Shukra, a brahmana by birth was a son of sage Bhrigu, and an ardent devotee of Shiva. After years of penance he managed to please Lord Shiva who bestowed on him the secret of sanjivanividya– the secret knowledge of immortality, by which he could bring a dead person to life. People feared Shukra for his knowledge and power.  Soon Shukra pledged his allegiance to Asuras and became their preceptor , thus he was known as Shukracharya.

Once a dreadful battle broke out between Asura Andhaka and Shiva’s army. There were high casualties on both the sides and victory seemed far away from the grasp of Devas. At one point it appeared as though Devas would lose the battle as the Asuras literally outnumbered Devas. Nandi, Shiva’s commander wondered, “How is it possible that in spite of killing so many Asuras their numbers doesn’t seem to diminish”? He rushed to Shiva, his master and said, ” My lord, it is time you got into the battlefield, else Devas would certainly lose this battle. Our army is simply getting outnumbered and slaughtered by Asuras”. Listening to Nandi’s pleas Shiva entered the battle and began the massacre of Asuras. But there was no respite, as Asura soldiers kept on coming in hordes. Intrigued by this phenomena Nandi stealthily followed Asuras to their camp and discovered the secret. Shukracharya, the preceptor of Asuras was bringing the dead asuras back to life with the power of sanjivanividya.

Nandi rushed back to Shiva and described what he witnessed at the Asura camp. Shiva realised that if Shukracharya is abducted and hidden away from Asuras he would no longer be able to administer sanjivinividya and bring dead Asuras back to life, and devas could win the battle. Shiva ordered Nandi to capture Shukracharya and bring him. Nandi immediately went ahead and managed to abduct Sukracharya and brought him to Shiva. Shiva grabbed and tucked him away in his mouth, thus hiding Sukracharaya from the Asuras. Soon enough Devas won the battle and Asuras were vanquished. Now it was time to bring Shukracharya back into world from his mouth, else Shiva would have committed the grave sin of killing a learned and distinguished brahmana.
Alas! In the heat of the battle Shiva had unknowingly swallowed Shukracharya, and there was no way to spit him out. Shiva then released Shukracharya back into the world through his body fluid in the form of semen. Shiva thus addressed him ” O scion of Bhrigus! now that you are born out of my body fluids, you are a son to me.”

Story collected by : Vidya Kamat
Text source: Skanda Purana II.16
Location: Pan India
Image copyright : Vidya Kamat