Andhaka- Hindu DemonDemon"The Blind Demon"

Birth from Darkness

When Parvati playfully covered Shiva's three eyes with her hands atop Mount Mandara, the universe was plunged into momentary darkness. From Shiva's perspiration born of that darkness, a blind child manifested: Andhaka, whose name means "the blind one." According to the Matsya Purana, when the demon king Hiranyaksha performed severe penance seeking a son, Shiva gave Andhaka to him to raise. Andhaka grew up among the asuras, blind yet powerful, eventually becoming their king after Hiranyaksha's death at the hands of Vishnu's Varaha avatar.

Lust for Parvati

Having attained immense power through austerities, Andhaka conquered the three worlds and displaced the devas from their celestial seats. He learned of Parvati's incomparable beauty and became consumed with desire for her, unaware that she was his own mother. When Shiva was away performing penance, Andhaka marched upon Mount Mandara with his asura armies to seize Parvati by force. The gods rallied to defend her, but Andhaka possessed a formidable boon: from every drop of his blood that fell to earth, a duplicate demon would spring up.

The Slaying by Shiva

Shiva returned and engaged Andhaka in a ferocious battle. To prevent the blood-born duplicates from multiplying, Shiva enlisted the goddess Yogeshvari and the Matrikas, the seven fierce mother-goddesses, to drink the demon's blood before it could touch the ground. Shiva then pierced Andhaka with his trident and held him aloft, suspended between heaven and earth, where the sun's heat and the trident's divine power steadily burned away his sins. Pinned and drained of his demonic blood, Andhaka's inner nature transformed. He became a devoted worshipper of Shiva, and the Shiva Purana relates that Shiva accepted the purified Andhaka as a gana, one of his divine attendants, granting him a place in his retinue on Mount Kailasa.