replacing the head

Published on 1st January, 2023, in Mid-day. We have heard stories of how Shiva beheaded his father-in-law Daksha Prajapati and replaced Daksha’s head with that of a goat and how he beheaded his son Ganesha and replaced Ganesha’s head with that of an elephant. We have also heard folk stories of how devotees offer their head as a sacrifice to the goddess Durga, who then, replaces the head and then blesses the devotee. These stories come from the Puranic tradition and are about 1,500 years old. However, a thousand years before that, in the Vedic tradition, we find similar stories. Rishi Dadichi’s human head was ..