Shiva Purana — Rudra Samhita, Shloka 10
हिरण्यकशिपोः क्रोधः तथा देवप्रजाकदनम् — Hiraṇyakaśipu’s Wrath and the Affliction of Devas and Beings
स तेपे मंदरद्रोण्यां तपः परमदारुणम् । ऊर्द्ध्वबाहुर्नभोदृष्टिः षादांगुष्ठाश्रितावनिः
sa tepe maṃdaradroṇyāṃ tapaḥ paramadāruṇam | ūrddhvabāhurnabhodṛṣṭiḥ ṣādāṃguṣṭhāśritāvaniḥ
ထိုနေရာ မန္ဒရတောင်ချိုင့်ဝှမ်း၌ သူသည် အလွန်ကြမ်းတမ်းသော တပဿာကို ဆောင်ရွက်하였다—လက်နှစ်ဖက်ကို မြှောက်တင်၍ ကောင်းကင်ကို မျက်စိတည်ကာ ခြေချောင်းခြောက်ချောင်းပေါ်သာ အားထားလျက် မြေပြင်၌ တည်ငြိမ်စွာ ရပ်နေပြီး သီဝဘုရား၏ ကရုဏာကို ရယူလို၍ ပြင်းထန်သော တပစ်ကို ဆောင်ခဲ့သည်။
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pashu
Shiva Form: Mahādeva
Sthala Purana: Mandara-droṇī is presented as a tapas-kṣetra where severe austerity compels divine attention; the narrative functions like a generic sthala motif: intense tapas draws Mahādeva’s darśana/boon.
Significance: Tapas-sthāna paradigm: visiting/remembering such sites valorizes restraint and devotion, oriented toward Śiva’s anugraha rather than mere siddhi.
Role: teaching
FAQs
It highlights tapas as disciplined self-offering: the devotee restrains body and mind to purify karma and become fit for Shiva’s anugraha (grace), through which bondage (pāśa) is loosened and liberation becomes possible.
Such austerity is a preparatory means for Saguna Shiva-upāsanā—seeking the Lord’s manifest compassion and guidance—after which the devotee becomes qualified for deeper contemplation of Shiva’s supreme reality beyond form.
It suggests steady, vow-based practice: firm posture, one-pointed upward contemplation, and endurance. In Shaiva practice this is commonly paired with japa of the Panchākṣarī (Om Namaḥ Śivāya) and observances like bhasma-dhāraṇa and Rudrākṣa-dhāraṇa, according to one’s capacity.