Ashutosh Vardhana:
Why we celebrate Máha-Shivaratri,
or: The Wedding of the Gods
Ashutósh
Várdhana: Why we celebrate Máha-Shivaratri,
or: The Wedding of the Gods |
 |
Three versions of this story are
on offer.
I prefer the longest, Version 1, which is closest to my intentions.
Versions
available
Version 1: 1404 words = 6776
characters
Note for readers unfamiliar with Hinduism
(172 words = 841 characters)
Version 2: 1260 words = 5645
characters
Note for readers unfamiliar with Hinduism
(172 words = 841 characters)
Version 3: 926 words = 4171
characters
Note for readers unfamiliar with Hinduism
(172 words = 841 characters)
Version
1:
1404 words = 6776 characters
Summary:
On 13 March this year (2002) Hindus celebrate the festival of Maha-Shivaratri, the great night of Lord Shiva, his wedding to Goddes Párvati, and how she managed to win him for a husband. Ashutosh Vardhana tells the story behind this great festival.
Ashutósh
Várdhana
Why we celebrate
Máha-Shivaratri,
or: The Wedding of the Gods
A little girl, Sáti, falls in love with God, God in his manifestation as Lord Shiva. She does not only say so because religion or good manners require it but she means it, cannot help loving him and does not even know why. But Shiva is not a respectable God, he is poor, he has matted hair like a Rastafarian, he looks like a tramp and likes talking to illegal immigrants. Sáti's father, King Dáksha, is not happy with his daughter's choice, but she is stubborn, and in royal families the girls can choose their husband as they wish. When she is old enough for the big ceremony of the Bridal Choice (swayamvára), she chooses Shiva and there is nothing her father can do about it.
'You have chosen a beggar, so now go and live with your beggar. If you get tired of him, you can return here but I do not want to see him in my house,' says the King.
Sáti lives happily with her husband for many years. One day she hears that her father is about to hold a big fire sacrifice, a religious ceremony, in those days as big and important as the Olympic Games today. Every important person in the world will be there, but her husband Shiva has not been invited. So Sáti goes on her own. She is the daughter, she needs no invitation.
When she arrived, her father started abusing her husband, Lord Shiva, in such vile terms that Sáti said: 'I cannot stop you from saying what you are saying, for you are my father, and I owe you respect, but no loyal wife must ever listen to such things being said about her husband, and there is a sure way of stopping it.' With that she jumped into the sacrificial fire and was instantly consumed. It is because of this Sáti, Lord Shiva's wife, that the old, now illegal, custom, that loyal widows burnt themselves on their husband's funeral pyre, in order to be united with him in death, is called 'sáti'.
When
Shiva heard that King Dáksha had driven his beloved wife
to her untimely death, he made war on King Dáksha and killed
him. Then he withdrew into the Himaláyas to meditate, and remained
there completely absorbed and unmoved for thousands of years.
 |
|
| Lord Shiva meditating in the Himaláyas | |
Meanwhile Sáti was reborn with a new body as Párvati, daughter of King Himavát, the King of the Mountains. She still loved Lord Shiva and her only desire was to be reunited with him, her husband from all eternity and in all eternity.
The other gods wanted her to get married again and have Lord Shiva's son, who they knew would be a great hero (Karttikéya), needed to fight an evil demon. So they tried to help her to find Lord Shiva and then wake him from his state of deep meditation. Their allies were Vasánta, the god of spring, and Káma, the god of love.
They went to the icy mountains where Lord Shiva was meditating, Vasánta brought the warm winds, made the trees sprout, the flowers blossom and the birds sing, Párvati was hiding behind a bush, and Káma was waiting with his arrow to shoot at Shiva's heart the moment Shiva sat eyes on Párvati. If he had succeeded, Shiva would instantly have fallen in love with Párvati. But Shiva was very angry when he realised that he was to be disturbed and seduced, shot one glance from his third eye at Káma, and Káma was turned to ashes. Shiva never saw Párvati and returned to his meditation.
Having
failed to win Shiva through the beauty of her body, Párvati
decided to win him through the beauty of her soul. So she started doing
tápas (fasting and other penances), imposing hardships on her
body in order to become independent from the pleasure and pain that
a body can yield and concentrate her mind on God. She did this for three
thousand years.
