Daksha Prajapathi was the Human being to be created by Lord Brahma.
While there by be differences among the Puranas on some legends, thee is no variation in the Legend of Daksha.
“As mentioned in the Mahabharata and other texts of Hinduism, King Daksha Prajapati, the father of Sati, Shiva’s first wife, performed Yagna at the place where the temple is situated. Although Sati felt insulted when her father did not invited Shiva to the ritual, she attended the yagna. She found that Shiva was being spurned by her father and she burnt herself in the Yajna Kunda itself. Shiva got angry and sent his Gaṇas, the terrible demi-god Vīrabhadra and Bhadrakali to the ritual.[2] On the direction of Shiva, Virabhadra appeared with Shiva’s ganas in the midst of Daksha’s assembly like a storm wind and waged a fierce war with the gods and mortals present culminating in the beheading of Daksha, who was later given the head of a goat at the behest ofBrahma and other gods. Much of the details of the Ashvamedha Yagna (Horse Sacrifice) ofDaksha are found in the Vayu Purana.”
There are quite a few Temples in India where Daksha is reported to have performed the Daksha Yagna.
Kamakya, Assam, near Gwahati,
Kankhal, about 4 km from Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India
Draksharama, Andhra Pradesh,
and curiously,
in Kerala,Kottiyoor.
”
Loard Brahma and Loard Vishnu approached Lord Siva and prayed to shed his anger. Siva became calm and agreed to restore Daksha’s life for yaaga completion. As his head could not be traced, head of a lamb was fixed on Daksha’s body and he was revived. By the grace of Loard Siva Daksha completed his yaaga.
The site of this yaaga was subsequently covered with dense forest. Centuries later hill tribes called Kurichyas were hunting deer in this forest area and he was sharpening his arrow on a stone, suddenly blood oozed out. This strange phenomenon confused the hill tribes and they reported this incident to nearby Padingitta Namboothiri’s illam. The Namboothiri well-versed in tantric lore got an intuition that an idol is lying at a particular spot. Namboothiri told Kurichyas to inform four prominent Nair families in Manathana village. Kurichyas reach Manathana and informed Kulangarayath, Aakkal, Karimbanakkal chathoth and Thittayil families.
All four members of Nair family and Padingitta Namboothiri were went to the spot where the incident happen. Great surprise they found a bleeding stone in the forest. Ablutions with water, ghee and milk could not control the blood flow and finally tender coconut water stopped the blood.
On consultation with astrologer they come to know that it is a holy land where Daksha conducted his yaaga and bleeding stone was a ‘swayambu idol’. It is belived that Lord Siva took form of ‘swayambu ’ next to where Devi Sathi immolated herself in the ‘yaagagni’.
The place where swayambu idol was found is known as ‘Akkare Kottyoor’. “Akkare Kottiyoor” is opened only during the Vyskha Mahotsavam. ‘Ikkare Kottiyoor’ is nalukettu temple complex where regular poojas happening. Regular poojas and other rituals were to be conducted and it is believed that Sri Shankaracharya who set out present day rituals with his spiritual vision.
I am curious as to how a King from Himalayas could have performed this in deep South.
To me Haridwar seems to be the correct one,Kamakya could have been the place where Sati immolated herself.
Inputs welcome.
“The name Draksharama is said to be a corrupted form of ‘Draksharama’ or the garden of Drakshaprajapathi. The place is said to depict the well-known puranic legend of Dakshaprajapathi’s Yagna. According to this, Dakshaprajapathi’s daughter Dakshayani had married Lord Siva, though Drakshaprajapathi was not very happy over it. Once Drakshaprajapathi performed a great yagna, to which, out of his ‘dambha’ and ‘darpa’, he did not invite Lord Siva. Dakshayani was anxious to attend this Yagna of her father, but at the same time could not openly attend it in as much as her Lord viz., Lord Siva, had been deliberately excluded from it. She was thus torn between two compelling desires. Finally, she resolved to attend the sacrifice even though she too had not been invited as the consort of Lord Siva.”
Citation.
http://www.hindubooks.org/temples/andhrapradesh/draksharama/page4.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daksheswara_Mahadev_Temple
http://kottiyoordevaswom.com/index.php/component/content/article?layout=edit&id=107
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