Shiva replied that though this would not what he would like to do if allowed to
choose, but since it is the wish of his beloved Lord Ram he has nothing to say and
would do whatever the Lord asks him and whatever pleases the Lord. Lord Ram told
Shiva that he has kept his promise of leaving Sati because she had assumed the form
of Sita, but now he must respect what Ram advises him. [Refer: Ram Charit Manas,
1/77/1-7.]
Shiva wanted to test Parvati’s love and devotion for him, so he sent the seven
celestial sages known as ‘Sapta-rishis’ to go and find out the depth of Parvati’s
commitment to him. The sages went and tried every trick they could think of to
dissuade Parvati from marrying Shiva, but faced only rebuttal from her. Finally they
blessed her and paid their obeisance to before reporting back to Shiva about her
sincerity and honesty. Shiva was very pleased, but being a veteran ascetic, he once
again immersed himself in deep meditation on Lord Ram, forgetting about the
immediate task at hand. [Refer: Ram Charit Manas, 1/77—to 1/82/1-4.]
In the meantime, a cruel demon named Tarakaasur began wreaking havoc on
the world, and the creator Brahma determined that he can be only be killed by the son
of Shiva. But the problem was that Shiva was lost in meditation, and unless he
marries there was no chance of him begetting a son. So the Gods collected in a great
huddle and asked Kamdeo, the god of passion and lust, to sacrifice himself for the
larger good of the rest of them. This was kind of igniting passions in Shiva’ heart so
that he would have a desire to marry. Kamdeo knew that he was playing with fire,
because to disturb Shiva in his meditation would certainly invite his sternest of
wraths. And this is exactly what happened. When Kamdeo shot an arrow of flowers at
Shiva, the Lord woke up and glared at him with fire blazing from the third eye in his
forehead. Kamdeo was immediately reduced to ashes. [Refer: Ram Charit Manas,
1/83/8—to 1/87/1-6.]
Kamdeo wife Rati asked for forgiveness from Shiva, insisting that her husband
had not done anything for some personal mischief but to serve the interests of the
Gods who had asked him to go and disturb the Lord so that he can be married. So,
Shiva blessed her that she would be reunited with her husband when Lord Vishnu
incarnates on earth as Lord Krishna. [Refer: Ram Charit Manas, 1/87/7-8—to 1/88/1-
3.]
All the gods assembled and requested Shiva to marry Parvati who had already
successfully done severe Tapa to marry him and had been granted such boon by the
creator Brahma.
So the process of the marriage between Lord Shiva and Parvati was set rolling.
Both the bride’s side (Himvant) and the groom’s side (the Gods) made elaborate
preparations, and the marriage was formalized with great fanfare and ceremony like
the way Lord Ram was married to Sita.
Tulsidas’ book ‘Parvati Mangal’ skips all the background developments that
led to this marriage and focus its attention on singing about the events that were
directly associated with the marriage itself. This part of the episode has been briefly
dealt with in Ram Charit Manas, and it is certainly not as detailed as in Parvati
Mangal. Perhaps Tulsidas wrote ‘Parvati Mangal’ to fill this gap—to describe in
detail the divine marriage which he could not do in Ram Charit Manas because of
some constraints. [Refer: Ram Charit Manas, 1/88/4-8—to 1/103/1-4.]
By and by it so happened that Shiva and Parvati had a son known as
‘Shatbadan’ who eventually killed the demons Tarakaasur. [Refer: Ram Charit
Manas, 1/103/6-8.]
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