The Marriage of Shiva and Sati

About 12 min read · 2,010 words

In the courtyard of Prajapati Daksha, seated among her playmates, is a small girl who has no mind for games. When feeling overtakes her, she begins to sketch the form of Lord Shiva and to repeat, again and again, the names Sthanu, Hara, Rudra. Daksha had won her as his daughter by worshipping Jagadamba, the mother of the worlds; when she came forth from the womb of Virini, flowers rained from the sky. Daksha named her Uma, and people began to call her Sati, the daughter of Daksha.

When the girl reached the threshold of youth, a worry took hold of Daksha: how could a marriage with Mahadev ever be arranged? Sati, for her part, wanted Mahadev alone as her husband. With her mother’s permission she began, at home, the severe observance of the Nanda-vrata: offerings of jaggery and rice in the month of Ashwin, sweet malpua cakes in Kartik, night-long vigils through the nights of Paush, worship on the riverbank at the full moon of Magh. So the devotion ran through all twelve months, and Sati held so still in meditation that she was like the flame of a lamp in a windless place.

Brahma and Vishnu’s Petition on Kailash

In those very days, Brahma and Vishnu, together with the gods and the rishis, came to witness Sati’s austerities, and they halted where they stood; she seemed to be austerity itself made flesh. Having bowed to the goddess, they all reached Kailash, praised Shiva, and then stood in silence. Shankara, well pleased, laughed aloud and said, “Set aside your fear and tell me the purpose of your coming.”

Brahma opened the matter. “God of gods, creation is mine to perform, preservation belongs to Shri Hari, and you have appeared for the work of dissolution. We three are portions of one Supreme Self: Shri Hari came forth from the left side, I from the right, and you from the heart of Sadashiva. It was you yourself who declared that your highest form would emerge from our brow, take the name Rudra, and by marrying a woman accomplish the good of the worlds. Lord, fulfill that very vow. As Lakshmi and Savitri became partners in dharma, so may you too take a companion.”

Mahadev smiled and answered, “Marriage is not fitting for me. I am a yogi turned away from the world. What use has a woman to one who delights in the self, a naked ascetic, a knower, empty of desire? Marriage means being tied into another’s bondage. Even so, for the good of the world I will honor your word and marry, but I will take as wife only that woman who can bear my splendor, who stays a yogini while I am in yoga and a passionate lover in the hour of love. And if she comes to distrust me or my words, I will forsake her.”

Brahma and Shri Hari smiled to themselves. Brahma said, “Lord, such a woman has already appeared. It is Uma, the wedded consort of Sadashiva, who takes one form after another. As Lakshmi she became the beloved of Shri Vishnu; as Sarasvati, mine; and now, as Sati the daughter of Daksha, she is performing severe austerities for your sake. Grant her a boon and marry her.” Madhusudana gave his assent, and Shiva laughed and said, “Very well. So it shall be.”

Ask a Boon, Ask a Boon

Meanwhile, on the eighth day of Ashwin the Nanda-vrata was completed, and on the ninth Shiva gave his direct darshan to Sati, still deep in meditation. Fair of complexion, five faces, three eyes in each face, the moon and the Ganga upon his head, the blue mark at his throat, in his hands the trident and the gestures of boon-giving and fearlessness, his body glowing with sacred ash. Sati bowed to his feet, and her face bent low with shyness.

Mahadev said, “Daughter of Daksha, I am pleased with your vow. Ask for any boon.” The wish of her heart, held back by shyness, would not travel as far as her lips, and so the knower of every heart began pressing her eagerly, over and over, “Ask a boon, ask a boon.” Sati said only this: “Lord, grant me a boon that cannot be turned aside.” Still the thing was left unspoken, and so Shankara himself declared, “Goddess, become my wife.” Then Sati folded her hands and said, “God of gods, speak to my father and take my hand by the rites of marriage.” Shiva accepted this too, and Sati, brimming with joy, returned to her mother.

Now behold the play: he who had called marriage a bondage began, in his own hermitage, to dwell on Sati in the ache of separation. At the mere thought of him, Brahma appeared, Sarasvati at his side. Shiva said, “I have accepted the daughter of Daksha as my wife, but she insists that the marriage be sealed by proper rite. Go to Daksha’s house and so contrive it that he gives me his daughter in marriage without delay.”

Meanwhile, when the news of the boon reached Daksha’s house from the lips of a companion, a celebration broke out, and Mother Virini kissed her daughter’s brow. But the Prajapati fell into worry: Mahadev had gone away, so how would he come, and if even upon request he should decline to accept her, the whole appeal would come to nothing. Just then Brahma arrived without warning and said, “Shankara has sent me himself for your daughter. As Sati once worshipped him, so now he worships her. Hand your daughter into his service at once. Narada and I will bring him to your house.” Daksha said, “Father, so it shall be,” and a contentment settled over both sides as though nectar had rained down.