Shiva heard about her saintly reputation and came in the shape of a young Brahmin to give Párvati a last test. He called her a fool for wanting Shiva as a husband, called Shiva a beggar and ridiculed his appearance. Párvati defended Shiva with great fire and showed that she was not only beautiful and devoted but also learned. She is the epitome of the learned woman, capable of holding her ground, even against a brahmin. She is an example we should all emulate.
 |
|
| Lord
Shiva and Goddess Párvati reunited at last Click on image for larger picture |
|
Then Shiva revealed himself to her, and they prepared for their great wedding in the capital of King Himavát. All his subjects were invited, and since he was the king of the mountains, his subjects were the mountains.
The Alps came from Austria, the Pyrenees from Spain, the Caucasus from Asia, the Atlas from Morocco and from the Sahara, the Andes from South America, the Pennines from England, Ben Nevis from Scotland, Mount Snowdon from Wales, Vesuvius from Italy, Etna from Sicily, and Mount Athos (with 1,472 monks) from Greece.
Nobody wanted to miss this wedding. All the earth was suddenly flat like a chapati because all the mountains had gone to Párvati's wedding.
Even Pendle Hill from Lancashire attended the wedding. He was a bit of a show-off and he wanted to give the witches which lived on him a hard time. So Pendle Hill decided to walk on only two legs (instead of a thousand, like the other mountains) and that made him rather wobbly.
Pendle
Hill on his way to India (passing through Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan)
carried lots of Indians and Pakistanis from Blackburn (and some from
Preston and Bolton as well). They came from all religions and communities.
They loved going to weddings, any wedding, but especially this one,
and they did not want to miss the chance of a free ride to India and
Pakistan. Afterwards they went off to visit their relatives there.
Now, Pendle Hill did not only wobble, he also swaggered deliberately, and took several tons of Thwaites Ale for the road, and they are not paying me for mentioning the fact. (Anyway, drinking is bad even for Hindus.)
The Hill swung like a **pendulum** (or a wedding bell), and all the witches fell off and broke their necks. That's why the Hill is called "Pendle" Hill and why there are no more witches on it. But the Lancashire Indians and Pakistanis, both Muslims and Hindus, did not fall off, for they are good people and helped each other to hang on, and therefore nothing can shake them. They know, life is hard enough as it is, and we don't have to make it worse by fighting our neighbours and kinsmen, whatever their religion. If we love each other, we will be so much happier.
Perhaps there has never been a greater and more important wedding in the history of the world. This was the wedding of all weddings. It showed all of us what really great love is, love that continues not only during one lifetime but over innumerable lifetimes, love that overcomes even the greatest obstacles, as Párvati did overcome them. She was determined to get her man, and she did get him. She showed us that it is perfectly respectable for a woman to take the initiative, not only in matters of marriage of course, and our youngsters are beginning to learn that.
This
was a wedding of Gods, and people realised that both were equal, even
identical, if you look at it in the right way. Just as all of us are
really God, if we look at ourselves in the right way. Trying to become
aware of that is the highest aim in our religion.
People realised that loving God is, or should be, much the same way as when a husband loves his wife, and the other way round, that is to say: husband and wife should treat and love each other as if the other were God. It should not be words only but it should be real, and can be real: it should be felt in the heart, as it was for Párvati. People admired the example that Párvati had set to all of us.
From the union of Lord Shiva and Párvati a great hero, Karttikéya, was born. He is also a god and, like Shiva, is especially worshipped in South India.
During the night of Maha-Shivaratri, devotees should ideally stay up and pray and meditate. South Indian temples stay open all night for this festival.
-----
If
you want to read the marvellous story of Sáti, Párvati
and Lord Shiva in full, you can find it at the following website:
http://www.tudo.co.uk/hindustories/index.html
Email: ashutosh.vardhana@tudo.co.uk
Note
for readers unfamiliar with Hinduism
(172 words = 841 characters):
Editors might like to add the following note for non-Hindu readers (172 words = 841 characters):
Contrary to common perception we Hindus believe in one God, who is neither man nor woman, who is absolute, unchangeable and universal, who is 'existence-consciousness-bliss', and about whom we can say nothing else that is really valid. Unlike God-the-Absolute, the **many** gods that our stories talk about and that our pictures depict are changeable. Their purpose is to aid the different inclinations of each devotee and help him/her to move from the visible towards the invisible, concentrate his affection on god and to lead a life that brings him closer to the experience of god. Since God, in whatever religion, is everywhere, the Jewish, Christian and Muslim God, being one with our absolute God, resides also in our images. All of us therefore have good reason to be friends, worship God wherever we find him, and to support each other in our different ways of worshipping God, be it in mosque or mandir, for God is one by whatever name we call him and whether we 'depict' him or not.
