Wives of Lord Shiva

Shiva is the primary deity in the Shaivism tradition of Hinduism. He is one of the holy Trinity. He is the destroyer of the evil, the one who brings awakening, and the one who blesses his devotees with enlightenment.

Lord Shiva is the invincible sage, who conquered death and attained supreme knowledge. He is depicted as the supreme lord of destruction, the lord of dance and the lord of meditation in various ancient, historic and art depictions.

Our scriptures provide details of the legends of Lord Shiva: how he came into existence, what all forms he took birth in, and how he protected the universe from the demons many times. Today, we have brought to you the information about the wives of Lord Shiva.

Shiva's main consort is Goddess Sati, who incarnated as various other Goddesses, which were known to be his other wives. Let us know more about them.

Goddess Sati

Goddess Sati is the daughter of Daksha Prajapati. She is considered as the Goddess of marital felicity and longevity. She is the first consort of Lord Shiva. When Queen Prasuti, the wife of Daksha, wanted a daughter, Lord Brahma advised her to worship Adi Parashakti.

Goddess Sati used to adore Lord Shiva since she used to hear stories about him from Narad Muni. She undertook hard penance to please Lord Shiva. She subsisted to one leaf a day and left even that later.

That is why she is also known as Aparna. Sati had left her father's palace and the associated luxuries in order to win the regard of Lord Shiva. She disliked the idea of marrying anyone else. Pleased by her devotion and penance, Lord Shiva married her.

Goddess Parvati

The second consort of Lord Shiva and the Goddess of fertility, love and devotion, Goddess Parvati is believed to be the reincarnation of Goddess Sati. She was the daughter of the mountain king Himavan and his wife Meena. Much similar to Goddess Sati, she too adored Lord Shiva since childhood.

When she grew up, she developed the desire to marry him. She undertook a deep penance and left food as well. She stood firmly on her decision, despite the continuous advises she got against marrying Shiva, who was a homeless ascetic. But the love in her heart would not let her drop the idea.

After all, she was the reborn form of Sati and Shiva had been her husband already in the past life. Later, Shiva was pleased by her hard penance and married her after realizing that she was the incarnation of Sati.

She succeeded in achieving the love of Shiva, despite her father not being happy about her decision initially. Goddess Parvati is also known as Uma, the daughter of the Himalayas.

Goddess Mahakali

Shiva is the transcendental reality's silent aspect and Mahakali is the dynamic aspect of it. Mahakali is another consort of Lord Shiva. She is worshipped as one of the primary deities in the Shaktism tradition and as the power of Shiva in the Shaivism tradition of Hinduism.

Goddess Parvati is the female counterpart of the ferocious Shiva. She is born to destroy the evil and fearsome negative powers disturbing the universe. Just as Shiva, she is also the protector and the saviour of her devotees.

She is also believed to be the Hindu Goddess of death and time. Otherwise calm, innocent and a loving goddess, she takes the ferocious form to kill the negativities and the demons.

One of the stories about her birth says that she was born when the Gods requested Goddess Parvati to kill the demon Daruka. It is believed that upon the commands of Lord Shiva, she took the form of Mahakali to destroy the demon.

Another story says that she was born when Goddess Parvati shed her dark skin. The dark skin transformed into Mahakali and Goddess Paravati became fair, later to be known as Gouri.