The Story of Shakthi & Shiva!

Lord Shiva, one of the three Supreme Lords of the world (the other two Lords being Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma) is known for his powers of destruction of evil forces, his anger, the Third Eye and the dance form attributed to him – Thaandava (Rudra Natya). Goddess Shakthi, on the other hand, is known to be a personification of strength, valor and courage.

Sati weds Shiva

Goddess Shakthi, the consort of Lord Shiva, was born on earth due to a curse. She was born to King Daksha (son of Lord Brahma), and was named Sati. Even as a child, she was a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva. When the appropriate time drew closer, Daksha decided to get her married. On consulting Sati, he understood that she would marry none other than Lord Shiva himself. She announced that she would perform severe penances and win the hand of Lord Shiva.

Sati engaged herself in meditation and prayed to Lord Shiva. Awestruck by her powerful penance, Lord Shiva appeared in front of her and asked her what boon she would want. She requested him to take her as her consort and Lord Shiva agreed (as he already knew Sati was an incarnation of Goddess Shakthi). He approached Daksha and sought his daughter’s hand for marriage. After gaining his acceptance, Sati & Shiva married. They happily resided in the Himalayas, the abode of Lord Shiva.

Once, Lord Shiva, accompanied by Sati, attended a Yagna (spiritual pyre) organized by Rishis. The yagna was attended by the Devas and other celestials. Daksha was also an invitee to the yagna. When he entered the place, all the assembled guests arose to greet him. But Daksha noticed that only his daughter and son-in-law remained seated. He was enraged at the sight and failed to realize that his son-in-law was a Supreme Lord, much above his stature. He decided to teach his son-in-law a lesson.

On returning back to his palace after completion of the yagna, Daksha decided he would host a grand yagna to which all the three worlds would be invited, except his ungrateful daughter and son-in-law. He made all suitable arrangements for the same and the grand day arrived. Sati came to know that her father was hosting the yagna and decided to attend it. She wondered why she was not invited along with her husband, but her love for her father nudged her towards attending the yagna. She requested Lord Shiva to accompany her but he refused. He said Daksha was doing this on purpose and it would not hold him in dignity if he visited the place without being invited. Since Sati kept insisting, he allowed her to go to the yagna protected with his attendants.

On reaching the venue, Sati found that, there was no one to welcome her. Her father, Daksha, welcomed all the other guests, but was oblivious to the fact that his daughter had also come. Sati felt humiliated that no one was taking notice of her. She felt ashamed that she was born as a daughter to such a conceited king. She announced that she would cast off this body of hers that was given to her by Daksha and shall unite with her Lord in her re-birth. She immolated herself and died immediately.

Re-Birth as Parvathi

Himavan, the king of Himalayas and his wife, Menadevi were ardent devotees of Lord Shiva. They had a son by name Mainaka. However, Menadevi had a deep desire for a girl child. She wanted the girl to be blessed with all virtues, eligible to be the consort of Lord Shiva. Upon severe penance, they were blessed with a girl child, whom they named Parvathi.

Parvathi, again, was a strong devotee of Lord Shiva and was always seen worshipping the Shiv Lingh.  When Himavan approached her to decide on her marriage prospects, she declared that she would win Lord Shiva and would marry none other.

She began her penance to invoke his blessings. But Lord Shiva never arose from his meditation. He wanted to lead the life of an ascetic after the death of Sati. The Gods of all the three worlds were dumbstruck at the severity of her penance. Lord Kama, the God of Love, thought he should try to help her. He shot arrows of love at the meditating Shiva, so that he would fall for Parvathi. Disturbed by Kama’s arrows, the furious Lord Shiva opened his “third eye” and burnt him to ashes. He continued with his meditation. But Parvathi’s penance was growing so powerful, that he had to bend to it.

He enquired with the Devas about the reason for Parvathi’s powerful penance and came to know that she was performing them to win his hand. To test her love for him, Lord Shiva disguised himself as an old man, rugged and fearsome in appearance and appeared before her. Just as she was about to start her penance for the day, He came up to her and asked her the reason behind her prayers. She replied that she was doing it to win her Master - Lord Shiva. The “old man” laughed aloud and commented that she was wasting her life for a mere ascetic, who did not equal her in charm and beauty. Parvathi grew enraged at this comment and asked him to leave her sight immediately. She warned him of bad consequences if he spoke another disgracing word against her Lord.

Lord Shiva was pleased with her devotion and love towards him and appeared before her in his true form and agreed to marry her. He realized this was his Sati indeed who had, true to her word, taken re-birth as Parvathi and come back to him.

Himavan was only too pleased to give his daughter’s hand to one of the Supreme Lords and immediately arranged for their marriage. After marriage, Lord Shiva escorted his wife, Goddess Parvathi, to the Himalayas. After a few years, the Two became Four, with Lord Ganesha and Lord Karthikeya forming a part of the four-member family!!

Maata Cha Paarvati Devi, Pitaa Devo Maheshvara
Baandhavah Shiva Bhaktaacha, Svadesho Bhuvanatrayam

Meaning: Goddess Parvati is the Mother of all and Lord Shiva is our Divine Father. Their devotees are all relatives. The world we live in is the creation of such divine beings.

** Shiva and Shakthi – the names become one – in the form of “Ardhanareeswara”; This form has two halves – one half of Shiva & the other half of Shakthi; indicative of the fact that Men & Women are equal.

The story behind this form goes like this:

Once a war of words was triggered between Goddess Shakthi & Lord Shiva on who among them was a superior. Each of them proclaimed their superiority and declared the world would not function without them. Shakthi challenged that she was capable of doing whatever he did. 

They decided on a simple dance competition, wherein each had to replicate the other’s steps. The ensuing competition was aggressive and finally as a masterstroke, Shiva raised his leg and touched his ears. Shakthi had to give up as it was not right and possible for a woman to raise her legs above knee level. She felt it was not right to determine their equality on an unfair means like this. Out of anger, she burnt herself to ashes to make Lord Shiva realize her importance. Once Shakthi disappeared, the world plunged into darkness; there was no life and everything came to a standstill. All the Gods were horrified at this development and prayed to Lord Shiva to call upon Shakthi.

Lord Shiva brought her back to life and agreed that she was an integral part of the functioning. He stated that men and women were equal and no one was superior to the other. This story and the famous Tamil line, “Shakthi illayel Shivam illai; Shivam illayel Shakthi illai!” (meaning: Shivam does not prevail without Shakthi and Shakthi does not prevail without Shivam), was given to the world to show men and women the equality principle. For those who believe that our culture is too repressive  or oppressive, here it goes, our culture traditionally did not encourage the Man vs. Woman war!!