Marriage of Shiva with Sati

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Marriage of Shiva with Sati

by Mantra & shlokas on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 2:51pm

Once, Lord Siva was involved in a tough meditation. At that time, Brahmadev appeared where Siva was meditating. Kamdev was also there. Brahmadev said, "Son, don't you see Siva is concentrating in this meditation for years. You should find a way to make him retreat from the meditation." Kamdev replied, "Father, Even my job is that. But you should do a help for me. Please create a beautiful girl. I will do the rest of the job." Brahmadev created Vasanth and Malayanil. They both became Kamdev's assistants. With the assistance of Vasanth and Malayanil, Kamdev tried to wake Siva up. But all the efforts were in vain. Finally, depressed Malayanil withdrawn from the operation. Brahmadev went sad, hearing this. The air which came from the depressed face of Brahmadev turned into arrows. He gave all those arrows to Kamdev to use it as weapon of love and advised him to use it to wake Siva. Kamdev with his new weapons came near Lord Siva. He started to shoot arrows one by one. Yet, nothing happened. Defeated and resigned, Kamdev went to Brahmadev and conveyed his apologies.

Being lost to all chances, sad Brahmadev started to pray Vishnu. At that very moment, Vishnu appeared in front of Brahmadev. "Hey Brahmadev! What made you this much unhappy? What made you to pray me? Why is your face so depressed? I will do what is necessary." Brahmadev requested," Oh Vishnu Deva ! Lord Siva is deep meditating, unaware of what happening outside. The only way to wake him up is by making him fall in love with anyone. I have done my best to do that with the help of my son. But all our efforts didn't pay off. That made me unhappy. I will be glad if you somehow do the job successfully." Vishnu smiled and said, "Hey Brahmadev ! I only see one way to complete your wish. You should pray to Lord Siva himself. If you pray him, he will be very happy and will be glad to grant your wish. Furthermore, with that wish is in your mind, pray to Devi Para-Shakti. She will born as a daughter of anyone in the earth and she will marry Lord Siva. It will not end with this. You should motivate your son Daksha too in this matter. Tell him to meditate to get Devi Para-Shakti as hisdaughter."

Lord Vishnu disappeared after saying all these. BrahmaDev being satisfied, went to visit his son Daksha immediately. While Emperor Daksha was sitting in the throne of his palace, Brahmadev appeared. "Son Daksha ! You have to meditate immediately to Devi Para-Shakti to be born as your daughter."Brahmadev said. By hearing this, Daksha with his wife prayed to Devi Para-Shakti in mind while meditating deeply. Satisfied by the couple's deep meditation, Devi Para-Shakti appeared before them. Daksha said,"Mother of the Universe ! Grant us a wish" Devi replied, "Daksha ! I am very much happy with your meditation. Do you have any wish? Ask for what you want." Daksha with his wife said, "Can you be born as my daughter in earth. This is not my wish only. Every Devas and Rishis are wishing for this too. Therefore, Devi Mother ! I request you to grand our wish and bless us."

After listening to what Daksha had to say, Devi replied," I will be born as your daughter as you wish. Then I'll be in a long and tough meditation and after that I'll accept Siva as my husband. But all this under one condition. You should listen it carefully. When you loose the respect on me, on that very moment, I will pass away from my body and join Para-brahma. You should always remember this." After saying all this, Devi Para-Shakti blessed Daksha and his wife and disappeared.

Following that 60 daughters were born to Daksha and his wife. All of them were married to the deserved men. 10 of his daughters were married to Dharman, 13 were married to Kashyap, 27 were married to Chandra (Moon), Bhootan, Anguirass, Krishashwan were married to two each. The 4 daughters left were married to Tarkshya. Their generations were later became the population in the earth. Then, Daksha with his wife prayed for Devi Para-Sakti again and as a result Sati was born. After many years, Brahmadev with Narada visited Daksha's palace to see Sati. Daksha was glad to see his father and brother. Sati came and respectfully bowed her head and touched the feet of her grandfather Brahmadev. He raised her up and said, "Hey Sati ! The secret wish that you hidden in your mind for all these years is going to happen. Loknath Lord Mahadeva will become your husband. He will not accept anyone else than you to be his wife. He is waiting for you right now. Therefore my child ! There is no need to be anxious." After a while, Brahmadev and Narada left the palace. Hearing all these, Daksha and Sati was very happy.

