Pārvatī’s Tapas as Aparṇā
Pārvatī, the daughter of Himavān, did a very long tapas (austerity) to win Bhagavān Śiva as her husband. The Pārvatī Khaṇḍa of the Śiva Purāṇa tells that she did it for three thousand years, and that she was given the name Aparṇā because she gave up even leaves for food. The heat of her tapas troubled the three worlds, and the devas went to Bhagavān Śiva, who agreed to marry her.
Nārada teaches the Pañcākshara
Kāmadeva had been burned to ash, and the devas had gone away in confusion. Pārvatī went home in great sorrow. Nārada, whose advice had first set her on this path, came to see her. He saw her grief and gave her the teaching she needed.
Nārada taught Pārvatī the Pañcākshara mantra, the five-syllable mantra “Namaḥ Śivāya”, with its full meaning and power. He said this mantra is the sthūla praṇava, the gross form of Oṃkāra, and the highest upāsanā (devotion) of Bhagavān Śiva. He told her firmly that only tapas toward Bhagavān Śiva through this mantra could win what no one outside could give, not even the arrow of Kāmadeva. Pārvatī took this teaching with complete śraddhā (faith). (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Pārvatī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 21)
Three thousand years of tapas
Pārvatī left her home and put on the bark clothing of an ascetic. She went to the place of her tapas. Over three thousand years she did austerities, each one harder than the one before.
Stage 1: Pañchāgni tapas. She stood in the middle of five fires. There was one fire in each of the four directions, and the blazing sun was the fifth above her. She meditated in their joined heat.
Stage 2: Rain and cold. She stood in the rains of the monsoon, and then in cold water in the winter, with no shelter at all.
Stage 3: Eating less and less. First she lived on fruits only. Then she gave up plucked fruits and ate only fallen leaves, the leaves that fell from the trees on their own. At last she gave up even the fallen leaves and ate nothing at all.
Because she gave up even the leaf (parṇa), she was given the name Aparṇā, “she who ate no leaf”. It became one of her best loved names. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Pārvatī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 22)
The āśrama changes
As her tapas grew deeper, something wonderful happened at her āśrama (hermitage). All the animals there, hunters and hunted alike, became peaceful with one another. The lion lay down beside the deer. The snake and the mongoose lived together with no hate. The whole āśrama became a place of peace, as the sattva (goodness) that her tapas made spread through the world around her. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Pārvatī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 22)
The heat in the three worlds
The tapas of Pārvatī made so much heat (tapas-tejas) that the three worlds began to suffer. The worlds of the devas had already been troubled by the cruelty of Tāraka. Now they were troubled more by the heat from the austerities of one woman. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Pārvatī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 23)
The devas go to Bhagavān Śiva
The devas, led by Brahmā and Vishṇu, knew where the heat came from and what it meant. The tapas of Pārvatī was a great event that called for an answer. They went to Kailāsa and asked to see Bhagavān Śiva.
Nandīśvara received them and spoke for them. In the end Bhagavān Śiva came out of his samādhi (deep meditation). His face was calm and his third eye was still. He heard the request of the devas. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Pārvatī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 23)
Bhagavān Śiva agrees
The devas set out their case. Pārvatī had done tapas of the greatest strength for thousands of years. Tāraka was still hurting the three worlds. Only a son of Bhagavān Śiva could kill him. Only the union of Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī could bring that son. They asked Bhagavān Śiva formally to take Pārvatī as his wife.
Bhagavān Śiva was pleased with the tapas of Pārvatī and knew that it had to be. He agreed and said: “I will marry Pārvatī. From our union the son who will kill Tāraka will be born.” Then he went back into his samādhi. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Pārvatī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 24)
Gaurīśikhara
The place of Pārvatī’s tapas was named Gaurīśikhara, the Peak of Gaurī. It keeps in memory the place where Pārvatī did her great austerities. The name made the place a tīrtha (a holy place) for ever, linked with the power of her tapas. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Pārvatī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 22)
Sources
- Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Pārvatī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 21 (Nārada’s teaching of the Pañcākshara)
- Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Pārvatī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 22 (the tapas, the name Aparṇā, the āśrama, Gaurīśikhara)
- Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Pārvatī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 23 (the heat in the three worlds, the devas go to Kailāsa)
- Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Pārvatī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 24 (Bhagavān Śiva agrees)