her husband had been excommunicated from the community of gods so that he could
not participate and take his share of the offerings of the fire sacrifice. Being fully
aware of this, Sati chose to come, and this meant that she had no sense of self-respect,
dignity and honour, something that was bound to invite scorn and ridicule.
*This verse no. 3 can be interpreted as follows: Daksha did not welcome her, and
did not even ask for her welfare. When Sati observed this rude attitude of her father,
as well as the scornful smile of her sisters, she became very angry and her entire body
became so agitated as if if was burning in fire.
What made Sati so angry, especially when Shiva had forewarned her of the type
of reception she must expect at her father’s place? Well, firstly, Sati had little faith in
her husband’s wisdom as is evident when she had not believed him with respect to his
advice on Lord Ram. So, even in the case of her father she had not paid much weight
to Shiva’s advice that she won’t be welcome—because she thought that her father
may harbour ill-feelings for her husband but he will not have any hard feelings
against her as all fathers love their off-springs.
Her father may not have invited her husband out of personl enmity, but she
thought that when she would meet him he would naturally show a father’s inherent
affection for his daughter, and would treat her in the same way he treated his other
daughters, her sisters. But as the event turned out, it was not to be so. All her sisters
had nothing but scorn for her, and quite the contrary to her expectations he father
loathed her more than anyone else.
In this scenario, Sati became very agitated and angry. The “burning of the body
as if on fire” is a figure of speech to imply that the concerned person is highly
agitated and angry as if his or her body is being scorched by heat.]‚ÃË¥ ¡Êß Œπ©U Ã’ ¡ÊªÊ – ∑§Ã„È°U Ÿ ŒËπ ‚¢÷È ∑§⁄U ÷ʪÊH 4H
Ã’ Áøà ø...∏U©U ¡Ù ‚¢∑§⁄U ∑§„U™§ – ¬ ̋÷È •¬◊ÊŸÈ ‚◊ÈÁ¤Ê ©U⁄U Œ„U™§H 5H
satīṁ jā'i dēkhē'u taba jāgā. katahum̐ na dīkha sambhu kara bhāgā. 4.
taba cita caṛhē'u jō saṅkara kahē'ū. prabhu apamānu samujhi ura dahē'ū. 5.
[Sati virtually bit her lips in disgust and somehow managed to suppress her anger in
the initial phase. But then her anger burst out in the open when—] Sati went to see the
fire sacrifice, but she could not find Lord Shiva’s share of offerings. [During a fire
sacrifice, offerings meant for the different gods are kept aside. Sati looked over them
and found that no offering has been set aside for Shiva.]^1 (4)
At that moment she recalled what her husband, Lord Shiva, had told her (or
had warned her—that it is sure that Daksha wouldn’t offer any sacrificial offerings to
him due to past animosity)^2.
Interpreting this as an affront to the honour of the Lord (Shiva) and a clear
public insult of him, her heart was outraged and it began burning with anger and
seething with disgust (with a desire to seek retribution). (5)
[Note—^1 When Sati glanced over the offerings she discovered to her dismay that
though the other two gods of the Trinity, viz. Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma, had not
come, but still their share of sacrificial offerings had been kept aside. Only Lord
Shiva had been singled out for utter neglect and contempt as not even a trace of the
offerings were set aside for him even in a token and perfunctory manner as absolutely
necessary to be done during a fire sacrifice. This is because during such religious
rites, offerings must be made to ‘all the gods without exception’.
Had no offerings been kept aside for Vishnu and Brahma, the affront to Shiva
would not have been so marked, but as the things stood Sati could not digest that
Shiva be singled out for such brazen insult.