Chapter 6

Parvati's Penance

Kamadeva failed, so the daughter of the mountain took off her ornaments and went to that peak to do penance herself

She took off her ornaments

After Kamadeva burned, the gods had given up. Parvati had not.

"Shiva cannot be woken by desire," she said. "Then I will meet him on his own ground. I will win him through penance."

She took off her ornaments, traded silk for bark, left the palace, and climbed to a peak of that same mountain — the one that afterward came to be called "Gauri-shikhar."

In every season

In summer she lit fires around herself and sat at the centre — the sun blazing above, embers on every side. Through the rains she sat in the open, with no roof over her. In winter she stood neck-deep in water, amid the snow.

First she gave up grain, then fruit, then leaves. In the end, not even fallen dry leaves. From this came one of her names — Aparna, the one who ate not even a leaf.

Her mother Mena watched from a distance and wept: "u ma" — "oh, don't." Tradition holds that Parvati's other name, Uma, came from those very words.

Seven sages, a test

Shiva sent the Saptarishis to test her.

The sages came and began to run Shiva down: "He smears himself in ash, wears snakes, has neither house nor lineage. He lives among ghosts in cremation grounds. You're a princess — let us arrange your match with Vishnu instead. Vaikuntha, Lakshmi's company, a palace of gold."

Parvati's expression hardened. "What you describe isn't a lack in Shiva — it's his own choosing. I've made my choice too. If not in this birth, then the next — but it will be Shiva."

The sages returned smiling. Parvati had passed the first part of the test.

The brahmachari who spoke against himself

Then a young brahmachari appeared — lean, radiant, alone.

He too began running Shiva down, more sharply than the sages had: "All this penance, for a beggar? He wears a garland of skulls at his neck. Ghosts will walk in his wedding procession. Your mother will faint at the sight of him."

Parvati turned away and rose to leave. "Even one who merely listens to Shiva being reviled shares the fault. And to speak with the one doing the reviling is itself a sin."

Then the brahmachari's form dissolved. Shiva stood before her.

"The penance is complete," he said. "You have proved your devotion three times over — before the sages, before me, and before my own insults. Now I will send word to your father."

The procession that made the mother faint

The marriage was fixed. The Saptarishis carried a formal proposal to Himavan.

Then the wedding procession arrived. At its head walked Shiva — matted hair loose, ash covering his body, a snake at his neck — and behind him came his ganas: some headless, some three-legged, ghosts and spirits, drums and skulls.

Mena climbed to the roof to watch the procession arrive, and fainted at the sight, collapsing where she stood.

Then Shiva changed his form — richly ornamented, the moon resting on his brow, a bridegroom unlike anyone had ever seen. Mena came to, and the marriage went ahead. Brahma officiated as priest, Vishnu took the ceremonial role of the bride's brother, and the couple circled the fire seven times.

The daughter of the mountain had won through penance what Kamadeva's arrows never could.

Note: The story of Parvati's penance and marriage is in the Shiva Purana (Rudra Samhita, Parvati Khanda), the Skanda Purana and the Kalika Purana; its fullest literary form is Kalidasa's "Kumarasambhava" (the argument by Shiva as a brahmachari is in the fifth canto). The explanations of the names "Aparna" and "Uma" are traditional. In the Bala Kanda of the Ramayana this story is brief. The tradition of linking Hartalika Teej to this penance is in North India and Nepal.

Source: from several texts, Parvati's Penance

Now — how much stayed with you?

Why is that?

After Kamadeva's burning, which path did Parvati choose to win Shiva?

She asked the gods to send Kamadeva again
She tried to draw Shiva with her beauty and ornaments
She took off her ornaments, left the palace, and went to do harsh penance herself, like Shiva
She got Himavan to put pressure on Shiva

Read the whole story — To Shiva in his own language

Parvati's understanding was plain: Shiva is an ascetic, and an ascetic can be won not by want but only by penance.

This is why this chapter is the reverse of the last — there Kamadeva was arranging beauty and spring; here Parvati is leaving all of that.

It's another angle on the same idea: Shiva stands outside the conventional order, so reaching him means stepping outside it too.

Fact

How did Parvati get the name "Aparna"?

Because at the end of her penance she gave up eating even fallen dry leaves
Because she lived in a parna-kuti (a hut of leaves)
Because she did penance on a stone bed on the mountain
Because her father's name was Parna

Read the whole story — A name from giving up food, step by step

In both the Shiva Purana and the Kumarasambhava, Parvati's penance deepens in stages: first grain, then fruit, then green leaves, and in the end not even fallen dry leaves.

"Aparna" is the name of that last stage — and it is the harshest of Parvati's many names.

Tradition links another of her names, "Uma," to her mother Mena's "u ma" (oh, do not) — that is, Parvati's names themselves tell the story of this penance.

Who said it?

"What you have said is not a lack in Shiva, it is his choice. I have made my choice too." — Who said this, and to whom?

Shiva, to the Saptarishis
Mena, to Parvati
Himavan, to the sages
Parvati, to the Saptarishis

Read the whole story — A choice in the face of reviling

The Saptarishis were the first part of the test: they counted every "lack" in Shiva — ash, snakes, being homeless, no known lineage — and offered a match with Vishnu in return.

Parvati's answer does not deny these "lacks" — it calls them Shiva's choice. That difference is the heart of this chapter.

The sages go back smiling, because this is what they came to hear. The real, hard part of the test was still to come — Shiva himself.

