Parvati Sets to Work
Parvati did not sit back and pine for her lost love. She consulted Narada who initiated her into the five-syllabled mantra, Namah Shivaya, (Salutation to Shiva), and advised her to do penance. Much against her mother's wished she undertook an increasingly server penance. She stated on a diet of fruit went on to leaves, then gave up even that. After 3,000 years, much persuasion by the gods and a personal test of her devotion, Shiva agreed to marry her.

Unlike Sati's wedding, this was a royal celeberation- Himavan was a powerful king. Shiva got into the spirit of it and played many tricks on the bride's family, beginning with the betrothal. He appeared as an itinerant dancer, captivating Mena and the guests. when given money and jewels, he said he would settle for nothing less than her daughter's hand in marriage. The palace guards were ordered to drive him out but he was burning hot to the touch. Himavan and Mena looked on amazed while he changed into the form of Vishnu, then Brahma, then the sun and finally, a heap of sheer radiance. But they were unyielding.

Shiva vanished, leaving a pair of confirmed devotees. This led to another complication. Himavan's devotion to Shiva was beginning to bother the gods. If he attained salvation and went to the world of Shiva, the earth would be deprived of her rich mineral resources. So they wanted someone to lessen their feeling of him. Only Shiva himself could do it. He came as an aged brahmin who maligned the naked ascetic of unclean habits and once again, Mena had doubts about the groom. She felt cheated. The seven sages and Arundhati, wife of Vaisitha, had to intercede and restore some order in the proceedings.

The Bridegroom's Antics
Shiva's leels seemed endless and he took particular delight in needling his future mother-in-law. Mena was up on the terrace with narada, eager to catch a glimpse of Shiva as he arrived. She mistook deity after deity, each with an impressive retinue, for her future son-in-law. They turned out to be either attendants or lesser gods. After fourteen such mistaken identities, ending with Vishu himself, Mena's anticipation reached fever pitch. Shiva would be so much more splendid than all these, she was certain. A shock was in store for her.

A group of weird, strange, dancing, misshapen, gnomish creatures staggered into view and leading them was Shiva himself. He was dressed in animal skin, dusted with ash, entwined with snakes, five-faced and three-eyed. Mena raved and ranted, threatening to kill herself and her daughter. She blamed Himavan, Narada, the sevens as, anyone and anything she could think of for the evil that had befallen her. No one could console her.

Things were threatening to get completely out of hand when Shiva revealed his hand handsome self, fully adorned and quite the dazzling bridegroom of every maiden's dream. He went by in grand procesion. The women of the town abandones whatever they doing and rushed out to see him. He charmed everyone with his good looks and majestic bearing.

Shiva went through every ceremony, pre-nuptial and nuptial, with grace, forbearance and even pleasure. There was fun and frolic and jesting. The Father and Mother of the universe were not grim and purposeful, but full of joy and good feeling. The yogi had decided to step back and make rook for the householder.

Brahma had the usual trouble with his procreative fluids. They were a permanent source of embarrassment to him. The bride excited him and this time his semen came out in droplets that turned into thousands of Valakhilyas, thumbsized sages who were banished
at birth to the Gandhamadana mountain. Shiva nearly killed Brahma all over again, but the lusting Creator was spread. In the prevailing mood of high festivity his transgressions seemed more comic than tragic. There wee no punishments handed out, no atonements no expiation. He got away her husband, the yogi had never wholly yielded to the lover. In Parvati's had taken full possession of purusha, and he seemed more than willing.