English
Shailputri
Source: Shiva Purana, Rudra Samhita, Parvati Khanda; the Navadurga tradition (Devi Kavacha of the Durga Saptashati)
At Prajapati Daksha's sacrifice, Sati could not bear the insult to her husband Shiva. She gave up her body in the fire of yoga. Shiva sank into deep renunciation and sat in samadhi on the lonely peaks of the Himalaya.
Meanwhile Himavan, king of the mountains, and his wife Mena were devoted worshippers of the Mother of the world. For years Mena worshipped the Devi with faith. One day the Devi, pleased, appeared before her. Mena folded her hands and asked, “Mother, come to my home as my own daughter.” The Devi said, “So be it.”
In time a divine girl was born to Mena. Flowers rained from the sky and every direction seemed glad. Sati had returned as the daughter of the Himalaya. As the daughter of the mountain (parvat) she was called Parvati, and as the daughter of the rock (shaila), Shailputri.
Parvati grew day by day like the waxing moon. She played with her friends on the banks of the Ganga, building little altars of sand. Everyone who saw her felt this was no ordinary child.
One day the divine sage Narada came to Himavan's palace. Himavan welcomed him with honour, had Parvati bow at his feet, and asked, “Sage, tell us my daughter's fortune. Whom will she marry?”
Narada looked at Parvati's palm and was silent for a while. Then he said, “King, this girl carries every auspicious mark. But there is one line in her palm…”
“Her husband will be a yogi. He will have no mother and no father. He will go unclothed, wear inauspicious garb, and care nothing for honour.” Hearing this, the colour drained from the faces of Mena and Himavan.
Himavan asked in sorrow, “Sage, is there any remedy?” Narada smiled. “Do not worry, King. The signs I named are not faults. They are all found in one god alone: Lord Shiva himself.”
“Shiva is unborn, so he has no mother or father. He is the lord of yogis, so he wants no honour. Ash, serpents and deerskin are his garb, yet he is the one who brings welfare to all. In her past life this girl was Sati, and in this life too she will be Shiva's other half.”
Mena and Himavan were comforted, and a wave of joy rose in Parvati's heart. In her mind she accepted Shiva as her husband.
But there was a difficulty. Since losing Sati, Shiva had been absorbed in deep austerity right there in the Himalaya. He had turned away from the world, and marriage was far from his thoughts.
Himavan took Parvati to Shiva and asked that his daughter be allowed to serve him. At first Shiva refused, since he felt it improper for a woman to stay near an ascetic. But after Parvati's humble and thoughtful reply, he accepted her service.
Every day Parvati came with flowers, water and kusha grass, cleaned the place of worship and served in silence. This began the journey that led to her great austerity, whose story is read on the second day of Navratri as the Devi Brahmacharini.
On the first day of Navratri the Devi is worshipped in this form as Shailputri. Her dhyana verse describes her riding a bull, holding a trident, with a crescent moon on her head. Popular images show a lotus in her other hand.
Shailputri means the daughter of the mountain: steady as a mountain, tender as a mother. The power that refused to bow to insult in one life set out again, in the next, towards her goal with love and patience.
What this story teaches
What is true is never lost; it returns in a new form. Shailputri teaches that every new beginning rests on unshakeable faith.
Maa Shailputri is worshipped on Pratipada, the first day of both Sharad and Chaitra Navratri, together with Ghatasthapana.
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