Satī-Pārvatī Tapas and Śiva-Pārvatī Vivāha

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa tells, in Chapters 37 to 46 of the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, the whole account of Satī and Pārvatī. It begins with a quarrel over prasāda (food offered to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa) and goes on to the yajña (fire ritual) of Daksha, where Satī gave up her body. It then tells of Śiva’s grief, the birth of Pārvatī in the home of Himavat, her tapas (austerity) in the forest, and the wedding of Śiva and Pārvatī. It ends with their thousand years together.

Himavat is the king of the mountains. His wife is Menā. Pārvatī is Satī born again in their house.

The nirmālya and Pārvatī’s vow (Chapter 37)

Sanatkumāra is one of Brahmā’s eternal mānasa-putras (sons born from the mind). He is a paramahaṃsa (a wandering renunciant of the highest rank) and moves freely through all the worlds. He came to Kailāsa carrying prasāda from Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. It was the naivedya (food offering) that had been offered to Kṛshṇa in Goloka.

When Bhagavān Śaṅkara received this prasāda, he fell into a state of deep joy called ānanda-mūrcchā. Waves of love for Kṛshṇa (bhakti) rose in him. Śiva began to dance, not as a performance but from the overflow of joy inside him. The dance shook the mountains, and the devas of all the worlds felt the trembling. Then Śiva fell into mūrcchā, a blissful swoon, overcome by the grace of Kṛshṇa’s prasāda.

At this moment Pārvatī arrived. She found Śiva in his swoon beside the prasāda and asked what had caused it. When she learned that Śiva had received naivedya from Vishṇu’s realm and had felt such joy from it, she was deeply moved. She was also hurt. Why had this Vishṇu-naivedya not been offered to her first? Why should the nirmālya (the used offering that has already been presented to Śiva) be given to others? She spoke with heat. She declared a śāpa (a curse): those who eat Śiva’s nirmālya, without first being made pure by Vishṇu’s prasāda, will be born as dogs in their next life.

Śiva saw that Pārvatī, in her distress, was moving toward deha-tyāga (leaving the body). He made a Pārvatī Stotra, a hymn of apology and praise to his divine wife. The stotra honoured her as the supreme Śakti and as the source of all powers (śaktis) in the cosmos. It called her his beloved, his mother and the very ground of his being. Pārvatī was pleased by it and became calm.

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa sets down a rule here. All naivedya must first pass through Vishṇu, or Kṛshṇa, before it is fit to be shared. The sixteenth part of Vishṇu-naivedya is said to be better than amṛta (the nectar of the devas). Śiva’s nirmālya, not yet made pure through Vishṇu, carries Śiva’s tamasic qualities in a strong form. For this reason, eating it untreated leads to birth as a dog.

This chapter also sets out how the Purāṇa sees Śiva and Pārvatī. Śiva is the highest among the devas, and Pārvatī is the highest among the devīs. Both are always turned toward Kṛshṇa and Rādhā, who are the highest Purusha and Prakṛti, and both are below them.

Durgā’s origin and the first marriage of Satī and Śiva (Chapter 38)

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa gives an account of how Durgā came to be. The devī Durgā did not rise from the power of one deva. She came from the combined tejas (radiant energy) of all the devas, gathered into one form by their shared purpose. The asura Mahishāsura threatened to overturn the order of the worlds. The devas could not stop him one by one, so they poured their tejas together into a single form. From that gathering came the ten-armed Durgā, shining with the light of all the devas.

Durgā, who is called Mahishāsuramardinī (the one who crushed Mahishāsura), fought and killed Mahishāsura and brought dharma back to the three worlds. She holds within herself the śaktis of all the devas, and when she acts, all the devas act through her.

The account then turns to Satī, the daughter of the Prajāpati Daksha. Satī was born in Daksha’s house by her own choice. From her birth she wished to marry Śiva and no one else. Daksha did not want this match. He thought Śiva’s ascetic life, his strange companions (the gaṇas), the ash on his body and his place among the cremation grounds were not right for his daughter. But Satī’s resolve did not change. In the end, because Brahmā pressed for it and the Vedic order allowed it, Satī and Śiva were married. This was one of the great events of that age: the marriage of the highest tapasvin (one who practises tapas) and the highest Śakti.

