English
Mahagauri
Source: The popular Navadurga story (folk tradition); Parvati's austerity: Shiva Purana, Rudra Samhita, Parvati Khanda
To win Shiva as her husband, Parvati, daughter of the Himalaya, gave up the comforts of the palace and began austerities in the forest. Her resolve was firm: either she would win Shiva, or her life would pass in tapas.
Days became months, months became years. In the blazing summer sun she sat surrounded by fires. In the rains she stayed soaked under the open sky. On winter nights she stood in icy water, chanting Shiva's name.
First fruit, then dry leaves, and at last even those she gave up. Only air, and the remembrance of Shiva. Layers of dust, earth and leaves gathered around her, but her meditation did not break.
The princess whose beauty had once been bright as the moon now had a body darkened by sun, dust and hard tapas. Her body had grown thin, but the same unshakeable devotion shone in her eyes.
The heat of her austerity began to reach the three worlds. The gods were amazed. Sages came to test her and went away, but Parvati did not move from her resolve.
At last came the moment for which ages had passed. Lord Shiva himself appeared before her. He said, “Devi, your tapas is complete. I accept you as my wife.”
Then Shiva looked with compassion at that body, darkened and worn by austerity, and reached towards the Ganga flowing from his matted hair…
According to the popular story, Shiva bathed Parvati with the holy water of the Ganga flowing from his matted locks. As soon as that pure stream touched her, all the dust and darkness of her austerity washed away.
Parvati's body flashed like lightning. Her colour became bright as a conch, the moon and the kunda jasmine. Even the gods were astonished at her radiance. Pleased, Shiva accepted the Devi in this radiant form as his other half, and later the wedding of Shiva and Parvati took place in the Himalaya.
Because of this supremely fair, bright form, the Devi was called Mahagauri. Tradition says Mahagauri always wears white clothes and white ornaments, so she is also called Shvetambaradhara, the one clad in white. In tradition she is pictured as eight years old.
She has four arms. One holds a trident, one a damaru drum, and the other two are raised in fearlessness and blessing. She rides a bull. Her nature is held to be utterly calm and compassionate.
The meaning of the story is that the darkness her austerity brought was no flaw; it was the mark of tapas. And when the tapas was complete, that same tapas made the Devi even more radiant than before.
Some Puranas tell a different story, in which Parvati gains a fair complexion through austerity and a separate goddess emerges from her dark sheath. These are different traditions, and their essence is the same: tapas makes the Devi's radiance shine brighter.
Devotees believe that worshipping Maa Mahagauri washes away old impurities of the mind and brings purity and peace to life.
What this story teaches
The marks of hard effort are not flaws. Tapas completed with patience in the end makes life brighter.
Maa Mahagauri is worshipped on the eighth day of Sharad and Chaitra Navratri, Durgashtami. On this day many homes perform Kanya Puja. The story of the Ganga bath comes from popular tradition.
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