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Plate 1 A water lily on a long stem in front of three snow-capped mountain peaks

Parvati

Parvati, “the mountain’s daughter”, is the Hindu Mother Goddess as the wife of Shiva and the mother of Ganesha and Murugan. In wedding images she holds a blue water lily; Durga is her warrior form.

Hindu deities and their symbols. Also called Gauri, goddess Parvati, Parvathi, parvati symbol, parvati symbols, Uma.

Meaning

The Himalayan Academy calls Parvati one of many names for the Universal Mother, and her name means “Mountain’s daughter”: in the Hindu American Foundation’s account of Navaratri, her form Shailaputri is the daughter of the king of the Himalayas, shown riding a bull and holding a lotus and a trident. She is the wife of Shiva, and together, the foundation writes, the two are the feminine and masculine aspects of the Divine, Shakti and Shiva, whose union sparks creation. She also takes other forms. The Cleveland Museum of Art notes that she has her own cycle of myths, that she herself emanates into different forms, and that some branches of Hinduism consider the goddess to be the supreme creator who generated all the other gods, Shiva included. Durga, in the foundation’s words, is the warrior form of Parvati. In a Pahari painting in the Cleveland Museum she sits on Shiva’s lap with her hands in a gesture of honour, his hand resting on her shoulder.

Origin and history

Parvati married Shiva in her second life. In the Ramayana and a number of Puranas, as the Hindu American Foundation retells them, Shiva withdrew into austerity and deep meditation after his first wife, Sati, died. Parvati, who had been Sati in her previous life, was determined to marry him. She took up a penance like his own, won him by her austerity and devotion, and their son Skanda (Murugan) went on to defeat the demon Taraka. Maha Shivaratri, the foundation adds, honours the union of the two.

Both her sons have stories that begin with her. In the best-known account of Ganesha’s birth she shaped a boy from the oil and dust she removed from her body, brought him to life, told him he was her son and set him to guard the door while she bathed. When Shiva made six divine children from six sparks to fight the tyrant Surapadman, she embraced them and merged them into one boy with six faces, and she gave him his spear, the vel.

The wedding of Shiva and Parvati

Temple sculptors had rules for the couple. T. A. Gopinatha Rao, in Elements of Hindu Iconography (1916), summarises the texts on the wedding image (Kalyanasundaramurti): Parvati stands beside Shiva with her right arm stretched out to receive his, in the act of panigrahana, the taking of hands, and with her left hand keeping a nilotpala, a blue water lily. Where the couple are seated together (Sukhasanamurti), the goddess, Umadevi in Rao’s text, embraces Shiva with her right arm and keeps a mirror in her left hand.

Parvati, Durga and Kali

Durga and Kali are counted among her forms. The Hindu American Foundation calls Durga the warrior form of Parvati, the Mother Goddess who defends the oppressed with a fierce wrath and looks after creation with a caring warmth, and the Cleveland Museum, introducing a Chola bronze of Kali, writes that Parvati emanates into different forms and calls Kali the wrathful form of the goddess generated in battle. On the first night of Navaratri some traditions honour her as Shailaputri, daughter of the Himalayan king, riding a bull with a lotus in one hand and a trident in the other.

See also

Shiva, Durga, Murugan, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Rama.

Sources

  1. Dancing with Śiva: glossary (Pārvatī), Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, Dancing with Śiva: Hinduism’s Contemporary Catechism, glossary, Himalayan Academy (Kauai’s Hindu Monastery), glossary, s.v. Pārvatī
  2. 5 things to know about Maha Shivaratri (Syama Allard, Hindu American Foundation), Syama Allard, “5 things to know about Maha Shivaratri”, Hindu American Foundation, 2021, Hindu American Foundation, article text
  3. 9 things to know about Navaratri (Syama Allard, Hindu American Foundation), Syama Allard, “9 things to know about Navaratri”, Hindu American Foundation, 2020, Hindu American Foundation, article text
  4. 5 things to know about Ganesha (Syama Allard, Hindu American Foundation), Syama Allard, “5 things to know about Ganesha”, Hindu American Foundation, 2020, Hindu American Foundation, article text
  5. 5 things to know about Murugan (Syama Allard, Hindu American Foundation), Syama Allard, “5 things to know about Murugan”, Hindu American Foundation, 2025, Hindu American Foundation, article text
  6. Kali (1956.7, Cleveland Museum of Art), Kali, 900s–1000s, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1956.7, collection description, Cleveland Museum of Art, Description
  7. Shiva and Devi on Gajasura’s hide (1952.587, Cleveland Museum of Art), Shiva and Devi on Gajasura’s hide, c. 1675–80, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1952.587, collection description, Cleveland Museum of Art, Description
  8. Elements of Hindu Iconography, Vol. II, Part I, T. A. Gopinatha Rao, 1916, Law Printing House, Madras (Internet Archive, Wellcome Collection copy), Chapter IX, Kalyanasundaramurti; Chapter III, Sukhasanamurti

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Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 10, 2026. How we research

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