Lord Shiva and the small girl

There was a small village in Tamilnadu where a brahmin lived with his wife and daughter. The brahmin was the priest of the near by Shiva Temple. The small girl was thus brought up as god-fearing person who always liked to spend her time in the Shiva temple talking to shiva. She always believed that one day, Lord Shiva would come and marry her. Her parents let her be, believing she would come out of this once she grew up.

Everyday the brahmin used to carry pots of water to the temple to bathe the Shiva Lingam. He would then decorate it with sandalpaste. The girl would weave garlands of flowers and give it to her father, who would place it on the Shiva Lingam.

But unknown to the father, the girl had a habit. As she finished weaving the flower garland, she would wear it around her neck and look at herself into the mirror. If she liked the way she looked, only then she would hand the garland to her father to be placed on the Shiva Lingam. She told herself, “My Lord should get only the most beautiful garland. So, if it looks beautiful on me, it would look beautiful on Him”.

One day, as she is wearing the garland around herself and looking into the mirror, her fathers comes into the house. He sees the girl with the garland around her neck and is red with anger. He shouts at her and says, “Don’t you know we should offer to God only those things that we have not worn, eaten or touched? We should offer only pure things to Him. Since how many days were you doing this?. She honestly responds, “Every day, father”. The priest really loses his cool. He feels she has dirtied the temple. Mad with anger, he rushes towards his daughter. And she sees his anger and runs towards the temple crying for Lord Shiva to save her.

As her father comes closer to catch her, she runs into the sanctum sanctorum. He rushes and catches hold of her long plaited hair. At that very moment, the Shiva Lingam breaks into 2 and the girl gets pulled into the broken Lingam only with her plait left stuck to the Lingam. That is when the priest realizes what a great devotee his daughter was and that he never understood her greatness. He is left to cry for his loss – both for his daugther as well as missing to see her devotion.