Parvati is a Hindu goddess who is married to the great god Shiva . Hindus regard Parvati as a kindly embodiment of Shakti , the Great Goddess, who has many forms and names. Parvati represents an aspect of the divine feminine. Like most Hindu deities, she has various names, including Gauri, Meenakshi, Lalita, Chandi, Uma, Aparna, and many others.
According to the Puranas (ancient Hindu writings), Parvati appeared in a previous life as the goddess Sati. She married Shiva against the wishes of her father, Daksha. Daksha held a great celebration to honor all the gods, but he did not invite Shiva. Sati became enraged and killed herself by fire. Shiva was heartbroken. He picked up her charred corpse and began pacing the earth, and pieces of Sati’s body fell to the ground. People later built temples where they believed Sati’s remains had fallen. Sati’s story often has been used to explain the Hindu ritual known as sati (also spelled suttee ). During this ritual, a widow is burned to death on her husband’s funeral pyre. This custom is rarely practiced today.
The Puranas say that after her death, Sati was reincarnated as Parvati. Her father was Himavan, god of the mountains and the embodiment of the Himalaya. Parvati married Shiva again and had two sons, the elephant god Ganesha (also called Ganapati) and Skanda (also called Karttikeya or Muruga).
In images of Parvati, the goddess appears calm and beautiful. She usually has four arms when she appears alone, and two when she appears with Shiva. She often holds a lotus , a symbol of beauty and transcendence. To be transcendent is to be above the physical world. In some images, Parvati makes up half of a person, and Shiva makes up the other half. This image represents the Hindu idea that the divine has both masculine and feminine parts. Both parts are necessary, and each requires the other.
