The Nine days of Navaratri are devoted to the worship of the feminine energy in different forms. The first day of Navaratri begins by worshipping the Goddess Shailaputri. She is one of the significant goddesses revered as the wife of Lord Shiva.

Origin and Meaning of the Name

The word Shailaputri comes from two words. The word Shaila means mountains, and Putri means daughter. Thus, Goddess Shailaputri means the daughter of the mountains. Here, mountains refer to the Himalayas.

Depiction of the Goddess

Goddess Shailaputri rides on a Nandhi (as a vehicle) and carries a Trishul in one hand and a lotus in the other hand. Goddess Shailaputri wears a half-moon on her forehead. She is very beautiful, happy and looks serene.

The Story behind the Avatar

Long ago, King Daksha Prajapathi ( one of the sons of Lord Brahma) had a daughter called Sati, whom he loved very dearly. But Sati was awestruck with Lord Shiva. She wanted to be married to him. King Daksha was not happy with the decision of his daughter. He considered Lord Shiva to be a dirty Ascetic, not worthy of his beautiful and lovely daughter. But Sati was madly in love with Lord Shiva. She went against the wishes of her father and married Lord Shiva. She soon moved to Mount. Kailash.

One day, King Daksha organised a grand Yajna in his palace. He invited all the saints, Gods and Goddesses to it. However, he did not send any invite to his son-in-law, Lord Shiva and his daughter, Sati. Sati soon heard about the grand plans of her father.

Sati persuaded her husband, Lord Shiva, to go with her to the grand Yajna. Shiva refused, saying that they were uninvited and unwanted there. But Sati decided to attend the yajna and meet her parents. On the day of the Yagna, Sati visited her father. But to her dismay, she felt uninvited as no one spoke to her. King Daksha and other relatives did not welcome her. Sati felt great pain and was sad.

Soon, King Daksha started insulting Lord Shiva in front of Sati. The relatives laughed at the comments of King Daksha. Sati could not bear someone insulting her husband. She wept. Not knowing what to do, she jumped into the Holy Yajna fire. Sati got immolated, and the Yajna had to be halted.

Lord Shiva heard about this incident and rushed to King Daksha's palace. He was enraged and took the form of Veerabadra. He destroyed Daksha by chopping off his head. Lord Shiva wreaked havoc and destroyed the palace and the Yagna.

He then picked up the burnt corpse of his beloved wife - Sati. Lord Shiva could not part with Sati and carried her. The body parts of Sati fell on earth at various places. These places became to be called the Shakthi Peethas. According to the Devi Purana, there are fifty-one Shakthi Peethas in the country.

Later, Sati was reborn again as the daughter of Himavat and was known as Shailaputri, Parvathi or Hemavathi.

Vaishnavi Gurusankar is a passionate educator, a wife and a mother. She has over a decade of experience as an educator and has been closely working with teachers and children of all ages. She is also an active parenting blogger and founder of Magical Unicorn, an exclusive parenting blog founded on Indian ethos, values and stories at its core. She has also authored the book "Bharatyam : Science behind Hindu Practices & Way of Life"