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Parvati heard the seven sages out and smiled. They had come from the assembly where Shiva said “So be it” to the gods. What they brought her was a tease: her vow had turned false, since Shiva had burned Kama. Her answer comes before the groom is dressed, before the party sets out, and before her mother sees him. Fire has its own nature, she says. Frost never goes near it, and if it goes near, it perishes. That is how it stands between Kama and Shiva.
The sages carry her answer to her father, and from there the wedding moves quickly. Himavan has the hour fixed and written, and Brahma reads it out to the gods. Shiva’s own attendants dress him for the road: a crest of snakes on his matted hair, ash, a garland of men’s heads. The moon and the Ganga and the poison in his throat. Vishnu laughs that the party riding with such a groom is no match for him and has the gods ride apart. Shiva answers by sending for his own host, and what arrives at Himavan’s city is a company its mounts bolt from and its children run home to describe.
Maina goes out glad, with the welcome platter in her hands, and comes back inside in grief. With her daughter in her lap she rails at the creator and names three deaths she would rather die. She swears that she will not make this wedding while she lives, and asks what harm she ever did Narada. The answer comes first from her daughter and then from Narada himself. The episode closes on the feast, where the gods sit in rows while the women sing them abuse in sweet voices.
The bride’s house, and the groom’s party
The main figures in this episode
- Parvati Himavan and Maina’s daughter, who answers the sages’ tease with her vow and the image of frost and fire. Taken into her mother’s lap, she answers the lament with what the creator has written and lays blame on no one.
- Shiva the groom, dressed by his own attendants, with no spoken words in this episode. He smiles in his mind at Vishnu’s joke and sends Bhringi for his host. He laughs at the sight of it, rides the bull to Himavan’s city, and goes to his lodging.
- Maina Parvati’s mother, who goes out glad to welcome the groom with a golden platter, comes back in grief, laments over her daughter and blames Narada. At the end she bows again and again at her daughter’s feet.
- Himavan the king of the mountains and Parvati’s father, who has the wedding hour fixed and written, invites every mountain, forest, sea, river, and lake. He hurries home with Narada and the seven sages when the news reaches him.
- Vishnu a guest in the party, whose one joke on the road changes the shape of the procession.
- Narada whom Maina blames for wrecking her settled house, and whose telling of Sati’s story ends the grief.
- The seven sages who came to test Parvati two episodes ago and to tease her in the last. Here they hear her answer, carry it to her father, and take the letter with the wedding hour to Brahma.
Frost near fire
The sages had told her that her vow had turned false, since Shiva had burned Kama. Parvati smiled as she heard it, and answered. “You spoke rightly, wise sages. By your understanding Shiva has burned Kama now, and until now he was full of passion.” She gives them back their own reckoning first, with what it implies. “By mine, Shiva has always been a yogi: unborn, blameless, without desire, without enjoyment.”
Then the vow. “If I have served Shiva knowing him so, with love, in deed, mind, and word, then hear my vow, sages: the Lord will make it true. What you said, that Shiva burned and killed Kama, that is your great want of discernment.” Two episodes ago, under the questions of these same sages, she had used the word of herself. See my want of discernment, she told them, I want Shiva for my husband always. Now the word goes back to the men who first heard it from her.
Then the image. “Fire has its own nature: frost never goes near it, and if it goes near, it surely perishes. So it is with Kama and Shiva.” The burning the sages brought as news is, in her telling, what happens to frost. She has put the whole of it inside the fire’s nature, and the two understandings of one event, theirs and hers, now stand face to face.
The wedding hour, and the dressing of the groom
The sages rejoiced in their hearts at her words, seeing her love and her faith. They bowed their heads to Parvati and went to Himavan, and told him the whole matter. At the burning of Kama he grieved. Then they told him of the boon to Rati, that her husband would be Ananga and would be born again as Krishna’s son, and Himavan took much comfort in it.
