Nara-Nārāyaṇa Tapas and Manmatha's Attack

Nara and Nārāyaṇa are two of the four sons of Dharma. They gave themselves to tapas (austerity) and made their āśrama at Badarī in the Himālaya. Indra feared their power and sent Manmatha to disturb them, but Manmatha failed, and Urvaśī was born from the thigh of Nārāyaṇa. The same chapter also tells of Śiva burning Manmatha and of the Śivaliṅga at Dārukāvana.

Dharma’s sons

Four sons were born to Dharma: Hari, Kṛshṇa, Nara and Nārāyaṇa. Nara and Nārāyaṇa took to tapas as their own nature. They are two forms of Bhagavān Vishṇu. (Chapter 6)

Tapas at Badarī

Nara and Nārāyaṇa made their āśrama at Badarī in the Himālaya and did tapas of great strength. Indra was uneasy, because he feared the spiritual power they were gathering. He sent Manmatha, who is also called Kāmadeva, with a company of apsarasas (celestial dancers) to disturb the tapas of Nārāyaṇa. (Chapter 6)

Manmatha fails, and Urvaśī is born

Manmatha came to the āśrama with everything he uses: flowers, sweet scents, warm breezes and beautiful apsarasas. He aimed his flower-arrows at Nārāyaṇa. But the power of Nārāyaṇa’s tapas did not move. From the thigh (ūru) of Nārāyaṇa a woman of celestial beauty was born, Urvaśī, more radiant than any of the apsarasas Manmatha had brought.

Manmatha was put to shame. The beauty he meant to use against the ṛshi was surpassed by the ṛshi’s own power of tapas. He went away without gaining his aim.

Urvaśī was born from the divine body of Nārāyaṇa. She was then taken to the court of Indra in svarga, where she became the first of the apsarasas. (Chapter 7)

Śiva burns Manmatha

At another time Manmatha dared to disturb the meditation of Śiva. He shot his flower-arrow at Mahādeva. In anger Śiva opened his third eye and burned Manmatha to ash. The deva of desire lost his body and became Anaṅga, the bodiless one. The Vāmana Purāṇa mentions this event in the context of Śiva’s control over kāma (desire). (Chapter 6)

Dārukāvana and the Śivaliṅga

Dārukāvana is a thick, sacred forest. Some brāhmaṇa ascetics there held strictly to ritual and had neglected Bhagavān Śiva, the Supreme. Śiva came among them in disguise, as a wandering naked ascetic of great beauty. The wives of the ṛshis were drawn to him. The ṛshis were offended and pronounced a śāpa (a curse) on Śiva, and his liṅga fell to the ground. The fallen liṅga burned the earth with its tejas (fiery power).

Then the ṛshis understood how great the one was whom they had cursed. Brahmā appeared and told them that the burning would stop and the world be restored only if they did pūjā to the liṅga where it lay. In this way the Śivaliṅga, set in the earth, became the chief form of pūjā to Śiva. The Dārukāvana account gives this teaching. (Chapter 6)

The four Śaiva traditions

From the Dārukāvana account and the events with it came the four main Śaiva traditions: the Śaiva, the Pāśupata, the Kāruṇika-Siddhānta and the Kāpālika. Each was founded through a particular handing down of Śiva’s teaching, which goes back to the liṅga pūjā that began at Dārukāvana. (Chapter 6)

Sources

Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 6: Dharma’s sons, Nara and Nārāyaṇa at Badarī, Manmatha sent by Indra, Śiva burning Manmatha, Dārukāvana and the Śivaliṅga, the four Śaiva traditions.
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 7: the birth of Urvaśī and her coming to Indra’s court.