Dakshayani
Encyclopedia
Dākshāyani also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
: दाक्षायणी) or Satī (सती) is a Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
Goddess of marital felicity and longevity. She is worshipped particularly by Hindu women to seek the long life of their husbands. An aspect of Devi
Devi
Devī is the Sanskrit word for Goddess, used mostly in Hinduism, its related masculine term is deva. Devi is synonymous with Shakti, the female aspect of the divine, as conceptualized by the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect, which represents...
, Dākshāyani is the first consort of Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, the second being Pārvatī
Parvati
Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
, the reincarnation of Dākshāyani herself.
In Hindu legend, both Dākshāyani and Pārvatī successively plays the role of bringing Shiva away from ascetic isolation into creative participation in the world. The act of Sati
Sati (practice)
For other uses, see Sati .Satī was a religious funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman either voluntarily or by use of force and coercion would have immolated herself on her husband’s funeral pyre...
, in which a Hindu widow immolates
Self-immolation
Self-immolation refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or for the purposes of martyrdom or suicide. It has centuries-long traditions in some cultures, while in modern times it has become a type of radical political protest...
herself on her husband's funeral pyre as a final and consummate act of loyalty and devotion, is patterned after the deed committed by this Goddess to uphold the honour of her husband.
Dākshāyani is also known as Satī, Gaurī, Umā, Aparnā, Sivakāmini and by over a thousand other names; a listing is to be found in the Lalithā Sahasranāmam
Legend
The Goddess Umā, a personification of the divine Omkara and embodiment of PrakrtiPrakrti
Prakrti or Prakriti or Prakruti means "nature". It is, according to Hindus, the basic nature of intelligence by which the Universe exists and functions. It is described in Bhagavad Gita as the "primal motive force". It is the essential constituent of the universe and is at the basis of all the...
(understood as Nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
or creativity), took human birth at the bidding of Brahmā
Brahma
Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
. Umā was born as a daughter of Daksha
Daksha
In Hinduism, Daksha, "the skilled one", is an ancient creator god, one of the Prajapatis, the Rishis and the Adityas. Daksha is said to be the son of Aditi and Brahma...
Prajāpati
Prajapati
In Hinduism, Prajapati "lord of creatures" is a Hindu deity presiding over procreation, and protector of life. He appears as a creator deity or supreme God Viswakarma Vedic deities in RV 10 and in Brahmana literature...
and his wife Prasuti
Prasuti
Prasuti is a Hindu goddess, who is the daughter of Svayambhuva Manu and Shatroopa, wife of Daksha and mother of many daughters by him.-Marriage and children:Marriage of Daksha and Prasuti was the first official marriage of first Manvantara...
. Daksha was a son of Brahmā himself, and a great king and magnate in his own right. The girl was named Gaurī, "the turmeric
Turmeric
Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20 °C and 30 °C and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive...
-hued one," since she was of the fair, golden complexion of auspicious turmeric. As the daughter of Daksha, she is also known as Dākshāyani.
Marriage with Shiva
In bidding the Goddess Umā to take human birth, Brahmā's design was that she should please Shiva with humble devotions and wed him. It was natural that Gaurī, even as a child, adored the tales and legends associated with Shiva and grew up an ardent devotee. As Gaurī grew to womanhood, the idea of marrying anyone else, as intended by her father, became anathemaAnathema
Anathema originally meant something lifted up as an offering to the gods; it later evolved to mean:...
to her. Every proposal from valiant and rich kings made her crave evermore the ascetic of Kailāsa, the God of Gods, who bestowed all on this world and himself foreswore all.
To win the regard of the ascetic Shiva, the daughter of king Daksha forsook the luxuries of her father's palace and retired to a forest, there to devote herself to austerities and the worship of Shiva. So rigorous were her penances that she gradually renounced food itself, at one stage subsisting on one bilva leaf a day, and then giving up even that nourishment; this particular abstinence earned her the sobriquet
Sobriquet
A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...
Aparnā. Her prayers finally bore fruit when, after testing her resolve, Shiva finally acceded to her wishes and consented to make her his bride.
An ecstatic Gaurī returned to her father's home to await her bridegroom, but found her father less than elated by the turn of events. The wedding was however held in due course, and Gaurī made her home with Shiva in Kailāsa. Daksha, depicted in legend as an arrogant king, did not get on with his renunciate son-in-law and basically cut his daughter away from her natal family.
Daksha's arrogance
Daksha once organized a grand yagna to which all the Gods were invited, with the exception of Gaurī and Shiva. Wanting to visit her parents, relatives and childhood friends, Gaurī sought to rationalize this omission. She reasoned within herself that her parents had neglected to make a formal invitation to them only because, as family, such formality was unnecessary; certainly, she needed no invitation to visit her own mother and would go anyway. Shiva sought to dissuade her, but she was resolved upon going; he then provided her with an escort of his ganaGana
The word ' , in Sanskrit, means "flock, troop, multitude, number, tribe, series, class" . It can also be used to refer to a "body of attendants" and can refer to "a company, any assemblage or association of men formed for the attainment of the same aims".In Hinduism, the s are attendants of Shiva...
s and bid her provoke no incident.
