[Now in the following verses, we shall read about the severity of Uma’s Tapa. Refer
also to “Parvati Mangal”, verse nos. 38—40.]
She survived by eating edible roots and fruits for a thousand years, and then
for the next hundred years ate only leaves and stems. (4)
For some days she lived by eating and drinking only air and water, and for
some days she abstained from all foods by observing stern fast. (5)
For three thousand years she survived by eating creepers and leaves that had
fallen on the ground and had dried up in a natural way. (6)
Then she abstained from eating even dried and fallen leaves etc. It is from that
time that she was called ‘Aparnaa’ (to commemorate the severity of her Tapa). [The
word “Aparnaa” means one who had denied himself even the leaves.] (7)
Observing that Uma’s body had become extremely emaciated due the severity
of the Tapa done by her, a divine voice known as ‘Brahm’s voice’ (the formless sound
heard from the heaven and is belived to be spoken by the Holy Spirit, the Lord God;
the voice of an Oracle; the voice of Brahma the creator speaking on behalf of the Lord
God)# said from the sky (the heaven)^1. [Next Doha no. 74 and its following verses
narrate what this Brahm’s voice said to Uma.] (8)
[Note—The way Uma did Tapa for particular numbers of days coincides
symbolically with numbers of Mantras used for offering worship to Lord Shiva as
ordained in the Shukla Yajur Veda. Out of the many Mantras of this Vedas, those that
are exclusively dedicated to Shiva were extracted and listed as a body of Mantras
known as “Rudri”. There are said to be 11 forms of Lord Shiva, known as the “11
Rudras”.
Uma did Tapa as follows: 1000 years + 100 years (verse no. 4) = ‘11’00 (‘eleven’
thousand) years. They symbolise the 11 Rudras or 11 Rudri Mantras.
Then the next verse no. 5 says that she spent some days eating air, drinking water
and fasting. Since a Tapa is done in a systematic manner, therefore we can assume
that this second phase also followed the same pattern: that is, she survived on air and
water for 1000 years and ate nothing for the next 100 years, bringing the total number
of days to 1100 years. Like in the previous instance, this completed her ‘second’
round of Rudri.
This was followed by the third round as narrated in verse nos. 6-7 by which time
she had done Tapa for 3000 years + 300 years = ‘33’00 years. The figure of ‘33’ in
‘3300’ stands for 11 x 3 = 33 Rudri Mantras. That is, Uma symbolically worshipped
all the 11 Rudras for ‘three times’ to imply that she is devoted to them in all the three
dimensions of time—the past, the present, and the future.
The ‘zero’ that is added to the numerals 1, 11, 3 or 33 mean the number of times
the main Tapa was multiplied in terms of magnitude or intensity. That is, if others did
a Tapa say for 11 years with a certain degree of intensity, the Tapa of Uma was a
hundred times more intense.
(^1) When the Tapa was successful, there was always a voice from the heaven to
indicate it to the person who was engaged in doing Tapa, and this was followed by a
request to him or her to seek the desired boon.
When Manu and Satrupa’s Tapa was successful, a similar voice was heard from
the sky, asking them to seek a boon—refer: Ram Charit Manas, Baal Kand, Chaupai
line no. 6 that precedes Doha no. 145.
Similarly, when the Tapa of the demon king Ravana and his brothers were
successful, the creator Brahma had spoken to them and asked them to seek a boon:
refer—Ram Charit Manas, Baal Kand, Chaupai line no. 2 that precedes Doha no. 177.
#Usually it was ‘Brahma, the creator’ who spoke on behalf of the Supreme
Being. Hence, this voice is aptly called the “voice of the Oracle”.]