Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists

""""Mythsof the Hindus & Buddhistsherbs. Then Himalaya s daughter, beholding her fatherthus destroyed, came forth and stood before the GreatGod with her hands joined in prayer. Then Mahadeva,seeing Uma s grief, cast benignant looks upon the mountain,and at once Himalaya was restored to his first estate, andbecame as fair as he had been before the fire. All histrees put forth their flowers, and birds and beasts weregladdened.Then Uma with folded hands addressed her lord : O holyone, lord of creatures," she said,"Ipray thee to resolvemy doubt. Why did this third eye of thine appear?Why was the mountain burned and all its forests? Whyhast thou now restored the mountain to his former stateafter destroying him ?Mahadeva answered :Sinless lady, because thou didstcover up my eyes in thoughtless sport the universe grewdark. Then, O daughter of the mountain, I created athird eye for the protection of all creatures, but the blazingenergy thereof destroyed the mountain. It was for thysake that I made Himalaya whole again."Shiva s FishingIt befell one day that Shiva sat with Parvati in Kailasexpounding to her the sacred text of the Vedas. He wasexplaining a very difficult point when he happened to lookup, and behold, Parvati was manifestly thinking of something else and when he asked her to;repeat the text shecould not, for, in fact, she had not been listening. Shivawas very angry, and he said :Very well, it is clear youare not a suitable wife for a yogi ; youshall be born onearth as a fisherman s wife, where youwill not hear anysacred texts at all."Immediately Parvati disappeared,and Shiva sat down to practise one of his deep contempla-300