He thought in his heart of Shiva’s greatness and summoned eminent sages with respect. He had them find a good day, a good star, and a good hour. He had the wedding hour fixed at once by the rite of the Vedas and, as the commentary adds, written down. That letter he gave to the seven sages. He held their feet and entreated them. They went and gave it to Brahma, and as Brahma read it, the love in his heart had no room to stay. He read the hour aloud to all, and the sages and the whole company of the gods rejoiced. Flowers rained from the sky, instruments sounded, and pots of good omen were set up in the ten directions. The gods began to deck their mounts and their flying chariots of every kind. Good omens appeared, and the apsaras sang.
Then the verse turns to the groom. Shiva’s own attendants, his ganas, dressed him, and the verse names the items a bridegroom is dressed in and says what each was made of. The crown was his matted hair, and the bridegroom’s crest set on it was of snakes. The earrings and the bracelets were snakes. On his body, ash. In place of cloth he wrapped a lion’s skin, which the commentary calls a tiger’s.
The next line goes on. The moon on his brow, the Ganga on his head, three eyes, a snake for the sacred thread. Poison held in his throat and a garland of men’s heads on his chest. The chaupai that lists them ends by saying that the dress was inauspicious and that the one wearing it is the home of all that is auspicious, and kind.
With a trident and his damaru, the small drum, in his hands, he mounted the bull and set out, and the instruments played. Seeing him, the gods’ women smiled, and the commentary hears them say it: there is no bride in the world worthy of this groom.
As the groom, so the party
Vishnu, Brahma, and the hosts of the gods mounted their vehicles and went in the procession. One line says two things about it: the company of the gods was matchless in every way, and the party was no match for the groom.
Then Vishnu laughed, called all the guardians of the directions to him, and said, “Go separately, each with his own company.” And the reason: “Brother, the wedding party is no match for the groom. Will you make yourselves laughed at in another’s city?” The gods smiled at Vishnu’s words and separated, each with his own army.
Shiva smiled in his mind: Vishnu’s jesting words never stop. The smile stays inside. The verse calls the words very dear and calls Vishnu his dear one, and on hearing them Shiva sent Bhringi and summoned all his ganas.
At his order they all came and bowed their heads at their master’s feet. Mounts of every kind, dress of every kind. Shiva looked at his own company and laughed. They are counted by what they lack and what they have too many of. Some had no face and some had many faces. Some had no feet or hands and some had many feet and arms. Some had many eyes and some had none. Some were stout and some were very thin. The count goes on: thin and fat, some in pure guise and some in impure. Dreadful ornaments, skulls in their hands, and every body smeared with fresh blood. Faces like donkeys, dogs, pigs, and jackals. Who could count the guises of the ganas? Bands of pretas and pishachas and yoginis, more kinds than can be described. The bhutas danced and sang in high spirits. They were very odd to look at, and they spoke in strange ways.
As the groom, so the party now, and along the road there were wonders of many kinds. Vishnu had said the party was no match for the groom. Shiva sent for his own host, and the verse’s next word on the party is that it matched him. Vishnu laughed first, at the party. Shiva laughed second, at his own.
Himavan’s city
Here, meanwhile, Himavan had built a pavilion so wondrous that it is past describing. He sent invitations to every mountain in the world, small and great, more than can be counted, and to the forests, the seas, and every river and lake. They can take any form at will. They came in beautiful bodies, with their companies and their fine women, to Himavan’s house, and sang songs of good omen with love. Himavan had many houses made ready beforehand, and all were lodged where it was fitting for each.
Beside the city’s beauty, Brahma’s skill seemed small. Then the city itself: forests and gardens, wells and lakes and rivers, all handsome. Arches of welcome and flags and banners on house after house. The women and men of the city were so beautiful and so quick-witted that the sight of them bewitched even the minds of sages. Can the city where the mother of the world took birth be described at all? The question is asked and answered with what grows there: riches, powers, wealth, and joy, new and greater every day. The verse calls Parvati the mother of the world here, in its own voice, in the praise of her city. Narada will say it to her mother before the episode ends.
The children run
The city heard that the party had come near, and a stir went through it that added to its beauty. The welcomers dressed themselves, decked mounts of many kinds, and went out with respect to receive the party. The sight of the gods’ army gladdened them, and the sight of Vishnu made them happier still. Then they began to look at Shiva’s company, and every mount they had brought took fright and bolted. The commentary counts the elephants, the horses, and the bullocks of the chariots among them.
