Virabhadrasana.

Lord Shiva (The supreme ruler of the universe) was married to Sati, the daughter of a powerful priest named Daksha.  Daksha was against this union and when he held a magnificent Yajna (ritual sacrifice), he did not invite Lord Shiva or Sati.

Sati was determined to go to the Yajna and meet the people attending the ceremony, even though Shiva tried to dissuade her form going.  Upon her arrival, Sati was greeted coldly and she and Daksha got into an argument.  Sati was saddened and humiliated by her father and the way he criticised Shiva.

Sati became enraged and loathed her father, she trembled with disgust and indignation at  being so cruelly disappointed by her father.  She decided that it was her father who had given her this body, it was his blood in her veins and she no longer wanted to dwell within it.

Closing her eyes and going deep into a meditative trance, her body burst into flames (immolation).

When Shiva got word of his wife, Satis death, he was devastated. He pulled out tufts of his hair and threw them to the ground, where two of his fiercest warriors Virabhadra and Bhadrakali arose.



Virabhadra

Vira (Hero) + Bhadra (Friend). Shiva ordered these warriors to go to the Yajna and destroy Daksha and all the guests assembled.

Virabhadra, with swords in both hands, thrusts up through the earth from deep underground (virabhadrasana 1)

Establishing his arrival for everyone to see, he finds his opponent, Daksha (virabhadrasana 2)

Moving swiftly, he lunges forward and cuts off Daksha's head (virbhadrasa 3).

Meanwhile Shiva has performed the fearsome Tandava dance with Sati's charred body draped over his shoulders.  During this dance, Sati's body came apart and fell into fifty two pieces in different places around the world (called Shakti Peethas, and are places of pilgrimage.)

Shiva brings Daksha back to life and replaces his decapitated head with one of a goat.  Daksha spends the remainder of his life as a loyal and dedicated devotee of Shiva.

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