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Parvati: the mountain goddess, her forms and her temples
पार्वती
Parvati is one of the principal goddesses of Hinduism: the wife of Shiva, the mother of Ganesha and Murugan, and for Shaiva and Shakta traditions the gentle face of Shakti, the divine energy. Her name means "she of the mountain", because the Puranas make her the daughter of Himavan, lord of the Himalayas. She is rarely alone in a temple: in most Shiva temples she has a shrine beside him, and the base of the lingam itself, the yoni, is read as her.
Story
She won Shiva the ascetic through years of austerity and turned the hermit into a householder. Every gentle goddess of the mountains (Gauri, Uma, Annapurna) is one of her names.
Family and companions
Festivals
✅ Names, forms and symbols
Shaiva and Shakta texts treat many goddesses as Parvati in another mood, though many began as regional goddesses.
- Uma and Gauri — Two of her oldest names. The Harivamsa explains Uma as her mother's plea "u ma", "oh, don't", when the girl began her fasts. Gauri, "the fair one", is her golden-skinned form, linked with ripened harvests.
- Durga and Kali — Her fierce forms, with eight or ten arms and a lion or tiger to ride. In the Skanda Purana she becomes the warrior [Durga](/en/deities/durga/) to defeat a buffalo demon; in the Linga Purana she turns into [Kali](/en/deities/kali/) at Shiva's request.
- Annapurna and Meenakshi — Annapurna is the giver of food and grain; Meenakshi is the queen of Madurai. In the Kamakshi and Meenakshi images a parrot sits near her shoulder.
- In temple images — Two arms when she sits beside Shiva, sometimes four when she is alone. One hand is often raised in abhaya mudra, the gesture for "fear not", and Ganesha may sit on her knee.
- Half of Shiva — Ardhanarishvara, the figure who is half Shiva and half Parvati, and the lingam set in the yoni both show the couple as one being: ascetic and householder, stillness and creative force.
The key stories
Her story begins in an earlier life. According to the Puranas, Shiva's first wife Sati gives up her body after her father Daksha insults Shiva, and is reborn as Parvati, daughter of Himavan and Mena. Shiva, in grief, has withdrawn into meditation in the mountains.
The gods need him back: in the Shiva Purana the demon Taraka can be killed only by a son of Shiva. They send Kama, god of desire, to wake him; Shiva burns Kama to ash with his third eye. Parvati takes the slow road. She goes into the mountains and lives as an ascetic herself, until Shiva comes in disguise to talk her out of it, fails, and accepts her. Kalidasa's poem Kumarasambhava ("The Birth of Kumara") is built on this story.
The couple settle on Mount Kailash. Their sons are [Murugan](/en/deities/murugan/), born to lead the gods' army, and [Ganesha](/en/deities/ganesha/), whom, in a widely told version, she shapes from the turmeric paste of her bath to guard her door. The texts read the marriage as a balance: [Shiva](/en/deities/shiva/) the ascetic withdrawn from the world, Parvati the householder who draws him back into it.
How she is worshipped
Parvati is worshipped mostly beside Shiva, in her own shrine within his temple, often under a local name. Her own festivals belong largely to women. Teej, in the north and west, is kept by married women and girls in the monsoon, with swings hung from trees, songs and often a fast. In Rajasthan, Gangaur begins the day after Holi and lasts more than two weeks, with clay images of Gauri and Shiva. In Karnataka, Gowri Habba comes just before Ganesh Chaturthi, and in Maharashtra the Gauri festival is part of the Ganesh festivities.
The mantra shown on this page, Om Parvatyai namah, is a plain salutation, "homage to Parvati".
Temples of Parvati
Look for her under her local names: Chamundeshwari, Shantadurga, Meenakshi, Kamakhya.
Mysore, Goa, Bengaluru
The [Chamundeshwari temple](/en/mysore/chamundeshwari-devi-temple/) on Chamundi Hill above Mysore, to the goddess in her fierce form; [Shri Shantadurga](/en/goa/shantadurga-temple-kavlem/) at Kavlem, Goa's best-loved form of Durga, who by tradition made peace between Vishnu and Shiva; and in Bengaluru the [Halasuru Someshwara temple](/en/bengaluru/halasuru-someshwara-temple/), a Shiva temple whose stone panels show the Girija Kalyana, the wedding of Shiva and Parvati (Girija, "daughter of the mountain").
Madurai, Guwahati, Varanasi
The Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai, dedicated to Meenakshi, a form of Parvati, and Sundareswarar (Shiva); and Kamakhya on Nilachal hill in Guwahati, one of the oldest Shakta pithas (seats of the goddess), tied in legend to Sati. In Varanasi, Vishalakshi and Annapurna are both her forms.
Festivals
[Navratri](/en/festivals/navratri/), the nine nights of the goddess, honours her nine forms, beginning with Shailaputri, "daughter of the mountain", and passing through Mahagauri. [Maha Shivaratri](/en/festivals/mahashivaratri/) is, in one tradition, the night of her marriage to Shiva. Teej and Gangaur are hers outright, and on Thiruvathira, in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, women sing songs about her penance and longing for Shiva.
❓ FAQ
Who is Parvati?
One of the principal Hindu goddesses: Shiva's wife, the mother of Ganesha and Murugan, and the benevolent form of Shakti. With Lakshmi and Saraswati she makes up the Tridevi, the three great goddesses.
Why is she called Parvati?
Parvata is a Sanskrit word for mountain. She is the daughter of Himavan, the personified Himalayas, so Parvati means "she of the mountain".
Why did Shiva marry Parvati?
In the Puranas she is Sati reborn, and she wins him back through years of austerity, after Kama's attempt to rouse him ended with Kama burned to ash. The gods also needed a son of Shiva to defeat the demon Taraka, which Murugan later does.
How many wives does Shiva have?
In the Puranas, one wife in two lives: Sati, the daughter of Daksha, and after her death Parvati, who is Sati reborn.
Is Sati the same as the practice of sati?
No. Sati the goddess is Shiva's first wife in the Puranas. The same word later named the practice of widows burning on their husband's pyre, made punishable by the Bengal Sati Regulation of 1829 in British India.