Lord Shiva’s Marriage

Sham S. Misri

The king of the Himalayas, Himavantha and his wife, Menadevi were devotees of Shiva. They wanted a daughter who would grow up to be the wife of wife of Shiva.  So Menadevi performed tapasya (penance) to please Gauridevi, wife of Shiva. She sat and prayed for days on end, without any food or water. Pleased, Gauridevi promised to be born as Menadivi’s daughter.

      

Gauridevi jumped into a fire and died.  She was then reborn as Menadivi’s daughter and was named Parvati. The first word that she uttered was ‘Shiva.’ She grew up to be a beautiful woman. Meanwhile, Shiva who was very sad at the death of his wife had started a long meditation.  Himavantha was worried that Shiva would not accept Parvati as his wife as he was in deep meditation and requested Narada to solve his problem. Narada told him that Parvati could win Shiva over through prayers. So Himavantha sent Parvati to the place where Shiva was meditating.

Day and night Parvati worshipped and served Shiva.

       Shiva was very much pleased with her devotion. Shiva decided to test her. He disguised himself as a young Brahmin and told Parvati that it would not be good for her to marry Shiva who lived like a beggar and had nothing. Parvati got very angry when she heard these words about Shiva. She told him that she would marry no one but Shiva. Pleased with her answer Shiva came back to his real form and agreed to marry Parvati. Himavantha performed the wedding with great splendor.