Mārkaṇḍeya
Purāṇic · Devotee of Śiva · Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa
Mārkaṇḍeya, son of the sage Mṛkaṇḍu, is the great example of a devotee saved from death by Śiva. He is also the narrator of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, which contains the Devī Māhātmya (Durgā Saptaśatī), the central text of the worship of the Goddess.
Tradition associates him with the Mahāmṛtyuñjaya mantra to Śiva as the conqueror of death, and his story is told at Śiva temples across India. The Purāṇas also say he was granted a vision of the cosmic dissolution, in which he saw the Lord as a child floating on a banyan leaf.
Tradition says Mṛkaṇḍu was offered a choice: a dull son with a long life, or a wise, devoted son who would live only sixteen years. He chose the second. At sixteen, when Yama came, the boy clung to the Śiva-liṅga. Yama’s noose fell around both, and Śiva burst forth from the liṅga, struck down Yama and blessed Mārkaṇḍeya to remain sixteen forever. Śiva is worshipped in this form as Kālāntaka, “ender of death”.
Mahāmṛtyuñjaya · Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa · Devī Māhātmya · Śiva as Kālāntaka