Pārvatī’s Tapas and Marriage

Pārvatī is the daughter of Himavān and Menā. She is also the Śakti who had been Satī. This account is from the Kedāra Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa. It tells of her birth, her service to Bhagavān Śiva, the burning of Manmatha, her hard tapas (austerity) as Aparṇā, Śiva’s test, and the great wedding.

Why Pārvatī had to be born

Satī gave up her body at the yajña of Daksha. After this, Śiva withdrew into the solitude of an ascetic. Now the devas faced the trouble of Tāraka, an asura who had received a vara (boon) that only a son of Śiva could kill him. Śiva was in renunciation, with no sign of union, so the devas saw no way forward. They went to Himavān, the king of the Himālaya, and told him their trouble.

The plan of the devas was put in motion. Śakti herself, the eternal Paraśakti, would be born as the daughter of Himavān. She would win the heart of Śiva by tapas and in time become his wife. From their union Kārttikeya would be born to kill Tāraka. Paraśakti, who had been Satī before, agreed to take birth again.

Pārvatī is born

Pārvatī was born to Himavān, the Himālaya mountain in person, and his wife Menā. From birth she shone with divine marks, and her presence awed all who saw her. She was named Girijā (daughter of the mountain). The ṛshis knew her as the avatāra (incarnation) of Paraśakti. As she grew, her devotion to Śiva was natural and not forced. She had been his wife in her past life, and the memory of him was set deep in her ātmā (soul).

Himavān brought the young Pārvatī to Śiva on Kailāsa to serve him, and offered her as an attendant. Śiva was deep in renunciation. He accepted her presence without attachment. He knew through his all-knowing sight who she was, but he tested the meeting by seeming not to care.

Manmatha is burned

The devas were eager for Śiva to be moved toward union. They arranged for Manmatha, the deva of love, to come to Kailāsa with his wife Ratī and a company of apsarās. Manmatha brought all the power of spring: flowers, bees and a warm, heady breeze. When Pārvatī was near, he drew his flower bow and aimed his arrow of desire at the heart of Śiva.

The arrow struck Śiva, and he felt a moment of stirring. He knew at once what had happened. He turned his third eye, the eye of pure awareness, toward Manmatha. A bolt of fire shot from the third eye and burned Manmatha to ash in an instant. Manmatha became Ananga (the one without a body). His body was destroyed, but his essence went on. Ratī, his wife, wept without comfort.

At this weak moment an asura named Śambara carried off Ratī. He made her a kitchen worker in his house under the name Māyāvatī. She would stay there until Manmatha was born again as Pradyumna, the son of Kṛshṇa. Pradyumna would kill Śambara and win back his wife.

Pārvatī’s hard tapas as Aparṇā

After Manmatha was burned, the renunciation of Śiva seemed only to grow deeper. Pārvatī understood that she would not win him by ordinary service or usual means. She left Kailāsa and went deep into the forests of the Himālaya to do hard tapas in his name.

Her tapas grew in stages over a long time:

• First she stood on one leg for long periods.
• Then she cut down her food until she lived only on fallen leaves.
• At last she gave up even those. So she became known as Aparṇā (she who lives on no leaf).

Her tapas was so strong that its heat was felt through the whole cosmos. The ṛshis who watched her said that her fire matched that of the greatest tapasvins. Her father Himavān was worried. He came to her and argued that she should come home. She refused. Menā wept but could not move her. The words “u mā“, meaning “O mother, don’t!”, which Menā cried to her, became another name for Pārvatī, Umā.

Śiva tests Pārvatī as a vāṭu

Śiva was pleased with Pārvatī’s tapas, but he wished to test her fully before he showed himself. He came to her in disguise as a young vāṭu (celibate student), a brāhmaṇa youth of no special look. He began to blame Śiva in great detail before her. He said that Śiva is a wanderer with no fixed home. He lives in cremation grounds and is covered in ash. He wears skulls and snakes. He has no kula (family line) or gotra (clan) and no proper family. He keeps company with frightening and impure beings. Why would any refined woman want him?

Pārvatī’s companion Vijayā was about to send the rude young man away sharply. But Pārvatī stopped her. Pārvatī spoke to the vāṭu with calm dignity. She would not hear a word against Śiva. All that he had described, the ash, the cremation ground, the skulls and the gaṇas, she understood as signs of Śiva’s greatness beyond the world, and not as faults. She had no interest in any other husband. If the young man could not understand this, he was free to go.

At this, Śiva dropped his disguise and showed himself in his full glory. The test was passed. She had stayed firm in her purpose even when Śiva himself blamed Śiva before her. He agreed formally to marry her.

The betrothal and the preparations

The devas burst out in joy. Ṛshis were sent to Himavān to tell him formally of Śiva’s wish. Himavān was overjoyed and prepared for the greatest wedding the cosmos had seen. Viśvakarman was told to build a maṇḍapa (wedding hall) of ten thousand yojanas. It was made of the finest materials from all the worlds and decorated with gems and kalpavṛkshas (wish-giving trees).

The wedding procession

The wedding procession of Śiva stunned all creation. He rode in divine splendour, but his company was everything that refined taste might fear. Vīrabhadra led it with fearful weapons. Cāṇḍikā walked carrying freshly cut heads. The gaṇas came in every shape and size. Some had animal heads, some had many arms, some blazed with fire, some dripped with blood, and some danced wildly. Bhūtas, piśācas and all kinds of beings that Śiva had gathered as his own companions marched in his honour. Menā, watching from the window of the maṇḍapa, nearly fainted with fear. Only the comfort of Himavān kept her from running away.

The question of kula and gotra

The household of Himavān asked the attendants of Śiva for his kula and gotra. These are the questions asked before a marriage. Nārada stepped forward to answer. His answer was a teaching. Śiva has no kula, for he is the source of all kulas. He has no gotra, for he is the source of all gotras. His gotra is nāda, the first sound from which all difference arises. The source of all classes cannot be asked to fit inside a class. To ask “What is Śiva’s kula?” is as empty as to ask “What colour is space?”

The wedding ceremony

Brahmā himself led the wedding rites, and all the great ṛshis took part. The sacred fires were lit and the vows were taken. Śiva and Pārvatī were joined as husband and wife. When Pārvatī bowed during the ceremony, Brahmā, who was conducting the rites, saw her feet without meaning to. He was overcome by their beauty, and his retas (seed) fell. From this seed, made holy by the setting of the divine wedding, the Vālakhilya ṛshis were born. They are the sixty thousand tiny ṛshis, each the size of a thumb, who fly around the sun.

The four days of joy

After the ceremony the wedding feast went on for four days. The gaṇas feasted and danced wildly. In the end Vīrabhadra had to restore order when their behaviour grew too wild. Gifts were given to all, to ṛshis, brāhmaṇas, gandharvas, apsarās and everyone who came. The whole maṇḍapa rang with music, sacred recitation and joy.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 20–26