Now, why did Tulsidas choose to describe Shiva’s marriage instead of any
other thing related to the Lord? Well, the answer is this: Shiva had no intention of
marrying for he had declared his intention to live a life of an ascetic. But it so
happened that a demon named Tarkaasur was born, and the creator Brahma had
prophesized that he can be eliminated or killed only by a son born to Lord Shiva. How
will this be possible if Shiva remains submerged in meditation and remain aloof from
this world? After all, how is it possible to have a son of Shiva who would eliminate
the scourge of the demon if Shiva does not marry? So it was devised by the gods that
Shiva gets married. In order to overcome his resistance and possibly flatly saying
‘no’, the supreme God, i.e. Lord Ram, himself requested Shiva to do so. Hence, this
answers the question: why Shiva married?
As for the question: why did Tulsidas wrote about Shiva’s marriage when the
main theme of his book “Ram Charit Manas” was the narration of the life and times of
his revered Lord Ram, there are two important reasons—(i) It was Lord Shiva who
had first conceived and narrated the divine story of Lord Ram, and Tulsidas wished to
pay his respects to Lord Shiva before he starts writing on Lord Ram; and (ii) To
explain why the Supreme Being who is supposed to remain aloof from the world had
to get entangled in it in order to meet certain contingencies. In the case of Lord Shiva,
it was the necessity to marry so that he can have a son who would kill the demon
Tarkaasur, and in the case of Lord Ram it was the tyranny unleashed in the world by
the demon race led by their king Ravana who had to be eliminated that the Lord had
to come to earth as a human being, marry and go thorough all the travails of worldly
life.
Had Lord Ram not married Sita, it would not have been possible for the Lord
to kill Ravana because there would have been no chance of Ravana kidnapping her
and giving an excuse to the Lord to come and kill him.
Similarly, had Lord Shiva not married Parvati, there would not have been a
son born to them, and hence there would have been no one who could eliminate the
demon Tarkaasur.
This clearly draws a parallel between why Lord Shiva married and why Lord
Ram had to marry.
And this also explains why Tulsidas included this story of Lord Shiva’s
marriage in his epic narration of Ram Charit Manas.
One another reason for Tulsidas incorporating this story of Shiva’s marriage in
a book basically dedicated to Lord Ram is this: Tulsidas wished to pay his obeisance
to Lord Shiva whom even Lord Ram had himself praised and held in the highest
esteem. Since the marriage of Lord Ram has been narrated in great detail in Baal
Kand of Ram Charit Manas, covering nearly the full second half of this Canto,
Tulsidas thought it prudent to first narrate the marriage of Lord Shiva as a token
gesture of showing respect to the ‘Great God of all the gods’ to invoke the Lord’s
blessings and grace before the actual narration of the story of Lord Ram begins later
on in Baal Kand.
It ought to be noted here that ‘Ram Charit Manas’ by Tulsidas is the only book
describing the holy life and deeds of Lord Ram, popularly known as the “Ramayan”,
that contains the story of Lord Shiva’s marriage. No other version of the Ramayan
incorporates it.
So, let us now start with the narration of this great story, “The Story of the
Marriage of Lord Shiva and Parvati”.
Our Book has three chapters as follows—