiva, so she continued to pray. As Sati continued to offer up prayers, Shiva made an appearance in the center of the court. Astonished and displeased for he despised Shiva, Daksha had no other option than to allow his daughter Sati to marry Lord Shiva... and so off the newlyweds went.
Many months and seasons later, Sati once again heard of her father's plan to hold a gathering. All of the gods, goddesses, queens, kings, and their courts were invited; Sati and Shiva, however, were not. Distraught, Sati and an army departed from her home that she made with Shiva and arrived at her father's gathering.
Upon the arrival of Sati, her father, became irate and loudly yelled at her, "You are not welcome here, you are a disgrace and I wish you gone!"
Tearful, Sati continued to try to make her father understand and to lighten his heart, "Father, please lighten your heart and embrace my happiness. I am truly happy with Shiva and I wish you be a part of our lives", but his shouting continued.
After a while, Sati became enraged and took the form of a spectacular goddess. All attendees bowed to her, but she renounced her mortal life and cursed her father, pronouncing that Shiva will soon kill him. After Sati renounced her mortal life, she collapsed to the floor where she burst into flames.
Shiva's army who was sent with Sati, returned back to Shiva and informed him of the terrible news.
Upon hearing the news, Shiva became full of as much grief as he did hate. Shiva began to dance a dance of destruction and pulled two locks from his head. As Shiva continued to dance, he threw the locks on the ground where he stomped on them.
Rising up from the locks of hair and the depths of the earth, with swords in his hands, and his arms rising above his head, came Virabhadra. Shiva ordered the tall, muscular, and vengeful warrior to seek out Daksha and avenge Sati's death.
Virabhadra did as Shiva ordered and found Daksha. Reaching out his arms and hands with swords in them, he zeroed his sight on Daksha.
With great anger and vengeance, Virabhadra beheaded Daksha. After Daksha's head fell to the ground, Virabhadra picked it up and reached out in front of him to place it on a stake.
After the death of Daksha, Shiva realized what was done and sought to amend the deeds. The compassionate and forgiving Shiva appeared and great sorrow and empathy filled his spirit.
Shiva again ordered Virabhadra to carry out a task, but this task was quite different. Shiva tasked Virabhadra with finding the nearest head so that they could replace the headless Daksha with it.
After Virabhadra returned with the nearest head that he could find, Shiva placed the head of a goat on Daksha. Daksha then arose from the dead.
Author's Note:
In the original story of Sati's death and the birth of the warrior, Virabhadra, there were two warriors born. From one lock Virabhadra was manifested and from the other lock, Bhadrakali was manifested. Virabhadra is said to be a manifestation of the vengeful and angry Shiva, while Bhadrakali is said to have been a manifestation from the Supreme Goddess. Shiva sent the two along with eight other goddesses to destroy Daksha and his army, but it was Virabhadra who beheaded him. After the night of destruction, Shiva gains his compassion back and restores the life of Daksha. Also, in the original story, Sati not only renounces her mortal spirit, but she becomes the goddess of the universe and asks to be born again from a father who accepts her. I chose to omit the part about Bhadrakali because I wanted to zoom in and focus specifically on the warrior, Virabhadra. The story was about the warrior and poses that was born from him, so I felt as though adding too many characters would take away from the story that I was wanting to tell.
There are many versions of the story but the one that I chose to use can be found here: The Goddess Sati
I also gathered information about the warrior poses from this source: The history and meaning of the warrior pose
There are three poses in this sequence.
The first of these poses is Virabhadrasana I. This pose depicts the arrival of the warrior, Virabhadra, with his arms stretched above his head as he arrives from the depths of the ground.
The second of the poses is Virabhdrasana II, which depicts the warrior holding his swords in front of him as he approaches Daksha. This is also a representation of when the warrior beheads Daksha.
The third of the poses is Virabhdrasana III, which depicts the beheading of Daksha as well as the warrior placing his head on a stake.
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