Many years has passed. Sati became a beautiful teenager. By witnessing her beauty, Daksha thought, " How can I allow this world beautiful girl, Sati to marry a man always wearing tiger's fur and looks like an animal. He is no match for my daughter." Daksha became anxious. By knowing her father's wish, Sati told her mother, " Mother! Being a devotee of Lord Shiva-shankar, I wish to meditate to charm Mahadeva. Please give me the permission to do this." Her mother allowed her to meditate after confirming that Lord Siva is the perfect husband for Sati. By getting the permission of her mother, Sati prayed to Lord Siva and started to meditate. Sati spend her time day and night by doing puja to Lord Siva. People from different places came to see her praying to Mahadeva. But Sati didn't know anything happening outside. She was always lost on her prayers and meditation. By seeing this, all Devas went to Kailas to visit Lord Siva. After that, everyone said, "Namo Lord Mahadeva ! We pray to you." After seeing them, Lord Siva replied, " What is the reason behind the visit of all of you. I see something special in this visit. Tell me the reason behind your visit."

As Mahadev asked for the reason, Brahmadev replied, "Hey Loknath! We all came here to remind you about an important thing. As I do my duty of creation with the help of Vishnu, the number of Asuras in the world is now expanding. Their sins are now increasing. Without destroying them imagine what would happen. You are the only person who can carry on with that duty. There is no one to help you. There should be someone with the power of destruction after you. Even though we are all one, we have different duties. I look after creation and Vishnu look after protection after your suggestion. We both have wives. But you should not live alone like this. It is not appropriate. So, to make all Devas and living beings happy you should be married. Therefore, please accept a beautiful girl as your wife." After listening to Brahmadeva, Siva smiled and replied, "Hey Vishnu, Brahmadeva! You two are my favorites. What you have said was very important. I will do what you said. But, it is not appropriate to a man like me to marry. I am always meditating. So what is the point in having a wife? I have no interest in marriage but for the world's sake I will marry. I am ready to be married."

Vishnu and Brahmav became happy by hearing this. Brahmadeva said, "Oh Mahadeva! We have already found a suitable bride for you. She is the incarnation of Devi Para-Shakti. Her name is Sati. She is the perfect match for you. She is now meditating to be your wife. You should bless her and marry. Her wish should be granted. This is what we all Devas wish for. So, there should be happiness in the three worlds." Vishnu also conveyed the same opinion. Siva understood the importance of this matter. He blessed all Devas and decided to marry Sati.

Later Daksha, Vasistha, and Marici held a great sacrifice for which they invited all gods, demigods, celestials, gurus, munis and sages including Siva, Brahma, and Vishnu. When Daksha walked into the assembly hall, all except Siva rose and applauded Daksha, who was so offended by the sensed slight that he fumed and fulminated against disrespectful behavior of Siva, who was married to Daksha’s daughter Sati. Brahma, Vishnu and Siva are hierarchically superior to Daksha, but Daksha felt that he deserved respect from his son-in-law, Siva, who wears russet hair, matted locks, a moon on his head and a snake around his neck. Daksha did not have a good opinion even before the sacrifice, because Siva looked poor by external appearance. There is a reason for it. Siva does not own anything, not even a house; He is the one who has no desires, possessions. Daksha called Siva by names: spoiler; mental dwarf; a refuge of the refuse, destitute and poor; boorish demigod; a Sudra unfit to learn Vedas; a crematorium-dweller; wearer of a garland of skulls and bones; and so on. Daksha regretted his decision to have given his daughter in marriage to Siva. Sati couldn't stand the whole thing like her father heavily insulting her husband in front of everyone, and she jumped on fire and sacrificed her life.

Siva’s rage at this personal loss knew no bounds. He pulled one of his beautiful locks, jumped up on his feet, laughed like thunder and flung the lock on the ground; it was like fearsome fulguration of lighting and thunder. From that dashed lock, that looked like a fulguration, rose a gigantic being whose form scraped the skies with a thousand arms, with three eyes shining like a sun, dark complexion like a rain cloud, fierce teeth, a garland of skulls, matted locks resembling ropes of fire, and a host of weapons at the ready - a part manifestation of Siva in his fierce form. Then Siva picked up and carried Sati's burnt physical remains on his shoulders, wandered and danced all over the universe. His dance shook the earth and roiled the seas, sending tsunamis. This made gods very nervous. Vishnu decided to cut up the body of Sati with his discus and lighten the burden and Shiva's anguish over the death of his beloved consort. He deployed his discus fifty one times to cut the body into 51 parts (there are 51 alphabets in Sanskrit). Wherever the body parts fell, it became holy. The places became Sakti Pithas (sacred temples dedicated to Mother worship.) When Siva's burden were cast off, he retired to Kailas for meditation. Later Sati was reborn as Parvati and again married Siva and had got two sons Ganesha and Kartikeya