Who am I?

I came in the guise of a young brahmachari and began to revile myself before the woman who was doing penance for me. When she rose in anger to leave, I showed my true form. Who am I?

Narada
Shiva
Brahma
One of the Saptarishis, again

Read the whole story — An argument against oneself

This scene is the most famous part of the fifth canto of Kalidasa's "Kumarasambhava" — Shiva comes as a brahmachari and argues against himself so well that Parvati is in anguish.

Parvati's limit comes when she says that even to hear Shiva reviled is a sin — and turns her face away and walks off. That is when the guise falls.

That is, Shiva tested Parvati three ways: reviling from others' mouths (the sages), reviling from a stranger's mouth (the brahmachari), and whether she bears the reviling. In all three Parvati held true.

What happened?

When Shiva's wedding procession reached Himavan's house from Kailasa, what happened first?

Himavan sent the procession back
Shiva entered straight in his beautiful form
Mena, seeing the procession
The marriage took place at once, with no obstacle

Read the whole story — A procession that was frightening

In the Shiva Purana the description of the procession is deliberately fearsome: ganas of every shape, some headless, some many-legged, with ghosts and drums.

Mena's fainting is no joke — it's the scene where the clash running through this whole cycle of stories plays out: the house inside the order, and the bridegroom outside it.

Shiva then taking a beautiful form is a concession, not a pretence — he changes his form for the in-laws, but not his nature.

Whose son?

Whose daughter is Parvati?

Of the mountain-king Himavan and Mena
Of Prajapati Daksha, in this birth
Of the ocean, like Lakshmi
Of Ganga and Himavan

Read the whole story — Daughter of the mountain, a second time

Giving up the body at Daksha's sacrifice, Sati had wished exactly this: a next birth in a house where Shiva is not insulted. There is no better house than Himalaya's — the neighbour of Shiva's home Kailasa.

In tradition Ganga is Himavan's elder daughter and Parvati the younger — that is, the two are sisters, and both are later joined to Shiva: one a life-companion, one in the matted hair.

Parvati's names — Parvati, Girija, Haimavati — are all made from this one thing: she is the daughter of the hill, and the hill is Shiva's home.

Riddle

I was tested three times — once by seven sages, once by a stranger, and each time I was made to hear my chosen one reviled. I earned this right by taking off my ornaments and giving up even leaves for food. Who am I?

Sati, before Daksha's sacrifice
Sita, in the Ashoka grove
Rati, for Kamadeva
Parvati, in the penance she did for Shiva

Read the whole story — Penance, then a test

In Parvati's story penance and test are two separate stages: first years of harsh penance, then the tests Shiva sends after that.

Every test checks one thing: does Parvati want Shiva in spite of his form, or is she hoping for some other form of him.

Parvati's answer is the same every time — Shiva is chosen as he is. The marriage rests on this.

Put it in order

Which is the correct order of events?

The Saptarishis' test → Parvati's penance → the brahmachari's test → the marriage
Kamadeva's burning → Parvati taking off her ornaments and doing penance on Gauri-shikhar → the Saptarishis' test → Shiva as a brahmachari testing her and showing his form → the marriage being fixed → the fearsome procession and Mena's fainting → Shiva's beautiful form and the seven circuits
The marriage → the procession → Parvati's penance → the Saptarishis' test
The brahmachari's test → the Saptarishis' test → Parvati's penance → Kamadeva's burning

Read the whole story — Penance, test, marriage

This chapter moves through three clear stages: what Parvati does herself (penance), what is done to her (the test), and what follows as a result (the marriage).

The turning point comes when the brahmachari reveals his true form — that is where the story turns from penance to marriage.

The last scene — the fearsome procession, then the beautiful form — is a small sample of Shiva's whole nature: he comes as he is, and changes his form only when he must.

The texts disagree

Where is the fullest form of the story of Parvati's penance and marriage found?

The story is in the Shiva Purana (Parvati Khanda), the Skanda Purana and the Kalika Purana; its fullest and most famous literary form is Kalidasa's "Kumarasambhava"
This story is only in the Ramayana
This story is in the Vedas at length
This story is a main part of the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata

Read the whole story — Purana and poem, together again

As in the last chapter, here too there are two kinds of source: the Puranas give the frame of the story (the need to kill Taraka, the penance, the marriage), and Kalidasa makes it poetry (the brahmachari argument, the description of the procession).

In the Bala Kanda of the Ramayana, Vishvamitra tells this story to Rama and Lakshmana, but there the emphasis is on the descent of the Ganga and the birth of Kartikeya, less on the penance.

Shiv-Mahima takes the Puranic frame as its base and says that the most-remembered scenes come from an epic poem.

Later tradition

In North India and Nepal, the "Hartalika Teej" fast of unmarried women is linked to which story?

To Sati's giving up of the body
To the Ganga coming down to earth
To this very penance of Parvati
To Shiva's drinking of the poison

Read the whole story — One penance, one fast

In Hartalika Teej women keep a waterless fast all day and stay awake all night worshipping Shiva and Parvati — a small, symbolic copy of Parvati's penance.

There is a traditional explanation of the name "Hartalika": Parvati's friend carried her ("harat") off into the forest (with the friend's, "alika," help), so that her father would not marry her to Vishnu — that is, the fast remembers that stubbornness along with the penance.

This retelling doesn't prescribe how the fast should be kept — it simply records that tradition turned Parvati's penance into a living fast.