The same chapter then moves to Pārvatī’s childhood. Satī was born again in the house of Himavat. Pārvatī grew in beauty beyond all the deva-patnīs (wives of the devas). In the fullness of youth this beauty led to garva (pride). A voice from the sky (ākāśavāṇī) told her that she must do tapas to win the husband she wanted. Pārvatī trusted her beauty and at first refused. She said, “I do not need tapas. A beauty like mine draws the devas themselves. Why should I perform austerities?”

The burning of Manmatha

Her pride was ended by what happened to Manmatha, the deva of desire. Indra was worried that Śiva stayed deep in tapas, so that the birth of a child to Śiva was delayed. He sent Manmatha to disturb Śiva’s meditation. Manmatha came to Śiva, who sat unmoving in tapas on Kailāsa, and let fly his flower arrows. Śiva’s third eye opened. It is the eye of all-knowing wisdom, and it opens when Śiva is disturbed from within. A shaft of divine fire came out of it. Manmatha was burned to ash at once.

Rati, Manmatha’s loving wife, fell into terrible grief when she saw her husband’s ashes. Her crying was heart-breaking, and it reached the devas and the ṛshis.

For Pārvatī the lesson was direct. The one she meant to marry was so deep in tapas that even the deva of desire, whom no living being had ever fully resisted, was burned to nothing when Śiva’s eye opened. This was not an ordinary tapasvin whom beauty alone could draw. This was Mahādeva. Her pride was gone, and she saw that she needed tapas.

Śiva at the Akshaya Vaṭa (Chapter 38, continued)

Śiva himself had come to Pārvatī in a surprising way. Near the Akshaya Vaṭa, the banyan tree that never perishes, Śiva came to her in a beautiful form set with jewels, not like his usual look of ash and animal skin. He gave her this blessing: “You shall have a husband equal to Nārāyaṇa in virtue.” He also promised that she would have a son of great glory. Then Śiva left and went back to his tapas.

Pārvatī’s tapas: two years in the forest (Chapter 39)

Her pride was gone, and Śiva’s blessing had made her sure. Pārvatī left the house of her father Himavat and went into the forest. She went to the banks of the Devagaṅgā, a holy river of the Himālaya, to do her tapas.

The first year. Pārvatī kept a hard discipline, but within limits. She ate no cooked food and lived on fruits, roots and leaves. She bathed three times a day in the cold Himālaya waters. She did japa (repeated chanting) of Śiva’s mantra without a break. She stood for hours in meditation, perfectly still.

The second year: pañca-tapas. In the second year her tapas grew to pañca-tapas, the austerity of five fires. In summer she sat among five fires: four fires in the four directions and the sun burning overhead as the fifth. In the rains she left the shelter of the forest and sat in the open in the śmaśāna (cremation ground), which is Śiva’s place. She sat with no cover in rain, wind and cold, and meditated. In winter she stood in the icy water of the Himālaya river up to her neck and stayed there for long periods, continuing her japa and meditation.

By the end of the second year her body had been made fine by tapas. It was a vessel of gathered tejas. Her beauty had changed from the soft loveliness of youth into the shining austerity of a great tapasvinī (a woman who practises tapas). The forest trembled with the power of her tapas. The animals came to her without fear, and flowers bloomed out of season around her.

Then Pārvatī made ready for the next stage. She had gathered wood for a fire and was about to enter it as a final act of giving herself up. At that moment Śiva appeared. He came as a brāhmaṇa brahmacārin (a young brahmin student who keeps celibacy), shining and calm. He greeted Pārvatī with a blessing and praised the power of her tapas. He asked who she was and what she wanted. She told him who she was: she was Satī born again, the daughter of Himavat, and she wanted the same husband she had always had. Śiva listened, blessed her again and went away, back to his tapas. Pārvatī returned to Himavat’s house with a heart that knew the meeting would come.

Śiva as a bhikshuka at Himavat’s door (Chapter 40)

The next part took place at Himavat’s house. Śiva came to Himavat’s door dressed as a bhikshuka (a wandering beggar) and asked for alms. The disguise was complete. He looked like an ordinary wandering ascetic, nothing special.

