having second thoughts, they advocated an alternative to her. They did not realise that
their effort was infuriating Parvati, and she was losing her cool with them—as will be
clear in the following verses.
(^1) Any alert observer will note that the Sapta-rishis are giving enough hints to
Parvati that she must be very careful and take their advice with a lot of salt, not a
pinch of salt but a spoonful as it were. They propose a groom for her who is already
‘married’, as he is a husband of Laxmi—is “Sri-Pati”. Then they say that he is
immaculate and his glories are sung by the scriptures. How would the scripture
favour someone who keeps ‘two wives’, symbolising that he is polygamous,
passionate and lustful, who is not contented by having one devoted wife but wants to
satisfy his passions by having two wives?
They were criticising Lord Shiva who was highly enlightened and practiced
exemplary self-restraint, and now praise someone who seems to be a passionate
fellow who would like to have two wives. Even a casual attention would have alerted
Parvati that these so-called saintly people standing before her were cunning and
deceitful, and so she would be wise to be careful and not fall in their trap.
After all, the way the Sapta-rishis talked and used disparaging language to
criticise Lord Shiva (refer: Chaupai line no. 6 that precedes Doha no. 79), sage Narad
(refer: Chaupai line nos. 4, 7 that precede Doha no. 79), Parvati herself and her father
(calling the two dumb and stupid like the mountains—refer: Doha no. 78) must have
been enough to make Parvati angry at them.
She surely must have realised by now that these fellows who had been trying to
persuade her to abandon her decision to marry Shiva were not holy men at all, as holy
men never talk the way they were talking. Holy men would never pour scorn on Lord
Shiva who is an exalted God and one of the Trinity Gods. Holy men never criticise
any other sage or saint as these fellows were doing for Narad. Any civilised person
would not tell a daughter that she is as stupid as her father who is dumb like the
mountains where he and his daughter live.
And to add salt to injury, these fellows give her the advice that she marries a god
who is already married!
(^2) What nonsense, thought Paravati. These Sapta-rishis seem to have some vested
interest. Why are they so much in a hurry that they would ‘bring the groom here’ in
the forest? Don’t they know anything about good behaviour and ethical conduct?
Parvati’s parents live; they aren’t dead. How can she say ‘yes’ to someone else other
than Lord Shiva to become her husband without the approval of her parents,
especially when her parents had given her permission to do Tapa with the express
condition that she would accept Shiva as her husband if the Tapa is successful and
she is asked to chose a boon? Don’t they know that their proposal is extremely
unrighteous and unethical? How can they even gather the guts to say such a nasty
thing to her?
(^3) The use of the word “Bhavaani” for Parvati is very significant here as it paves
the way for her stern reply that follows. One of the name of Lord Shiva is “Bhava”,
and therefore by calling Parvati as “Bhavaani” it is clearly meant that she is already a
wife of Lord Shiva. Hence, trying to cheat her and poison her mind to become
disloyal to her husband is a very sinful act that the Sapta-rishis are committing.
If this is the case, then why weren’t they punished? The answer is that they were
merely ‘testing Parvati’s devotion for Shiva and her sincerity’, and they had no
malafide intentions. They had not come out of their own will to tease her or insult her
or anyone else, but were doing so to test her. They had been expressly sent by Shiva
himself to test Parvati—refer: Ram Charit Manas, Baal Kand, Doha no. 77 along with
its preceding Chaupai line no. 8.
We shall read below that finally the Sapta-rishis have bowed before Parvati and
paid their obeisance to her by lauding her and hailing her devotion for Shiva—refer:
Doha no. 81 along with Chaupai line no. 8 that precedes it.]