Devon Ke Dev...Mahadev, a Hindu spiritual TV drama series, is aired on the Life OK channel. It premiered on December 18, 2011, and tells the story of Lord Shiva, also known as Mahadev. The show is inspired by works by Devdutt Pattanaik and researched from Bodhisattva.
The drama follows the journey of Lord Shiva from a hermit to a householder. Shiva experiences many incarnations and incidents during his life, but this version focuses mainly on major events.
The story begins with Shiva's marriage to Sati, daughter of Prajapati Daksha, a devotee of Vishnu. However, against her father's wishes, she marries Shiva. Shortly after their marriage, Sati dies by self-immolation when her husband insults Daksha during a Yajna ceremony. Despondent, Shiva creates Virabhadra, who kills Daksha but later restores Daksha's life after beseeching his wife. Disheartened, Shiva leaves with the charred body of Sati and wanders the universe. Vishnu splits the body into pieces and shatters them on earth. Shiva transforms these pieces into Shakti Peethas, manifestations of the power of Goddess Adi Shakti.
Sati is reborn as Parvati, the daughter of Himavan, king of the Himalayas and Mainavati. She is also the sister of the river goddess Ganga. Parvati is raised by the Shiva devotee sage Dadhichi, who teaches her devotion to Shiva. Parvati grows up and falls in love with Shiva like Sati did. She slowly remembers her past life and wins Shiva through her asceticism leading to their marriage.
Shiva and Parvati have a son named Kartikeya, who defeats the demon Tarakasura and his brothers. Kartikeya later becomes the King of Devas but asks Indra to continue as the king. After this, Kartikeya is sent to the Dakshin (South) where he is cared for by Meenakshi. Here, he defeats the demon Tripath with the help of her brother. The story continues with the destruction of Tripura, belonging to the revengeful sons of Tarakasura, who were previously given boons by Shiva. Before the destruction of Tripura, Shiva and Parvati's daughter Ashoksundari is born.
After the destruction of Tripura, except for Lord Indra (the King of Devas), everyone congratulates Shiva for destroying Tripura and being the father of Ashoksundari. Rishi Durvasa gives him a special garland, which Shiva gives Narada as prasadam. When Lord Indra accepts the garland, placing it on the trunk of his elephant Airavata, he proves that he is egoistic and throws it away. This angers the sage and he curses Indra and everyone to lose all wealth and fortune. Soon after, King Bali attacks heaven and attempts to steal Amrita (Nectar of Immortality). But it falls into the Ocean of Milk. To get Amrita back, Devas join hands with Asuras to churn the ocean for the Amrita and share it among them.
The churning process, known as Samudra Manthan, is an elaborate procedure. In the process, Devas disadvantage Asuras in many ways. Despite this, they churn the ocean. During this, Lord Vishnu also takes his second incarnation of a turtle Kurma. The churning releases several things from the ocean, including Halahala, a lethal poison that could contaminate all creation. To save everyone, Lord Shiva inhales the poison in an act of self-sacrifice but Parvati rescues him by pressing his neck to stop the poison from spreading. As a result, the color of Lord Shiva's neck turns blue. During this, many things are obtained from the ocean, including Lakshmi, the Goddess of fortune and wealth, who is the eternal consort of Vishnu. Thus, everyone gets their wealth and fortune back. Later, Vishnu secretly takes the Amrita from Asuras and distributes it among Devas.
The story takes some years leap after which it is shown that Kartikeya has been removed from the post of Senapati(head of the army), which pleases Indra and for the first time after so many years, a grown-up Ashoksundari meets Kartikeya. Kartikeya also meets his parents. He enlightens Ashoksundari about meditation and she is so inspired by it that she renounces her life to meditate, which disturbs Parvati.
Looking at the ill happening of the world, how Ahalya is seduced by Indra, Mahadev comes inside. Even after Mahadev tells that he is his father and many other gods tried to tell him, he still refuses. Mahadev gets angry and cuts Vinayak's head.