Download printable version (*.rtf file)
Version
2:
1260 words = 5645 characters
Summary
On 13 March this year (2002) Hindus celebrate the festival of Maha-Shivaratri, the great night of Lord Shiva, his wedding to Goddes Párvati, and how she managed to win him for a husband. Ashutosh Vardhana tells the story behind this great festival.
Ashutósh
Várdhana
The Wedding of the Gods
A little girl, Sáti, falls in love with God, God in his manifestation as Lord Shiva. She does not only say so because religion or good manners require it but she means it, cannot help loving him and does not even know why. But Shiva is not a respectable God, he is poor, he has matted hair like a Rastafarian, he looks like a tramp and likes talking to illegal immigrants. Sáti's father, King Dáksha, is not happy with his daughter's choice, but she is stubborn, and in royal families the girls can choose their husband as they wish. When she is old enough for the big ceremony of the Bridal Choice (swayamvára), she chooses Shiva and there is nothing her father can do about it.
'You have chosen a beggar, so now go and live with your beggar. If you get tired of him, you can return here but I do not want to see him in my house,' says the King.
Sáti lives happily with her husband for many years. One day she hears that her father is about to hold a big fire sacrifice, a religious ceremony, in those days as big and important as the Olympic Games today. Every important person in the world will be there, but her husband Shiva has not been invited. So Sáti goes on her own.
When
she arrived, her father started abusing her husband, Lord Shiva,
in such vile terms that Sáti said: 'I cannot stop you from saying
what you are saying, for you are my father, and I owe you respect, but
no loyal wife must ever listen to such things being said about her husband,
and there is a sure way of stopping it.' With that she jumped into the
sacrificial fire and was instantly consumed.
When Shiva heard that King Dáksha had driven his beloved wife to her untimely death, he made war on King Dáksha and killed him. Then he withdrew into the Himaláyas to meditate, and remained there completely absorbed and unmoved for thousands of years.
|
|
| Lord Shiva meditating in the Himaláyas | |
Meanwhile Sáti was reborn with a new body as Párvati, daughter of King Himavát, the King of the Mountains. She still loved Lord Shiva and her only desire was to be reunited with him, her husband from all eternity and in all eternity.
The other gods wanted her to get married again and have Lord Shiva's son, who they knew would be a great hero (Karttikéya), needed to fight an evil demon. So they tried to help her to find Lord Shiva and then wake him from his state of deep meditation. Their allies were Vasánta, the god of spring, and Káma, the god of love.
They went to the icy mountains where Lord Shiva was meditating, Vasánta brought the warm winds, made the trees sprout, the flowers blossom and the birds sing, Párvati was hiding behind a bush, and Káma was waiting with his arrow to shoot at Shiva's heart the moment Shiva sat eyes on Párvati. If he had succeeded, Shiva would instantly have fallen in love with Párvati. But Shiva was very angry when he realised that he was to be disturbed and seduced, shot one glance from his third eye at Káma, and Káma was turned to ashes. Shiva never saw Párvati and returned to his meditation.
Having
failed to win Shiva through the beauty of her body, Párvati
decided to win him through the beauty of her soul. So she started doing
tápas (fasting and other penances), imposing hardships on her
body in order to become independent from the pleasure and pain that
a body can yield and concentrate her mind on God. She did this for three
thousand years.
Shiva heard about her saintly reputation and came in the shape of a young Brahmin to give Párvati a last test. He called her a fool for wanting Shiva as a husband, called Shiva a beggar and ridiculed his appearance. Párvati defended Shiva with great fire and showed that she was not only beautiful and devoted but also learned. She is the epitome of the learned woman, capable of holding her ground, even against a brahmin. She is an example we should all emulate.
|
|
| Lord
Shiva and Goddess Párvati reunited at last Click on image for larger picture |
|
Then Shiva revealed himself to her, and they prepared for their great wedding in the capital of King Himavát. All his subjects were invited, and since he was the king of the mountains, his subjects were the mountains. Nobody wanted to miss this wedding. All the earth was suddenly flat like a chapati because all the mountains had gone to Párvati's wedding.
