The world knows Parvati as Shiva's eternal divine companion however do we know that Sati was Mahadev's first wife. Their love story is indeed the first love story of the Universe. However the story has a very painful end and shows us that even our Gods cannot escape the pain of sacrifice and separation from their family. Folks who do not know much about this divine story should give it a read.
Before the creation of the Universe there was only one God Sadashiv He was complete as Shiv (consciousness) and Adishakti (energy) both resided within him. However for creation of Universe,Lord Brahma was created. Lord Brahma was failing in his duty as he needed Adishakti (feminine energy) to reside inside all the creatures. This is when he went to Lord Sadashiv and he agreed to part with her for creation. However Lord Brahma knew the grief of separation and promised Sadashiv that he shall surely return AdiShakti to him in the form of Sati when Shiv will be born as Rudra in the world.
Brahm dev started the creation of the world. He created 64 lakh species. His son Daksha was declared as the King of Earth and was responsible to create law and order on Earth. Daksha had several daughters however he desired Adishakti herself to be born as a daughter to him. He meditated for 3000 years to please the Goddess. At last the Goddess appeared and agreed to be born to him. She was born as the youngest daughter to Daksha and queen Prasuti. She was named Sati. Meanwhile during the same period Shiv also existed on the planet as Lord Rudra. Rudra was a yogi and resided on Mount Kailasa. Brahma Vishnu and Rudra were the holy trinity of the Universe and were considered as the supreme gods. Daksha however was a Vishnu devotee and didn't worship Lord Rudra. Daksha was arrogant and even though he was a demigod he considered himself to be superior that Lord Rudra. Daksha shamed Lord Rudra's ideology and disliked him as the idea of renouncing the world and living a hermit and teaching other people to do so was contradictory to the rules and regulations he created for the world.
Sati however was in love with Rudra since the moment she saw him. Sati didn't know that she was Adishakti herself and hence did not understand why she was so attracted to Rudra. Sati knew that her father despised him and would never agree to their marriage, still, she could not resist Rudra. Sati was torn between the love for her father and love for her eternal lover. Despite all the odds she married Rudra going against her entire family. She thought that over time Daksha's anger will sober down and he will accept Rudra as his son in law.
However destiny had its own course and Daksha's hatred towards Rudra and now also Sati grew more with time. He completely abandoned her. Meanwhile Sati kept trying to make peace with her father but nothing changed. After some years one day Daksha decided to perform a grand Yagya (Puja) to please all the Gods and Goddesses. He invited all the Gods for this grand ceremony but did not invite Lord Rudra and Sati. When Sati came to know about the same she was disheartened and could not bear this insult. This discrimination enraged her so much that she decided to go to the ceremony uninvited. Rudra tried to convince her that she should not go but Sati was adamant. Sati went and confronted Daksha. Daksha's arrogance had crossed all limits and he shamed Sati for marrying Rudra in front of everyone. Sati finally could not handle her husband's humiliation any further and decided to burn herself in that ceremonial fire itself. She was now ashamed to be born as Daksha' s daughter and wanted to discard the body given to her.She declared that in her next life she will be born to someone who will have immense respect for Rudra and in that life she will unite with Shiva again. This is how Sati ended her life and was born as Parvati again in her next life when she marries Shiva again.
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