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मरण ं (maraNa M)

 
पुराणम्
English
मरण म् / MARAṆA (M) (death). death is a goddess whose name is mṛtyu. The Purāṇas state that there was no death in the world before the birth of this goddess. In mahābhārata, droṇa parva, Chapter 53 there is the following story about the circumstances in which brahmā created mṛtyu.
Living beings multiplied endlessly on earth. As they had no death, the goddess Earth found their weight too much for her to bear. She went weeping to brahmā and prayed for his help. At that time, rudra and nārada were present in Brahmā's assembly. brahmā said that he did not like destroying living beings. Because of the pressure of rudra and nārada, brahmā created out of Viśvaprakāsa (Cosmic Light) a woman. She was born from the south and brahmā gave her the name “Mṛtyu”. He gave her permission to destroy human beings.
When she heard that she was to kill living beings, she shed tears and brahmā gathered those tears. She went to dhenukāśrama and other places and performed tapas. At last brahmā called her back and assured her that it was not against dharma to kill living beings. He changed the tears he had gathered from her face into the various diseases and returned them to her. He gave those diseases and the god yama as her companions. Thus the goddess mṛtyu started her dance of destruction. (See also under the word punarjanma).