Parvati

(Revision as of 18:41, 12 Jun 2005)

Categories: Religion | Hinduism | Hindu goddesses

In Hinduism, Parvati (alt. spellings: Paarvati, Parvatti) is an alternate form of Shakti. She is named Pārvatī as a Sanskrit convention, to be understood as 'the daughter of the mountain': Parvata is Sanskrit for "mountain". She is married to Shiva, the Hindu God of Destruction. Shiva and Parvati are the parents of Karttikeya and Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of wisdom. Parvati's parents are the mountain god Himalaya (Hindu god) and the goddess Menā.

Goddess Parvati Devi is depicted as 'Shakti' or power. It is said in the Soundarya Lahiri, famous literary work on the Goddess, that She is source of all power in this Universe. It is said in one of the poems in Soundarya Lahiri, that because of Her, Lord Shiva has got all powers. She is depicted as half of Lord Shiva. According to Hindus, Shiva and Parvati are the parents for all beings in this world. Hence Parvati Devi is the Mother of all of us. Soundarya Lahiri is a beatuiful literary work of Adi Shankara. It talks about the beauty of the Goddess from the top of Her head to the tips of Her toes. It comprises of 100 slokas (poems). It is said that as Adi Shankara wrote this work in the walls of Mount Kailash, Lord Ganesha started erasing it because it talks about His Mother's beauty. Then it was later realised by him that Adi Shankara is an avatar of Lord Shiva Himself.

References

• Adpated from: Wikipedia. (2005). Parvati (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parvati). Retrieved on June 10, 2005.