But Himavat had deep spiritual sight. As the bhikshuka stood at his door, Himavat saw one great vision after another in or around him. He saw Vishṇu, who keeps the worlds. Then he saw Śiva himself in his full cosmic form. Then Brahmā, then Sūrya, then Agni, then Candra, and last the formless Paramātmā, the hidden ground of all being. Each vision rose and faded within the figure of the plain beggar at his door.

Then the bhikshuka made his request. He asked for Pārvatī as his bhikshā (alms). This shocked Menā, Himavat’s wife and Pārvatī’s mother. She refused with great force. She could not think of giving her daughter, so beautiful and of such high birth, to what looked like a wandering beggar of unknown family. Her refusal was strong and protective, the whole force of a mother’s love set against what seemed a terrible mismatch.

The devas watched this standstill and made a plan. They asked Bṛhaspati, the teacher of the devas, to go to Himavat’s house and speak badly of Śiva’s character and looks. They hoped that hearing Śiva run down by the teacher of the devas would turn Menā the other way, toward accepting him. But Bṛhaspati, in his wisdom, refused. He said, “I will not speak ill of Mahādeva. Not even as a plan.”

Śiva as his own critic, and Vasishṭha’s teaching (Chapter 41)

Then Śiva himself took the part that Bṛhaspati had refused. He came to Himavat’s house in the form of a brāhmaṇa who found fault, and he listed, with a serious face, all of Śiva’s “faults”. He smears his body with ash from the cremation grounds. He wears animal skin. His companions are the strangest and wildest of beings, the gaṇas, some of them deformed, fierce or unlike anyone else. His home is a cremation ground or a mountain top. He wanders with no fixed home. He has no known family line fit for a marriage match. And so on.

The aim of this self-criticism was to stir Menā and Himavat so that they would turn toward acceptance. When the fault-finder left, the ṛshis could then give the other side.

The Saptarshis (the seven great ṛshis) arrived with Arundhatī, the wife of Vasishṭha and a model pativratā (a wife devoted to her husband). Her presence mattered. She stands for the ideal of a wife’s devotion, and bringing her to advise on Pārvatī’s marriage showed what standards were being used.

Vasishṭha then gave a long teaching. He set out the order of the cosmos as the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa gives it. Kṛshṇa is the highest Paramātmā. Brahmā, Vishṇu and Maheśvara (Śiva) are his vibhūtis (expressions) of his own powers of making, keeping and dissolving. Rādhā is the vāmāṅga (left side) of Kṛshṇa. Sarasvatī rose from his mukha (face), and Lakshmī from his vaksha (chest). Durgā is the gathered tejas of all the devas. She is not a separate being but the active power of all divine strength in the universe.

Vasishṭha named the fourteen Manus of the present cycle of creation:

Svāyambhuva
Svārocisha
Uttama
Tāmasa
Raivata
Cākshusha
Śrāddhadeva, called Vaivasvata, the present Manu
Sāvarṇi
Dakshasāvarṇi
Brahmasāvarṇi
Dharmasāvarṇi
Rudrasāvarṇi
Devasāvarṇi
Indrasāvarṇi

Vasishṭha also told the account of Anararaṇya and his daughter Padmā. Anararaṇya was a king who gave his daughter to an aged ṛshi named Pippalāda. Padmā accepted this marriage without complaint and served her old husband with perfect devotion as a pativratā. Dharma, in disguise, tested her devotion at many points and found it never wavered. For her steadiness Dharma gave great blessings to both Padmā and her husband. This was told to Menā as an example: a husband’s worth is not set by his looks or his age, but by his inner nature and by divine approval.

The ṛshis then fixed the auspicious muhūrta (time) for the wedding. It was a Monday (Somavāra) in the month of Mārgaśīra, under Rohiṇī nakshatra (the lunar star best for marriage, as it is the Moon’s beloved), with Candra (the Moon) and Budha (Mercury) in the lagna (the rising sign).

Satī’s deha-tyāga at Daksha’s yajña (Chapter 42)

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa gives the account of what happened at Daksha’s yajña, the ritual that ended the first form of the union of Śiva and Satī.

