community’s founder, Vallabhacharya,
or his successor Vitthalnath. Little is
known about Parmananddas himself,
although tradition asserts that he was a
Kanaujia brahmin, and the corpus of
poetry attributed to him is much larger
in later sources, suggesting that his
name was used by later writers. The evi-
dence from the earliest sources suggests
that he was a devoted follower of
Vallabhacharya. Much of his poetry is
specifically written for the Pushti Marg,
such as hymns in praise of
Vallabhacharya, or hymns to be sung for
the worshipof Krishna throughout the
day, a form of piety that came to charac-
terize the Pushti Marg. To date, his
works have not been translated, perhaps
because of their sectarian character.
Parvana
A particular type of the memorial rites
for the dead known as shraddhas. A par-
vana shraddha can be performed at spe-
cific times throughout the year, such as
the new moon, but is most commonly
performed during the Fortnight of the
Fathers (Pitrpaksha), which falls during
the waning moon in the lunar monthof
Bhadrapada. Whereas an ekoddishta
shraddhais performed for any particu-
lar deceased individual, the parvana
shraddha invokes first the paternal
father, grandfather, and great-grandfather,
then the same ancestors on the mother’s
side. The rite is performed to give bene-
fits to all of these ancestors, although
the father’s ancestors are considered the
primary recipients.
Parvata Dashanami
One of the ten divisions of the
Dashanami Sanyasis, renunciant
ascetics who are devotees (bhakta) of
Shiva. The Dashanamis were supposedly
established by the ninth century
philosopher Shankaracharya, in an
effort create a corps of learned men
who could help to revitalize Hindu
life. Each of the divisions is designated
by a different name—in this case,
parvata(“mountain”). Upon initiation,
new members are given this name
as a surname to their new ascetic
names, thus allowing for immediate
group identification.
Aside from their individual identity,
these ten “named” divisions are divided
into four larger organizational groups.
Each group has its headquarters in one of
the four monastic centers (maths) sup-
posedly established by Shankaracharya.
The Parvata Dashanamis belong to the
Anandawara group, which is affiliated
with the Jyotir math in the Himalayan
town of Joshimath.Parvati
(“daughterof the mountain”) Wife of
the god Shiva, and an important
Hindu goddess, Parvati is the daughter
of the minor deity Himalaya (the
Himalaya Mountains personified), and
his wife Mena. Parvati appears in
human form to draw Shiva out of the
asceticisolation in which he has been
lost since the death of his first wife,
Sati, and to induce him to father the
son necessary to kill the demon
Taraka. According to her myths, even
in her childhood Parvati vows that she
will have only Shiva for her husband.
Her parents try to discourage her,
since Shiva has taken a vow of asceti-
cismand is absorbed in deep medita-
tion on Mount Kailas.
Parvati’s first effort to arouse Shiva’s
desire ends in a dismal failure. Kama,
the god of love, tries to shoot Shiva with
an arrow of desire, but Shiva lets loose a
stream of fire from the third eye in his
forehead, burning Kama to ash.
Undeterred, Parvati goes into the moun-
tains and begins a program of harsh
physical asceticism (tapas) of her own:
standing on one foot for immense peri-
ods of time, enduring the heat of sum-
mer and cold of winter, and practicing
severe fasting (upavasa) and self-denial.
The spiritual power generated by her
asceticism eventually awakens Shiva,
and he comes to her, disguised as an
aged brahmin. He tries to discourageParvati