The Wedding Procession of Chaitra Shukla Trayodashi

Brahma returned to Kailash and said, “Bearer of the bull, Daksha says this girl was born for Shiva alone. Let him come at an auspicious hour.” Rudra laughed. “I will travel with you and Narada. Summon Marichi and the other mind-born sons; my attendants will come as well.” All of them assembled, and Vishnu too arrived on Garuda with the goddess Kamala. On the thirteenth day of the bright half of Chaitra, under the Purva-phalguni star, Maheshvara set out on the wedding journey. By his own will the bull, the tiger-skin, the serpent, the matted locks, and the crescent of the moon all turned into fitting ornaments, and Mahadev, mounted upon Nandikeshvara, reached Daksha’s gate in a single moment.

The humble Daksha came out with his kinsfolk to receive them, every limb thrilling with joy. After the welcome, and after circling the gods along with the sages, he led Shiva inside, worshipped him and then Vishnu, Brahma, the brahmins, and Shiva’s attendants, and said to Father Brahma, “Lord, let it be you who conducts the marriage rite.” At the auspicious hour Daksha placed Sati’s hand in Shankara’s hand, and the Bearer of the bull took it by the rites of marriage. Praises rang out, a festival of dance and song arose, Daksha found his life fulfilled in the giving of his daughter, and the whole world became a dwelling place of blessing.

The Circling of the Fire and a Singular Dakshina

Then Daksha gave the dowry and distributed wealth among the brahmins. Vishnu, with Lakshmi, folded his hands and said, “God of gods, you are the father of the world, and the goddess Sati its mother.” And with a smile he added, “It is a rare coincidence: Sati is dark and you are fair, while I am dark and Lakshmi is fair.”

Then, at the bidding of Brahma, now the officiating acharya, and of the brahmins, Shivaa and Shiva circled the fire with great joy, exactly as the rite required. In that same pavilion, at Shiva’s command, Vishnu spoke the truth of Shiva: that Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra are portions of one Supreme Self, as the head and the neck are not separate from the body. “You alone are the formless Brahman, you alone the Brahman with form, you alone are everything.”

Then Shiva, the patron of the wedding sacrifice, well pleased, said to Brahma, “You are my acharya. Ask. What fee shall I give? Nothing is beyond my giving.” Brahma asked, “Lord of gods, remain forever in this very form upon this very altar, so that sin may be washed away by darshan alone. And whoever comes here in devotion on the thirteenth of the bright half of Chaitra, under Purva-phalguni, on a Sunday, let that person’s sins and diseases fall away, and let even an unfortunate, barren, one-eyed, or plain woman be made whole.” Shiva said, “Ordainer, so it shall be,” and, bringing forth a partial image of himself together with his wife, he took his seat forever in the midst of the altar.

The hour of farewell arrived. Shiva seated Sati on the back of the bull, mounted himself, and set off toward the Himalaya. Dark-blue Sati, with her lovely laughter, shone beside the fair Shiva like a line of blue across the moon; the gods and the great sages stood spellbound, and Daksha too was entranced. Partway along the road Shiva sent Daksha back, and Shambhu, with Sati, reached Kailash and began to roam the peaks of the Himalaya with the beloved of his life.

The First Teaching on the Peak of the Himalaya

Year followed year. One day, in solitude, Sati folded her hands and said, “God of gods, ocean of compassion, I am blessed to have become your beloved. Many years of these wanderings have contented me, and now my mind has turned away from them. Tell me that supreme truth by which a soul is freed, without effort, from the sorrow of the world, and the means as well by which even a soul lost in the senses may reach the highest state.”

Hearing the question, Shiva was pleased and said, “Goddess, know vijnana, deep realization, as the supreme truth itself. Vijnana is that whose dawning brings the firm certainty, ‘I am Brahman,’ after which nothing but Brahman remains in the memory. This vijnana is hard to win, its knower is rare, and it is forever my own true nature, the supreme Brahman beyond the beyond made manifest. The mother of that vijnana is devotion to me, which grants both enjoyment and moksha. Between bhakti and knowledge there is no difference, and one who opposes bhakti never attains knowledge at all. I remain forever under the sway of my devotees; by the power of their bhakti I go even into the houses of those thought lowly.”

“Bhakti is of two kinds, with form and without form, and the highest is the one that springs from the heart’s own natural love. The sages have named its nine limbs: hearing, chanting, remembrance, service, servitude, worship, salutation, friendship, and self-surrender. To drink the nectar of the story through the ears is hearing; to sing the Lord’s deeds is chanting; to know him present everywhere and so live without fear is remembrance; to trust that whatever the Lord does is for good alone is friendship; and to give even the body over to him is self-surrender. This bhakti is the mother of knowledge and dispassion, liberation is its handmaid, and in all four ages there is no path so full of joy as this, and in Kali-yuga above all.”

So the story that began with a small girl’s drawings crossed the fire of the wedding rounds and came to rest upon knowledge. Suta says that whoever hears this story at the start of a wedding or any auspicious undertaking will see it completed without obstacle, and any girl who is given in marriage after hearing it will be rich in happiness and good fortune.

Source: Shiva Purana (Gita Press, Sankshipta Shivapuranank), Rudra Samhita (Sati Khanda)