Daksha, Satī’s father, held a great yajña. He invited all the devas, the ṛshis and their wives, but he left out Śiva and Satī on purpose. Satī heard of the yajña and wanted to see her parents and family, and she felt a strong pull to go. Śiva advised her not to. To go to a gathering where you have not been invited, above all when the leaving out is on purpose, is to bring on yourself the shame of being unwanted.

But Satī did not turn back. The tie between a daughter and her parents’ home is one of the strongest attachments, even after marriage. She went.

Before leaving she did something remarkable. Through yoga she showed her mother Menā the future, a future already fixed in the order of the cosmos. She told Menā everything. The yajña would be broken. She herself would leave her body at the bank of the Gaṅgā (Gaṅgā tīra). Śiva’s grief would be huge. His army, the gaṇas, would destroy the yajña. And she would be born again in Menā’s own house as Pārvatī.

At the yajña Satī faced Daksha. She spoke to him directly about leaving out Śiva’s share. This broke Vedic dharma, which says that no yajña is complete without Śiva’s portion (the Śiva-bhāga). Daksha, firm in his pride and his dislike of Śiva, refused to admit the wrong.

Satī could not bear to see Śiva dishonoured before her. She performed deha-tyāga. She let go of her prāṇa (life breath) of her own will at the Gaṅgā tīra. Her original form, the form she had before she took birth as Satī in Daksha’s house, went back to Gandhamādana, the divine mountain. What stayed at the Gaṅgā tīra was the body of Daksha’s daughter.

Śiva’s army then came down and destroyed the yajña. They broke the vedi (fire altar), the vessels and the structures, and the proud claims of Daksha.

Śiva’s grief and the Śakti Pīṭhas (Chapter 43)

Śiva came to the Gaṅgā tīra and found Satī’s body. What came over him was beyond ordinary grief. The body lay shining and beautiful. Death had not lessened her. She had chosen her leaving, and her body still held the quality of her tejas. Śiva looked at the body of his beloved and fell into deep mūrcchā.

Then Śiva wandered for a year with Satī’s body, carrying it across the holy land of Bhārata. He could not put it down, and he could not go back to Kailāsa without her. His grief was complete.

As Śiva wandered, Satī’s body slowly broke apart, and her limbs fell at different holy places across Bhārata. Each place where a limb fell became a Śakti Pīṭha, a seat of Devī Satī, a place where the earth itself was charged with Satī’s śakti. The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa counts fifty-two such pīṭhas. They are among the holiest places in all of Bhārata.

The tears that Śiva shed during his year of wandering fell at Kailāsa and made a holy lake, whose water is held to be especially strong for making one pure.

Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa came to Kailāsa with Brahmā, Dharma and Śesha, and found Śiva in the depth of this grief. Nārāyaṇa gave Śiva a deep and orderly teaching. Sukha (happiness) and duḥkha (suffering) come from the working of the three guṇas within māyā. The ātman, which is Śiva’s own true nature, is beyond both. The whole drama of love and loss, meeting and parting, belongs to māyā, and it is the way the Paramātmā plays his līlā (divine play) for the good of all beings. At the highest level, Brahman is both nirguṇa (beyond all qualities and relations) and saguṇa (the Paramātmā who takes a personal form and relates, loves, grieves and teaches).

Nārāyaṇa also taught Śiva the Prakṛti Stotra, a hymn to the highest Śakti, who is named above all as Rādhā. The stotra calls Rādhā:

Kṛshṇavakshaḥsthalasthitā, she who dwells on Kṛshṇa’s chest
Kṛshṇapriyā, Kṛshṇa’s beloved
Kṛshṇapūjitā, she who is honoured with pūjā by Kṛshṇa himself

Nārāyaṇa taught this stotra to Śiva at his moment of deepest grief. The śakti that Śiva had lost in Satī is always present at the highest level as Rādhā.

When Nārāyaṇa had finished teaching, Satī herself appeared to Śiva. She came in a splendid form with a hundred arms, riding through the sky in a chariot set with gems. She spoke to him with love and comfort. She told him she was not lost but changed. She would come back as Pārvatī, born in Himavat’s house, and would marry him again at the right time. Having said this, she vanished.

