Parvati

This article contains Indic text. Without rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes or other symbols instead of Indic characters; or irregular vowel positioning and a lack of conjuncts.

Parvati Parvati suckling baby Ganesha. Watercolor on paper (ca. 1820) Devanagari: पार्वती Abode: Himalaya when unmarried, otherwise Kailash Weapon: Trishul, Conch, Chakram, crossbow etc Consort: Shiva Mount: Lion or Tiger

Pārvatī (Sanskrit: पार्वती), sometimes spelled Parvathi or Parvathy, is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is nominally the second consort of Shiva, the Hindu God of destruction and rejuvenation. However, she is not different from Dakshayani or Satī, being the reincarnation of that former consort of Lord Shiva. She is also the mother of Ganesha and Skanda (Kartikeya).Some communities also believe her to be the sister of Lord Vishnu and many of the believers of Shakta philosophy also consider her as the ultimate Divine. In many interpretations of the scriptures, Parvati is also regarded as a representation of Shakti or Durga, albeit the gentle aspect of that goddess because she is a mother goddess otherwise known as Devi .

Generally considered a benign goddess, Parvati when depicted alongside Shiva appears with two arms, but when alone, she is shown having four arms, and astride a tiger or lion.

Etymology

Parvata is one of the Sanskrit words for "mountain"; "Parvati" translates to "She of the mountains" and refers to Parvati being born the daughter of Himavan, lord of the mountains. Parvati's parents are Himavat, the personification of the Himalaya mountains, and the apsaras Menā.

She is also known by a number of other names, including Ambika (mother), Gauri (golden)^[1], Shyama (dark complexioned), Bhairavi (awesome), Kali (black-colored), Umā ^[2], Lalita, Aparna, the maternal epithet Mataji, and many hundreds of others; the Lalita sahasranama contains an authoritative listing.

Symbolism

Ellora sculputures showing Shiva and Parvati

Parvati symbolises many noble virtues esteemed by Hindu tradition. Just as Shiva is at once the presiding deity of destruction and regeneration, the couple jointly symbolise at once both the power of renunciation and asceticism and the blessings of marital felicity. Kalidasa's epic Kumarasambhavam details with matchlessly lyrical beauty the story of the maiden Parvati; her devotions aimed at gaining the favour of Shiva; the subsequent annihilation of Kamadeva; the consequent fall of the universe into barren lifelessness; the subsequent nuptials, in these circumstances, of the partners of many previous births; the immaculate birth of Subrahmanya and the eventual resurrection of Kamadeva after intercession by Parvati to Shiva in his favour.

In classical Hindu mythology, the raison d’être of Parvati, and before that of Sati, is to lure Shiva into marriage and thus into a wider circle of worldly affairs. With the plays of Kalidas (5th-6th centuries) and the Puranas (4th through the 13th centuries) the myths of Sati, Parvati and Shiva acquired comprehensive details.

Parvati thus symbolises many different virtues esteemed by Hindu tradition: fertility, marital felicity, devotion to the spouse, asceticism and power. It is said in the Saundarya Lahari, a famous literary work on the goddess, that she is the source of all power in this universe and that because of her, Lord Shiva gets all his powers. She is occasionally depicted as half of Lord Shiva.

Famous temples

Some of the famous temples where Parvati forms are predominantly worshipped include,

• Meenakshi temple at Madurai in Tamilnadu, India
• Kamakshi Amman temple at Kanchipuram in Tamilnadu, India
• Akilandeswari temple at Thiruvanaikaval in Tamilnadu, India
• Visalakshi temple at Banaras,Uttar Pradesh,India
• Devipuram temple at Viskapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India

Shiva-Parvati, The divine couple as a symbol of fertility and marital felicity	Shiva and Parvati with Ganesh	Shiva, Parvati, Nandi at Halebidu	Parvati as Lalita with Ganesha and Skanda, in the British Museum
Shiva and Parvati, a painting from Smithsonian Institute	This 14th century statue depicts Shiva (on the left) and Umā (on the right}. It is housed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

See also

• Hindu goddess

Notes

References

• Hindu Goddesses: Vision of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Traditions (ISBN 81-208-0379-5) by David Kinsley

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Parvati

• Devotional hymns and eulogies on Parvati

Hindu deities and texts
Female deities	Devi · Saraswati · Lakshmi · Sati · Parvati · Durga · Shakti · Kali · Sita · Radha · Mahavidya · more...
Male deities	Deva · Brahma · Vishnu · Shiva · Rama · Krishna · Ganesha · Murugan · Hanuman · Indra · Surya · more...
Texts	Vedas · Upanishads · Puranas · Ramayana · Mahabharata · Bhagavad Gita
Hinduism · Hindu mythology · Indian epic poetry

Donate to Wikimedia