Even Pendle Hill from Lancashire attended the wedding. He was a bit of a show-off and he wanted to give the witches which lived on him a hard time. So Pendle Hill decided to walk on only two legs (instead of a thousand, like the other mountains) and that made him rather wobbly.
Pendle Hill on his way to India (passing through Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan) carried lots of Indians and Pakistanis from Lancashire. They came from all religions and communities. They loved going to weddings, any wedding, but especially this one, and they did not want to miss the chance of a free ride to India and Pakistan. Afterwards they went off to visit their relatives there.
The
Hill swung like a **pendulum** (or a wedding bell), and all the
witches fell off and broke their necks. That's why the Hill is called
"Pendle" Hill and why there are no more witches on it. But the Lancashire
Indians and Pakistanis, both Muslims and Hindus, did not fall off, for
they are good people and helped each other to hang on, and therefore
nothing can shake them. They know, life is hard enough as it is, and
we don't have to make it worse by fighting our neighbours and kinsmen,
whatever their religion. If we love each other, we will be so much happier.
Perhaps there has never been a greater and more important wedding in the history of the world. This was the wedding of all weddings. It showed all of us what really great love is, love that continues not only during one lifetime but over innumerable lifetimes, love that overcomes even the greatest obstacles, as Párvati did overcome them. She was determined to get her man, and she did get him. She showed us that it is perfectly respectable for a woman to take the initiative, not only in matters of marriage of course, and our youngsters are beginning to learn that.
This was a wedding of Gods, and people realised that both were equal, even identical, if you look at it in the right way. Just as all of us are really God, if we look at ourselves in the right way. Trying to become aware of that is the highest aim in our religion.
People
realised that loving God is, or should be, much the same way as when
a husband loves his wife, and the other way round, that is to say: husband
and wife should treat and love each other as if the other were God.
It should not be words only but it should be real, and can be real:
it should be felt in the heart, as it was for Párvati. People
admired the example that Párvati had set to all of us.
-----
If
you want to read the marvellous story of Sáti, Párvati
and Lord Shiva in full, you can find it at the following website:
http://www.tudo.co.uk/hindustories/index.html
E-mail: ashutosh.vardhana@tudo.co.uk
Note
for readers unfamiliar with Hinduism
(172 words = 841 characters):
Editors might like to add the following note for non-Hindu readers (172 words = 841 characters):
Contrary to common perception we Hindus believe in one God, who is neither man nor woman, who is absolute, unchangeable and universal, who is 'existence-consciousness-bliss', and about whom we can say nothing else that is really valid. Unlike God-the-Absolute, the **many** gods that our stories talk about and that our pictures depict are changeable. Their purpose is to aid the different inclinations of each devotee and help him/her to move from the visible towards the invisible, concentrate his affection on god and to lead a life that brings him closer to the experience of god. Since God, in whatever religion, is everywhere, the Jewish, Christian and Muslim God, being one with our absolute God, resides also in our images. All of us therefore have good reason to be friends, worship God wherever we find him, and to support each other in our different ways of worshipping God, be it in mosque or mandir, for God is one by whatever name we call him and whether we 'depict' him or not.
Download printable version (*.rtf file)
Version
3:
926 words = 4171 characters
Summary
On 13 March this year (2002) Hindus celebrate the festival of Maha-Shivaratri, the great night of Lord Shiva, his wedding to Goddes Párvati, and how she managed to win him for a husband. Ashutosh Vardhana tells the story behind this great festival.
Ashutósh
Várdhana
The Wedding of the Gods
A little girl, Sáti, fell in love with God, God in his manifestation as Lord Shiva. Sáti's father, King Dáksha, was not happy with his daughter's choice, but she was in stubborn, and in royal families the girls could choose their husband as they wished. When she was old enough for the big ceremony of the Bridal Choice (swayamvára), she chose Shiva and there was nothing her father could do about it.
'You have chosen a beggar, so now go and live with your beggar. If you get tired of him, you can return here but I do not want to see him in my house,' said the King.
Sáti lived happily with her husband for many years. One day, on the occasion of a big fire sacrifice in her father's house, King Dáksha started abusing her husband, Lord Shiva, in such vile terms that Sáti said: 'I cannot stop you from saying what you are saying, for you are my father, and I owe you respect, but no loyal wife must ever listen to such things being said about her husband, and there is a sure way of stopping it.' With that she jumped into the sacrificial fire and was instantly consumed. Shiva avenged his beloved wife by killing King Dáksha and then withdrew into the Himaláyas for thousands of years to meditate.
|
|
| Lord Shiva meditating in the Himaláyas | |
Meanwhile
Sáti was reborn with a new body as Párvati, daughter of
King Himavát, the King of the Mountains. She still loved Lord
Shiva and her only desire was to be reunited with him, her husband
from all eternity and in all eternity. She had many obstacles to overcome
and it took her 3000 years to achieve her goal.