Śiva rose up fully restored. His grief was gone, not pushed down but truly crossed over, through the double grace of Nārāyaṇa’s teaching and Satī’s own words. Śiva danced, in the pure joy (ānanda) that remained after grief had burned through his heart, and went back to Kailāsa.

Pārvatī’s adornment and Śiva’s beautiful form (Chapter 44)

The talks at Himavat’s house were finished and the muhūrta was fixed, so the wedding preparations began. They were carried out with all the welcome fit for receiving Mahādeva into one’s family.

Himavat’s preparations. Great stores were gathered for the wedding feast: rice, ghee, curd, sweets of every kind, ornaments, fine cloth and gems. The whole house and the settlement around it were decorated with garlands, lamps and auspicious designs.

Pārvatī’s adornment. Her attendants dressed and adorned Pārvatī. Mālatī flowers were woven into her hair. Makarikā-patra-rekhā (fish-shaped leaf lines, an ornamental marking) were drawn on her cheeks. Añjana (eye paint) was put on her eyes, a sindūra mark (a red powder mark) was placed on her forehead, and her body was rubbed with candana (sandalwood paste), aguru (aloe wood) and kastūrī (musk). She wore a fine red silk garment and gem-set earrings. Adorned so, Pārvatī looked like cosmic śakti herself, dressed for her own svayaṃvara (choosing of a husband).

Śiva’s beautiful form. Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa, in his grace, gave Śiva the look of a young and very beautiful man for this day. It was quite unlike his usual form, with ash on his body and matted hair, which he preferred. In this form, given by grace, Śiva arrived.

He came in a gem-set chariot (ratna-ratha). He had one face (eka-vadana) with three shining eyes. His colour was the gold of the campaka flower. He wore a gem-set crown (ratna-kirīṭa) and a garland of mālatī flowers. He was rubbed with candana, aguru and kastūrī and dressed in fine silk. Himavat met him at the gate with the honours due to the greatest of guests, and the devas and ṛshis who had gathered stood up in respect.

Himavat gave gifts fit for the day: one thousand elephants of royal breed, one lakh cows, thirty lakh horses, one lakh dāsīs (women attendants) and one hundred gem-set chariots.

Himavat then spoke the Śiva Stotra, a hymn taken from the Mādhyandina śākhā (branch) of the Sāmaveda. It honours Śiva as the master of all creation. It names him as the one who carries all opposites in himself: tapasvin and householder, destroyer and protector, the terrible and the beautiful. It names him as the eternal partner of the highest Śakti.

The wedding and the sixteen pativratās (Chapter 45)

The vivāha of Śiva and Pārvatī was done with the full Vedic rite. A sacred fire (vivāha-homa) was lit, and all the right mantras were spoken. The pāṇigrahaṇa (taking of the bride’s hand) and the saptapadī (seven steps around the sacred fire) were done. Pārvatī sat on Śiva’s left, the wife’s place. The vivāha-homa was finished, and the brāhmaṇas present were honoured with gifts of gold as dākshiṇā (a fee for the rite).

The sixteen pativratās

Sixteen of the most famous pativratās of all creation were present at the wedding, each invited by the grace of Nārāyaṇa. They are:

Sarasvatī, wife of Brahmā
Lakshmī, wife of Vishṇu
Sāvitrī, wife of the Sūrya principle
Jāhnavī, the river Gaṅgā, wife of the cosmic order
Rati, wife of Manmatha
Aditi, mother of the Ādityas
Śacī, wife of Indra
Lopāmudrā, wife of Agastya
Arundhatī, wife of Vasishṭha
Ahalyā, wife of Gautama
Tulasī, the holy plant, wife of Vishṇu in his tulasī form
Svāhā, wife of Agni
Rohiṇī, wife of Candra
Bhūdevī, the earth devī, wife of Vishṇu
Śatarūpā, wife of Svāyambhuva Manu
Saṃjñā, wife of Sūrya

Each of the sixteen made a playful remark about Śiva. They spoke about his strange looks, the ash on his body, his gaṇas, or some other part of his unusual nature. These remarks were not rude. They were loving teasing, the kind that is fitting only among those who honour someone deeply. Śiva answered each one with equal affection and quiet wisdom: “You are all like mothers to me.” With this answer Śiva honoured them as the great pativratās of creation, placed himself as their son in the family of the cosmos, and turned the teasing into a blessing.

