Shiva Humbles Mankanaka and Grants Boon
Shiva approaches the dancing Mankanaka and asks why he is so delighted. When Mankanaka shows him the vegetable juice flowing from his wound, Shiva pricks his own thumb — and white ashes emerge instead of blood.
Mahadeva smiled at the sage who was deluded in his delight. "O brahmana," he said, "I am not surprised. Look at me."
Having spoken these words, the wise Mahadeva pricked his own thumb with his fingernail. From that wound emerged ashes — white as snow.
Mankanaka saw this. The ashes were not blood. They were not vegetable juice. They were the mark of a being whose body had been consumed by tapasya (austerity) so complete that even his flesh had turned to ash. The sage was struck with shame. He fell down at Mahadeva's feet.
"I think there is no other god more supreme than the great Rudra," Mankanaka said. "O wielder of the spear, you are the refuge of the worlds of gods and demons. You have created the universe, the three worlds, and everything mobile and immobile. At the destruction of a yuga, everything enters into you. The gods themselves cannot comprehend you — how can I? Brahma and all the other gods can be seen in you. You are everything. You are the maker of the worlds, the one who makes them act. It is through your grace that the gods are free from fear and can rejoice."
Having prayed thus to Mahadeva, the sage remained prostrate. He said, "O Mahadeva, through your grace, may my austerities never diminish."
Then the god was delighted. He spoke to the brahmarshi: "O brahmana, through my grace, your austerities will increase thousandfold. O great sage, I will dwell with you in your hermitage. Those who bathe in Saptasarasvata and worship me will get everything that is difficult to obtain — in this world and the next. There is no doubt that they will go to Sarasvati's world." Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 378