Goddess Parvati was the daughter of King Himavat, who was the King of the Mountains/Himalayas. Her name means ‘daughter of the mountain.’ She is the consort of Lord Shiva, the Destroyer Archetype in Hinduism, and an incarnation of Sati, his first wife. She is also a form of the Supreme Goddess or Divine Mother, Adi Parashakti, who powers all creation. Parvati has many forms, some of which are fierce. But in this form, the Goddess has a compassionate and gentle form. She is the Goddess of love, marriage, and fertility.
Devotees worship each of her forms as an individual goddess. She has at least a 100 names based on her different roles in mythology. And, as Goddess Lalita Maha Tripura Sundari (one of the 10 Mahavidyas), Parvati has another 1000 names, which are listed in the sacred text, Lalita Sahasranama, in the Brahmanda Purana. She contains within herself all the roles a woman performs in society and family.
Parvati is the mother of Lord Ganesha, Lord Muruga, and Ashokasundari. According to the Puranas, she is the sister of Lord Vishnu, the Preserver Archetype in Hinduism. Shiva is seldom worshipped in the absence of Parvati, as she is his ‘shakti’ or divine energy of Shiva and vice versa. They cannot exist without each other.
Parvati, Lakshmi, and Saraswati form the triad of Hindu goddesses called Tridevi, which is the female version of the Trimurti (Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma).
The mythology of Goddess Parvati makes for interesting reading. Here are some intriguing facts about Parvati:
1. She is Adi Parashakti or the Mother of the Universe
Adi Parasahakti means ‘first supreme energy’. The Puranas (Kalika Purana, Brahmanda Purana, Devi Bhagavata Purana, and Shiva Purana) describe her as a mother whose energy is behind the processes of creation, preservation, and destruction of the universe. Parashakti is said to have created the Trimurti.
Shiva supposedly got his power after he worshipped and meditated on Adi Parashakti, using the Beeja Mantra, for thousands of years. She is the supreme spirit beyond any form.
2. Dasa Mahavidyas
The Divine mother goddess has 10 forms called Dasa Mahavidya. These are Wisdom goddesses. “Dasa” denotes ‘ten,’ Maha means ‘great’, and ‘vidya’ means ‘wisdom.’ Each of the Mahavidyas has her own name, story, personality, and Mantras. Kali, Tara, Maha Tripura Sundari, Bhuvaneshwari, Bhairavi, Chinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi, and Kamala are their names.
The Mahavidyas are believed to control all the nine planets and maintain the cosmic order.
3. Sati/Dakshyani
Sati, or Dakshyani, was the daughter of Daksha. She wed Lord Shiva against her father’s wishes. Daksha thought Shiva, who wore a tiger skin, had matted hair and hung out with ghouls, ghosts, goblins, etc., was not the right match for his daughter, a princess and the granddaughter of Lord Brahma. But Sati loved him. Due to a revelation, she knew that he was the Supreme God. She won Shiva’s love only after performing severe penance. After their marriage, Daksha performed a Yajna. But he did not invite Sati and Shiva. Sati took the form of Adi Parashakti, cursed Daksha, and jumped into the yagna fire.
After Sati’s death, Shiva was utterly dejected and decided never to marry again and lead a life free of worldly attachments. But the gods persuaded the Goddess to take birth as Parvati to end Shiva’s isolation.
4. Ardhanarishvara
This is the combined form of Shiva and Parvati, where the right half is Shiva, and the left half is Parvati. Adi Parashakti supposedly created Shiva from herself to balance the feminine and masculine energies.
When Parashakti devolved her power as Parvati and became Shiva’s consort, it was essential to show the world that Shiva and Parvati were a single entity. As Ardhanarishvara, they combine dualities - father and mother, ascetic and worldly, fierce and gentle, and creative and destructive.
5. Tara: The Goddess who saved Shiva from Halahala poison
Tara is the second Dasa Mahavidya. She is believed to be the one who created the 1st seed from which Vishnu was born, says the Shakti Mahabhagawat. During Samudra Manthan (churning of the ocean), Shiva fell unconscious after drinking Halahala, a powerful poison that emerged from it. Parvati then appeared in the form of the maternalTara, took him on her lap, and fed him with her breast milk. This helped to revive Shiva. Since then, Lord Shiva became Nilkantha, the blue-throated one (his throat turned blue when he held the poison in his throat. Tara became Neel Saraswati as she absorbed the poison.
6. Goddess Annapurna
One day, Shiva and Parvati had an argument. It was on the importance of Prakriti (nature). Shiva declared that everything materialistic was only an illusion. Parvati was annoyed when he said that even food is an illusion. To prove him wrong about the importance of food, Parvati vanished from Kailas. With her, all food disappeared as well. The world faced starvation. Even Shiva had nothing to eat. So, everyone begged Parvati to come back. She returned in the form of Goddess Annapurna, and the food problem was resolved. It also made everyone realize the importance of nature or Prakriti.
7. Goddess Meenakshi
Goddess Meenakshi, an incarnation of Parvati, was born to the childless King Malayadwaja Pandyan and his queen, Kanchanamala, of Madurai. She was born in a fire pit. Due to her fish-shaped eyes, she was called Meenakshi. Oddly, the Goddess had three breasts. The king came to know that her third breast would vanish when she met her soulmate.
Meenakshi was raised as a warrior princess and became the king’s successor. When she reached Kailas and met Shiva in the form of Sundareshwar, her third breast disappeared. So, she took him to her kingdom, and they wed.
The Karna Parva of Mahabharata says that King Malayadwaja died in the battle of Kurukshetra. Goddess Meenakshi became the ruler when the Mahabharata war ended and ruled her kingdom with Shiva as a mortal.
8. Fisherwoman Parvati
Once, when Shiva was explaining the mysteries of the Universe and Vedas to Parvati, she lost her concentration. Irked, he cursed her to be reborn on earth as a fisherwoman. So, Parvati was born as a baby girl under a large tree. The chief of the fishermen in that place found her and raised her as his daughter. He named her Parvati. She grew into a beautiful woman, and to woo her back, Shiva also turned into a fisherman and married her.
9. Andhakasura – the Asura Son of Parvati
The Shiva Purana says that one day, Parvati covered Shiva’s eyes from behind. Her hand sweated from the massive energy, and a drop of sweat fell on the ground. A dark and blind son was born from the sweat. Shiva and Parvati named him Andhaka (which means ‘born in darkness’). Later, Shiva offered the boy to the asura, Hiranyaksha, who worshipped Shiva to get a child.
10. Vahana/ Vehicle of Goddess Parvati
Parvati’s vehicle is a lion called ‘Dawon’. It is a half-tiger. The gods gave Dawon to serve the Goddess as her mount. In mythology, Dawon has another name - Ghatokbahini Singha, a hybrid of lion and tiger.
Benefits of worshipping Goddess Parvati
- People worship Goddess Parvati for the following reasons:
- Good fortune for newly-wed couples.
- Marital harmony and bliss
- Asceticism and spiritual power
- Devotion for the spouse
- Progeny blessings
- Love marriage
- Removes delays in marriage
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