(^2) In Ram Charit Manas, Baal Kand, Chaupai line no. 1 that precedes Doha no. 75,
even Brahma the creator has acknowledged that no one had ever done such severe
Tapa as the one done by Parvati.]
Shiva approaches Parvati
dkgw¡ u ns[;kS dgfga ;g riq tksx Qy Qy pkfj dkA
ufga tkfu tkb u dgfr pkgfr dkfg dq/kj&dqekfjdkAA
cVq cs"k is[ku ise iuq czr use lfl ls[kj x,A
eulfga lejism vkiq fxfjtfg cpu e`nq cksyr Hk,AA5AA
kāhūm̐ na dēkhyau kahahiṁ yaha tapu jōga phala phala cāri kā.
nahiṁ jāni jā'i na kahati cāhati kāhi kudhara-kumārikā.
baṭu bēṣa pēkhana pēma panu brata nēma sasi sēkhara ga'ē.
manasahiṁ samarapē'u āpu girijahi bacana mṛdu bōlata bha'ē. 5.
Chanda 5. They (the sages, seers, hermits, ascetics, monks) say that nobody has heard
of such a Tapa (severe penances and austerities) before. Are the four fruits (of
Artha—wealth, prosperity; Dharma—righteousness, probity and noble conduct;
Kaam—fulfilled desires; and Moksha—emancipation and salvation) sufficient reward
for doing such a formidable and incomparable Tapa? [That is, these four traditional
rewards that one gets for doing Tapa are insufficient to compensate Parvati for the
sort of Tapa she has done. She surely deserves something more potentially important
and significant than the above four rewards for the severity of the Tapa she has done.
So, what could it be? As it turned out eventually, she was amply rewarded by the
creator Brahma by blessing her that she has now become eligible to marry Lord Shiva
and consequentially become the Mother Goddess of the world. This reward was the
rarest of the rare, because of the simple reason that Lord Shiva is not going to marry
again, so she would be the only Mother Goddess of creation. On the other hand, the
other four rewards of Artha, Dharma, Kaam and Moksha can be attained by any
number of ascetics and hermits who do Tapa.]
No one knows what the daughter of the Mountain wishes to have, nor do she
say anything herself. [This is true Tapa. Parvati did not want any worldly rewards,
and she had done Tapa for Lord Shiva. She left everything in the hands of the Creator,
for she felt that it is best that way. If she asks for something, than the Creator may
request her to ask for something else because it may not be possible to fulfill her
desires. But if she does not ask anything, the Creator will be in a fix because he is
morally bound to amply reward her. In that case, the Creator would repeatedly request
her to ask for a boon, and it will be then that she would express her desire to marry
Shiva. In this situation, it will be impossible for the Creator to deny her wish because
he had repeatedly asked her to express her desires. It will also portray her in a good
light—as a lady who has done the rarest kind of Tapa without harbouring any greed
whatsoever in her heart. She did not want to jump the gun.]
Then ‘Shashi Shekhar’ (i.e. Lord Shiva; literally the Lord whose head is
adorned by the moon) assumed the form of a ‘Batu’ (a young celibate Brahmin) and
went to her to test the sincerity of her love and affection, her steadfastness of vows,
her determination and resolve, as well as to observe her daily routine.^1
But when he reached the site where Parvati was doing Tapa, he was very
pleased by her general demeanours and lifestyle. So Lord Shiva mentally accepted her