More About Goddesses: Parvati, Goddess of Love and Devotion (Essay)

Parvati, Goddess of Love and Devotion

by Tim Kavi

Also known as the daughter of the mountain, the goddess Parvati’s story might indeed be one of the most interesting of goddesses. She was born out of need as the gods need the assistance of the God Shiva. Shiva, however, had holed himself up in a mountain cave of the Himalayas, doing nothing but meditating and performing tapas to mourn the loss of his first love. His heat and energy grew and grew, and he became full of knowledge.

So the goddess Shakti went into his cave, some stories say appearing as a serpent and coiled herself around Shiva to draw out his energy and power so he would father a child, as the gods knew that only a child born of Shiva would be powerful enough to help them. Shakti than birthed herself into the goddess Parvati and her main goal was to win Shiva’s affections.

Even as a child she was deeply in love with him and went to his cave every day to sweep and decorate it with flowers. Shiva, however, never once noticed her, and could not be brought out of his mediations. So she invoked the help of Priti and Rati, who changed the cave into a thing of beauty, and then brought the lord of desire, Kama, to Shiva, but Shiva destroyed him by shooting flames from his third eye.

Having lost the lord of desire, the gods were hopeless of what to do with Shiva. Parvati then took off to go to the woods with nothing, not even clothing, to meditate and learn tapas, until her strength grew to that of Shiva’s and he took notice of her finally and took her as his wife, which also restored Kama back to life.

Other Tim Kavi Content About Parvati: Parvati is mentioned on my blog in at least two additional places. In my poem: Goddess of the Lake and another 'More About Goddesses' Column about Durga Mahadevi .  Enjoy! ~~TK