Shiva heard about her saintly reputation and came in the shape of a young Brahmin to give Párvati a last test. He called her a fool for wanting Shiva as a husband, called Shiva a beggar and ridiculed his appearance. Párvati defended Shiva with much passion and showed that she was not only beautiful and devoted but also learned. She is the epitome of the learned woman, capable of holding her ground, even against a brahmin. She is an example we should all emulate.
Then Shiva revealed himself to her, and they prepared for their great wedding in the capital of King Himavát. All his subjects were invited, and since he was the king of the mountains, his subjects were the mountains. Nobody wanted to miss this wedding. All the earth was suddenly flat like a chapati because all the mountains had gone to Párvati's wedding.
|
|
| Lord
Shiva and Goddess Párvati reunited at last Click on image for larger picture |
|
Even
Pendle Hill from Lancashire attended the wedding. He was a bit of a
show-off and he wanted to give the witches which lived on him a hard
time. So Pendle Hill decided to walk on only two legs (instead of a
thousand, like the other mountains) and that made him rather wobbly.
Pendle Hill on his way to India (passing through Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan) carried lots of Indians and Pakistanis from Lancashire. They came from all religions and communities. They loved going to weddings, any wedding, but especially this one, and they did not want to miss the chance of a free ride to India and Pakistan. Afterwards they went off to visit their relatives there.
The Hill swung like a **pendulum** (or a wedding bell), and all the witches fell off and broke their necks. That's why the Hill is called "Pendle" Hill and why there are no more witches on it. But the Lancashire Indians and Pakistanis, both Muslims and Hindus, did not fall off, for they are good people and helped each other to hang on, and therefore nothing can shake them. They know, life is hard enough as it is, and we don't have to make it worse by fighting our neighbours and kinsmen, whatever their religion. If we love each other, we will be so much happier.
Perhaps
there has never been a greater and more important wedding in the history
of the world. This was the wedding of all weddings. It showed all of
us what really great love is, love that continues not only during one
lifetime but over innumerable lifetimes, love that overcomes even the
greatest obstacles, as Párvati did overcome them. She was determined
to get her man, and she did get him. She showed us that it is perfectly
respectable for a woman to take the initiative, not only in matters
of marriage of course, and our youngsters are beginning to learn that.
This was a wedding of Gods, and people realised that both were equal, even identical, if you look at it in the right way. Just as all of us are really God, if we look at ourselves in the right way. Trying to become aware of that is the highest aim in our religion.
People realised that loving God is, or should be, much the same way as when a husband loves his wife, and the other way round, that is to say: husband and wife should treat and love each other as if the other were God. It should not be words only but it should be real, and can be real: it should be felt in the heart, as it was for Párvati. People admired the example that Párvati had set to all of us.
-----
If
you want to read the marvellous story of Sáti, Párvati
and Lord Shiva in full, you can find it at the following website:
http://www.tudo.co.uk/hindustories/index.html
E-mail: ashutosh.vardhana@tudo.co.uk
Note
for readers unfamiliar with Hinduism
(172 words = 841 characters):
Editors might like to add the following note for non-Hindu readers (172 words = 841 characters):
Contrary to common perception we Hindus believe in one God, who is neither man nor woman, who is absolute, unchangeable and universal, who is 'existence-consciousness-bliss', and about whom we can say nothing else that is really valid. Unlike God-the-Absolute, the **many** gods that our stories talk about and that our pictures depict are changeable. Their purpose is to aid the different inclinations of each devotee and help him/her to move from the visible towards the invisible, concentrate his affection on god and to lead a life that brings him closer to the experience of god. Since God, in whatever religion, is everywhere, the Jewish, Christian and Muslim God, being one with our absolute God, resides also in our images. All of us therefore have good reason to be friends, worship God wherever we find him, and to support each other in our different ways of worshipping God, be it in mosque or mandir, for God is one by whatever name we call him and whether we 'depict' him or not.
Download printable version (*.rtf file)
Written on 20 Dec 2001
© Ashutosh Vardhana 2001