You will remember that Shiva had granted Brahma the boon that he would be born as Brahma‘s son. To ensure that this indeed happened Brahma began to perform very difficult tapasya (meditation). But despite all this meditation, nothing happened. This failure greatly angered Brahma and he started to cry. As soon as these teardrops fell on the ground, poisonous snakes were born from the tears. This saddened Brahma even more, since unclean creatures had been born as a result of his tapasya. Brahama was so miserable that he fell down unconscious and died. As soon as Brahma died, eleven beings emerged from Brahma‘s body. They started to cry as soon as they emerged. The word rud means to cry and these beings came to be known as the rudras. The rudras revived Brahma. Brahma realized that Shiva had been born as his son in the form of these eleven rudras and was happy.
Shiva had promised Brahman that he would be born as Brahma‘s son. To achieve this aim, Brahma started to meditate. While he was meditating, a son suddenly apppreared on his lap and began to cry. ―Why are you crying?‖ asked Brahma. ―Because I do not have a name.‖ Replied the boy. ―I will give you a name,‖ said Brahma. ―Because you have cried, you will be known as as Rudra.‖ But the boy continued to cry and it turned out that he wanted a second name. This went on for seven times. Rudra was according given the names Bhava, Shiva Pashupati, Isha, Bhima, Urgra and Mahadeva.
―Where will I live?‖ asked Rudra. Brahma told him that in his eight different forms, he would live in the sun, the earth, the water, the fire, the air, the sky, the bodies of brahmanas and the moon. The Descendants of Bhrigu The sage Bhrigu married Khyati, Daksha‘s daughter. Bhrigu and Khyati had two sons named Dhata and Vidhata. These two were gods. Bhrigu and Khyati‘s daughter was Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. Lakshmi was married to Vishnu. The descendants of the sage Bhrigu were known as the Bhargavas. One of these was the great sage Markandeya. The Vayu Purana also enumerates the descendants of the other sages.