Manmatha is brought back

One of the most moving moments of the wedding was Rati’s plea for her husband’s return. She had been a widow since Śiva’s third eye burned Manmatha to ash. She had seen all that followed: Pārvatī’s tapas, Śiva’s recovery, and the talks about the wedding. She had carried the grief of widowhood while taking part in the wedding of the one whose tapas had made her a widow. At the wedding, with Śrīhari (Vishṇu) and Brahmā pleading for her, Rati came to Śiva with folded hands and made her plea.

Śiva’s heart cannot hold anger for long. He is āśutoshā (quickly pleased, quickly calmed). He looked at Rati with a kṛpā-drishti (a look of kindness). Manmatha was brought back to life. He rose from the ashes in his full beauty and power and was joined again with Rati, and her grief melted in one moment of pure joy.

Himavat then gave the wedding feast to all the devas who had come. Śiva and Pārvatī ate together, making their union holy by sharing food.

After the wedding: the thousand years and the birth of Skanda (Chapter 46)

After the wedding came the joyful events that follow it (maṅgala-varṇana).

Rati and Manmatha. Rati and the revived Manmatha enjoyed their own happy reunion. The Purāṇa says it lasted one hundred divine years, a time of unbroken joy for a couple whose parting had been so hard.

Śiva and Pārvatī together. Śiva and Pārvatī were joined again as husband and wife, after Satī’s death, Pārvatī’s tapas, the talks and the wedding. They went away to private places of the devas for their time together. The Purāṇa names the places where they stayed over a thousand divine years: Śataśṛṅga, Malaya, Gandhamādana, Nandana, Pushpabhadrā, Pāribhadrā, Bhadrakaṃ, Puliṃda, Kaliṃda, Puṃḍra, Piṃḍāraka, Andhaka, and others. Each place had its own beauty: divine forests, mountain peaks, holy rivers and divine gardens.

The effect on the cosmos. The force of the union of Śiva and Pārvatī was felt through the whole cosmos. The earth shook. Ādiśesha, who carries the earth on his thousand hoods, felt the strain. The cosmic tortoise Kūrma, who holds up Śesha, strained as well. In the subtler worlds, the seven vāyus (winds, the life forces that sustain living things in all three worlds) began to slow, and the prāṇa of living beings was touched.

The devas felt this shaking and feared it would grow if the union went on without end. They went to Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa and told him what was happening. They asked whether they should disturb Śiva and Pārvatī.

Nārāyaṇa answered clearly: “Do not disturb them. The Paramātmā does not step into the holy union of Purusha and Prakṛti at this level. After one thousand divine years the union will end by itself. Śiva will come out. The tejas that has gathered in the union, too great for any womb to carry directly, will be placed in Gaṅgā and in Kṛttikā, and from it Skanda will be born.” Skanda, also called Kārttikeya, is thus the child of the tejas of the highest tapasvin’s thousand-year union with the highest Śakti, placed in these holy bearers.

The fruit of hearing this chapter. The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa tells the phala (fruit) of hearing the Maṅgala Varṇana chapter. Those who hear it will never be parted from their relatives. And those who are already apart from family, through events, distance or quarrel, will be joined with them again within one month of hearing this account.

Sources

Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 37: the nirmālya, Pārvatī’s vow, the Pārvatī Stotra
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 38: Durgā’s origin, Satī and Śiva’s marriage, Pārvatī’s pride, the burning of Manmatha, Śiva at the Akshaya Vaṭa
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 39: Pārvatī’s tapas
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 40: Śiva as a bhikshuka, Bṛhaspati’s refusal
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 41: Śiva as his own critic, Vasishṭha’s teaching, the muhūrta
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 42: Daksha’s yajña, Satī’s deha-tyāga
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 43: Śiva’s grief, the Śakti Pīṭhas, Nārāyaṇa’s teaching
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 44: Pārvatī’s adornment, Śiva’s beautiful form, the Śiva Stotra
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 45: the wedding, the sixteen pativratās, Manmatha’s revival
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 46: the thousand years, the birth of Skanda

Satī-Pārvatī Tapas and Vivāha