The clever among them kept their composure and stood their ground. The children all ran for their lives. At home, when their fathers and mothers asked, they answered with their bodies shaking. “What can we say? It cannot be told. Is this the army of Yama, or a wedding party?” Yama is the lord of the dead. “The groom is mad, and he rides a bull. Snakes, skulls, and ash are his ornaments.”
They go on. “Ash on his body, snakes and skulls for ornaments, naked, matted, terrible. With him are bhutas, pretas, pishachas, yoginis, and night-walkers with hideous faces. Whoever is still alive after seeing this party has great merit indeed, and he will see Parvati’s wedding.” That is what the children said from house to house. The snakes, the ash, and the bull they describe are the ones from the dressing of the groom and his setting out.
The mothers and fathers understood whose company this was, Shiva’s, and smiled. They reassured the children in many ways: be fearless, there is nothing to fear.
The golden platter
The welcomers brought the party in and gave everyone handsome lodgings, the quarters kept for a groom’s party. Maina made ready the auspicious arati, and the women with her sang songs of good omen. A golden platter shone in her fair hands, and she went out glad to perform the parachhan, the welcome the women of the house give the groom at his coming. Then they saw Shiva in his terrible guise, and great fear rose in the women’s hearts. Between her gladness and their fear there is one look.
In terror they ran and went into the house. Shiva went to the lodging. In Maina’s heart there was heavy grief. She called Parvati to her and seated her in her lap with great affection, and her eyes, which the verse calls dark lotuses, filled with tears. The girl in her lap had lived on fallen leaves for three thousand years of her tapas. She had been hailed by the seven sages as the mother of the world. Her mother spoke to her.
“The creator who gave you such beauty, how did that dullard make the groom mad?” She says it again and goes further. “How did the creator make the groom mad, who gave you beauty? The fruit that should hang on the wish-giving tree is forced onto a thorn tree. With you I will fall from the mountain, I will burn in fire, I will throw myself into the sea. Let the house go to ruin, let ill fame spread through the world: while I live I will not make the wedding.”
She speaks to her daughter, and the one she accuses is the creator. Three deaths, in the verse’s order: the mountain, the fire, the sea, and the daughter with her in each. The last line is a resolve, and the episode now holds two: Parvati’s vow at its opening, which she said the Lord would make true. Her mother’s, that while she lives she will not make this wedding.
What does a barren woman know?
Seeing Himavan’s wife in grief, all the women became distraught. Holding to her love for her daughter, Maina lamented and wept and spoke, and her words came to rest on a name. “What harm did I do Narada, who wrecked my settled house, who gave Parvati such counsel that she did tapas for a mad groom?” The counsel was Narada’s. It was he who read the line in Parvati’s hand and foretold a husband who was a yogi, matted, desireless, naked, in inauspicious dress. It was he who told Himavan that if the girl did tapas, Shiva could erase even what was fated.
“Truly, he has no delusion and no maya. He is indifferent, with no wealth, no house, no wife. A wrecker of others’ homes, he has no shame and no fear. Can a barren woman know the pain of childbirth?” The commentary joins the two lines as cause and effect: because he has none of these, he wrecks the homes of others.
Parvati saw her mother distraught and spoke in soft words full of discernment. “Mother, think on this and do not grieve. What the creator makes does not turn aside. If karma has written a mad husband, why lay blame on anyone? Can the creator’s marks be wiped out by you? Mother, do not take on a stain for nothing.” She goes on. “Do not take on a stain, mother. Give up grieving. This is not the time for it. Pain or joy, whatever is written on my forehead, I will find it wherever I go.” She takes her mother’s word for the groom as a condition, if it is written, and asks why anyone should be blamed for it. She names both pain and joy, and her answer turns on what is written.
Hearing Parvati’s humble, soft words, all the women fell to thinking, and, laying blame on the creator in many ways, they shed tears. Parvati had asked why anyone should be blamed, and the blame the women laid fell on the creator.
