Sunday, April 26, 2009

Who is - Parvati?

Etymology

Parvata is one of the Sanskrit words for "mountain"; "Parvati" translates to "She of the mountains" and refers to Parvati being born the daughter of Himavan, lord of the mountains and the personification of the Himalayas. Other names which associate her with mountains are Shailaja (Daughter of the mountains), Girirajaputri (Daughter of king of the mountains).

She is also known by a number of other names, including Ambika (mother), Gauri (golden, fair), Shyama (dark complexioned), Bhairavi (awesome), Kali (black-colored), Umā, Lalita, Aparna, the maternal epithet Mataji, and many hundreds of others; the Lalita sahasranama contains an authoritative listing. The name Uma is used for Sati in earlier texts, but in Ramayana is used as synonym for Parvati. In Harivamsa, Parvati is referred to as Aparna (One who took no sustenance) and then addressed as Uma, who was dissuaded by her mother from severe penance by saying u mā (oh don't).

The apparent contradiction that Parvati is addressed as the fair one, Gauri as well as the dark one Kali or Shyama can be explained by the following Hindu myth: when Shiva rebuked Parvati about her dark skin colour, the angry Parvati left him and underwent severe penance to get a fair colour as a boon from Brahma.

Shakta Philosophy

"Daughter of the Mountain," Parvati Devi is the primary personification of Shakti Herself. Her consort is Shiva; Her children famously include Lord Ganesh and Skanda, but in fact She is the Mother of all Gods and Goddesses, of all humanity and Creation itself. Being Shakti's "base form," Parvati manifests Her wrath as, for example, Durga and Kali; and Her benevolence as, for example, Lakshmi and Saraswati (see image at right). She is every other Goddess, as well. When we worship any Goddess, or even any God for that matter, we are ultimately worshiping Her.

Parvati is Shakti's (i.e. the Divine Feminine's) second incarnation as wife to Shiva. After Shiva's first wife, Sati, died, Her divine body parts were strewn all over India (all the places where parts landed became Shakti pithas, or "seats of the Goddess," which are now sites of Devi temples) -- and Shiva completely turned His back on the world, resuming the life of an ascetic in a remote Himalayan cave, while the demon Taraka overran the heavens and earth below.

With no "living" Shakti (manifest Divinity) to balance Shiva (transcendent Divinity), the Cosmic order was thrown into disarray: Shiva had no interest in the world, and in any event was "powerless" (Sanskrit Shakti = Power, Energy) to help it. And so the gods prayed to Shakti to incarnate once again and turn Shiva back to the world, thereby restoring Cosmic balance and saving the world. Shakti agreed, and thereupon took birth as Parvati, Daughter of Himavan, Lord of the Mountains.

Of course, She grew up to be a stunningly beautiful, charming and alluring woman -- Her "mission," after all, was to lure Shiva out of His asceticism, and take Him as Her consort. And so every day, She would visit Shiva's cave, sweep the floor, decorate it with flowers and offer him fruits and other gifts of the earth, hoping to win His love.

Shiva, however, never even opened His eyes to notice Her. So Parvati enlisted the aid of Priti and Rati, the goddesses of Love and Longing, who transformed Shiva's cave into a sensuous pleasure garden, filled with fragrant flowers, exotic birdsongs and buzzing honeybees. With the stage thus set, Kama, the beautiful God of Love, appeared and shot Shiva with the arrows of desire. But Shiva, unamused, simply opened the third eye on His forehead and blasted Kama with an energy beam that incinerated him on the spot: And so Love was lost from the world.

"Do not despair," Parvati told the gods, when this happened. "Shiva will become My consort. And when He does, Kama will be reborn."

Rise to Prominence

The Parvati does not appear in Vedic literature. The Kena Upanishad (3.12) contains a goddess called Uma-Haimavati. She appears as the shakti, or essential power, of the Supreme Brahman. Her primary role is of a mediator who reveals the knowledge of Brahman to the Vedic trinity of Agni, Vayu, and Indra boasting and posturing in the flush of a recent victory over a demon hoard. But Kinsley notes: "it is little more than conjecture to identify her with the later goddess Satī-Pārvatī, although [..] later text that extol Śiva and Pārvatī retell the episode in such a way to leave no doubt that it was Śiva's spouse.." Both textual and archaeological evidence suggests Sati-Parvati appears in epic period (400 BC–400 AD). Both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata present Parvati as Shiva's wife. It is not until the plays of Kalidasa (5th-6th centuries) and the Puranas (4th through the 13th centuries) that the myths of Sati-Parvati and Shiva acquire comprehensive details. Kinsley adds that Parvati may have emerged from legends of non-aryan goddesses that lived in mountains.

Prof. Weber suggests that like Shiva is combination of various Vedic gods Rudra and Agni, the Puranic Parvati is a combination of Uma, Haimavati, Ambika and earlier Parvati, identified as wives of Rudra; of others like Kali, who could be a wife of Agni and of Gauri and others inspired by Nirriti, the goddess of evil. Tate suggests Parvati is a mixture of the Vedic goddess Aditi and Nirriti, and being a mountain goddess herself, was associated with other mountain goddesses like Durga and Kali in later traditions.

by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parvati

1 comment:

whaa? said...

Parvati (or Gauri) the wife of Shiva was washed by him in the white snow of the Himalayas. Perhaps this was the reason for linking Gurri the shining white sky-princess with the white sands of the island which is named for her. She looks at the sky reflected in the pure lakes. Gurri is north of Brisbane, near where the ship from Ngareenbeil (Bali) arrived in Australia.
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wikipedia _"The earliest known name of the island is 'K'gari' in the Butchulla people's language (pronounced 'Gurri'). It means paradise.[5]

According to Aboriginal legend, when humans were created and needed a place to live, the mighty god Beiral sent his messenger Yendingie with the goddess K’gari down from heaven to create the land and mountains, rivers and sea. K’gari fell in love with the earth’s beauty and did not want to leave it. So Yendingie changed her into a heavenly island – Fraser Island."

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"But Butchulla elder Mackie Burns, who has campaigned for decades to rename the island, believes while the battle is over the war is not yet won.

“I feel good that it has been made official,” Mr Burns said. “But when it is just called K'gari, not Fraser Island, I'll feel even better.”
He said the Butchulla name came from legends about the princess k'gari, pronounced "gurri", who did not want to leave the beautiful area so was transformed into the island itself.


गौर gaura fair
गौर gaura white
गौर gaura pale red
गौर gaura clean
गौर gaura shining
गौर gaura splendorous
गौर gaura beautiful
गौर gaura brilliant Goddess, wife of Shiva.


fraser island - fraser island lake mckenzie
http://www.fraserislandbeachhouses.com.au/attractions/lake-mckenzie.html
, its crystal clear fresh water, the surrounding pure white sand on its ...