SHIVA-PARVATI WEDDING

This very old painting depicts one of the very famous scenes in the Hindu Mythology known as the Sati-Shiva Vivaha or the wedding of Lord Shiva with his first wife Sati. Sati or Shakti as she is also called, won the Lord's affection with unprecedented tapas or meditation.

Being born in a royal household, she abandoned all wealth and performed austerities until the lofty Yogi of the Himalayas, Lord Shiva, was compelled to personally come and bless her. Thus she won the love and adoration of her Lord. The legend goes on to say that she was so infuriated with the insults heaped upon her husband that she instantly combusted her body to ashes with the power of her tapas.

Thereby the legend of Sati became popular and later misinterpreted wherein a widow was expected to offer herself on the funeral pyre of her husband. Such a gross misinterpretation led to many a widow cruelly forced by society to be burnt alive.
Somewhere between the symbolism of mythology and misunderstood meanings, the innocent and ignorant people have grossly suffered. But the deep symbolism of our mythology has much to teach and has contemporary relevance.