Narada tells the secret
At that moment the news reached Himavan, and he came home at once, with Narada and the seven sages. The man Maina had just blamed for the wreck of her house walked in with her husband. Then Narada made them all understand, telling the story of what had gone before. The commentary calls it the story of the former birth. “Maina, hear my true word. Your daughter is the mother of the world. She is unborn, without beginning, the imperishable Shakti, and she dwells always as Shiva’s half. She brings the world forth, sustains it, and dissolves it, and by her own will she takes a body for her play.”
“First she went and was born in Daksha’s house. Her name was Sati, and she had a beautiful body. There too Sati was married to Shiva. That story is famous through all the world. Once, coming along with Shiva, she saw Rama, the sun to the lotus of Raghu’s line. Delusion took her. She did not do what Shiva said, and in her confusion she took Sita‘s form.” He finishes it. “For the fault of taking Sita’s form, Shiva gave Sati up. Then, in separation from Shiva, she went to her father’s sacrifice and burned in the fire of yoga. Now, born in your house, she has done hard tapas for her own husband. Knowing this, give up doubt: Parvati is always Shiva’s beloved.” That is the whole of Sati’s story as Narada tells it here. It is the matter of two earlier episodes in six lines, from her birth in Daksha’s house to the fire.
Hearing Narada’s words, everyone’s grief vanished, and in a moment the news ran through the whole city, house to house. The verse says house to house here, as it did of the children’s report. The first news that went house to house called the party Yama’s army. This one carried what Narada had said.
The women’s teasing songs
Then Maina and Himavan were full of joy and bowed again and again at Parvati’s feet. The mother who had seated her daughter in her lap now bowed at her feet. Women and men, children, the young and the old. All the people of the city rejoiced. Songs of good omen began in the city, and golden pots of every kind were set out. A feast of many kinds was prepared, as the science of cooking lays down. Who could describe the feast in the house where Parvati, the Mother, lives? The host, whom the commentary names as Himavan, called the whole party to eat with respect: Vishnu, Brahma, and gods of every kind.
They sat down in row after row, and skilled cooks served them. Bands of women, knowing the gods were at their meal, began in soft voices to sing them abuse. Beautiful women sang their abuse in sweet voices and made the guests hear jesting words. The gods, delighted by the fun, took a very long time over the meal. The joy that grew at that meal could not be told by ten million mouths. When they had rinsed their hands and mouths, pan was given to them, and each went back to the lodging where he was staying.
The verse’s word for the women’s teasing is the word it used for Vishnu’s joke on the road: jesting words. They were said then by a god to the gods, and now by the women to the gods at their table.
Between two jests
The episode opens on Parvati’s smiling answer to a jest the seven sages brought from Shiva’s assembly, that her vow had turned false. She returns it with the fire and the frost. It closes on the women’s jests at the feast, and the gods, delighted, take a very long time over the meal. In between, the verse gives the same word to Vishnu’s joke on the road. Each jest is taken well by the one it lands on: Parvati smiles, the gods on the road smile, Shiva smiles in his mind. The gods at the table take delight in it.
Between them is one groom, seen by many eyes. The gods’ women see him and smile. Vishnu laughs that the party beside him does not match. The city’s mounts see his company and bolt. The children see it and run home with the name of Yama’s army. Their parents hear the description, understand whose company it is, and smile. Maina goes out with the platter in her hands, and the women with her see him and run into the house. Of the smiles at the sight of him and his company, the verse gives a reason for one, the parents’, who understood whose company it was. And the verse had put the two together in one line before the party set out. The dress was inauspicious, and the one wearing it is the home of all good.
The answers to Maina’s grief come from two mouths. Her daughter speaks of what is written and asks why anyone should be blamed. Narada, whom she blamed, tells her who her daughter is. Parvati’s opening answer and Narada’s last line both say always: Shiva has always been a yogi, and Parvati is always Shiva’s beloved. The grief ends at Narada’s words, and the wedding the next episode tells is the one her mother said she would not make while she lived.
The same story, elsewhere: the Shiva Purana: The Marriage of Shiva and Parvati.
Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Balkand, doha 90 to 98, with the chaupais and chhand before doha 99, read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.