Self-immolation
Gaurī was received coldly by her father. They were soon in the midst of a heated argument about the virtues (and alleged lack thereof) of Shiva. Every passing moment made it clearer to Gaurī that her father was entirely incapable of appreciating the many excellent qualities of her husband. The realization then came to Gaurī that this abuse was being heaped on Shiva only because he had wed her; she was the cause of this dishonour to her husband. She was consumed by rage against her father and loathing for his mentality.Calling up a prayer that she may, in a future birth, be born the daughter of a father whom she could respect, Dākshāyani invoked her yogic powers and immolated
Self-immolation
Self-immolation refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or for the purposes of martyrdom or suicide. It has centuries-long traditions in some cultures, while in modern times it has become a type of radical political protest...
herself.
Shiva's rage
Shiva sensed this catastrophe, and his rage was incomparable. He created VirabhadraVirabhadra
According to Hindu mythology, Virabhadra or Veerabhadra was a super being created by the wrath of Rudra , when he stepped in to destroy the Yagna of Daksha, after his daughter Dakshayani - consort of Shiva, self-immolated in yagna fire...
and Bhadrakāli
Bhadrakali
Bhadrakāli , is one of the forms of the Great Goddess mentioned in the Devi Mahatmyam. In Sanskrit, the word Bhadra means "blessed", "auspicious", "fair", "beautiful", "good", "fortunate", "prosperous"....
, two ferocious creatures who wreaked havoc and mayhem on the scene of the horrific incident. Nearly all those present were indiscriminately felled overnight. Daksha himself was decapitated.
According to some traditions, it is believed that an angry Shiva performed the fearsome and awe-inspiring Tāndava
Tandava
' or ', the divine art form, is a dance performed by the god Shiva, who is revered by Hindus. According to Hindu mythology, Shiva’s Tandava is a vigorous dance that is the source of the cycle of creation, preservation and dissolution...
dance with Gaurī's charred body on his shoulders. During this dance, Gaurī's body came apart and the pieces fell at different places on earth. According to another version, Shiva placed Gaurī's body on his shoulder and ran about the world, crazed with grief. The Gods called upon Lord Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
to restore Shiva to normalcy and calm. Vishnu used his Sudarshana Chakram
Chakram
The chakram , sometimes called a war quoit, is a throwing weapon from India. Its shape is of a flat metal hoop with a sharp outer edge from in diameter...
to dismember Gaurī's lifeless body, following which Shiva regained his equanimity. Both versions state that Gaurī's body was thus dismembered into 51 pieces which fell on earth at various places. Several different listings of these 51 holy places, known as Shakti Peethas
Shakti Peethas
The Shakti Pithas are places of worship consecrated to the goddess Shakti or Parvati or Sati or Durga, the female principal of Hinduism and the main deity of the Shakta sect...
, are available; some of these places have become major centers of pilgrimage as they are held by some sect
Sect
A sect is a group with distinctive religious, political or philosophical beliefs. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and...
s of Hinduism to be particularly holy.
After the night of horror, Shiva, the all-forgiving, restored all those who were slain to life and granted them his blessings. Even the abusive and culpable Daksha
Daksha
In Hinduism, Daksha, "the skilled one", is an ancient creator god, one of the Prajapatis, the Rishis and the Adityas. Daksha is said to be the son of Aditi and Brahma...
was restored both his life and his kingship. His decapitated head was substituted for that of a goat. Having learned his lesson, Daksha spent his remaining years as a devotee of Shiva.
Aftermath
Dākshāyani was reborn as PārvatīParvati
Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
, daughter of Himavan, king of the mountains, and his wife, the apsara
Apsara
An Apsara , also known as Vidhya Dhari or Tep Apsar in Khmer, Accharā or A Bố Sa La Tư , Bidadari , Biradali , Widodari and Apson , is a female spirit of the clouds and waters in...
Menā. This time, she was born the daughter of a father whom she could respect, a father who appreciated Shiva ardently. Naturally, Pārvatī sought and received Shiva as her husband. This legend appears in detail in Tantra literature, in the Puranas
Puranas
The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
and in Kālidāsa
Kalidasa
Kālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...
's lyrical Kumārasambhavam, an epic that deals primarily with the birth of Subrahmanya.
See also
- Sati (practice)Sati (practice)For other uses, see Sati .Satī was a religious funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman either voluntarily or by use of force and coercion would have immolated herself on her husband’s funeral pyre...
- Hindu deitiesHindu deitiesWithin Hinduism a large number of personal gods are worshipped as murtis. These beings are either aspects of the supreme Brahman, Avatars of the supreme being, or significantly powerful entities known as devas. The exact nature of belief in regards to each deity varies between differing Hindu...
- List of Hindu deities
- List of Hinduism-related articles