The Return
After Sati's death, Shiva had retreated into the deepest meditation, sealed off from the world by grief and spiritual power. He sat on Kailash in absolute stillness, eyes closed, the cosmos undisturbed around him but not reaching him.
Sati was reborn as Parvati — daughter of Himavan, the lord of the Himalayas, and his wife Mena. From childhood she was drawn to Shiva's mountain. She began serving him — bringing flowers, sweeping the ground around his meditation seat, keeping his space.
Shiva, deep in meditation, did not notice.
The gods needed Shiva to emerge. Tarakasura was terrorising all the worlds, and only Shiva's son could defeat him — but Shiva had no son, and would have none unless he emerged from meditation and married.
The Tapasya
The sage Narada told Parvati: "Only through tapasya can you win Shiva. If you can match the great ascetic in his own practice, he will have to open his eyes."
Parvati — the daughter of a mountain king, raised in comfort and beauty — went into the forest and began the most rigorous tapasya.
She stood on one foot for years. She gave up fire, then shelter, then food, then water. She stood in the summer under five fires. She stood in the winter immersed in cold water. The sages who witnessed her practice were astonished — no one had seen tapasya like this from anyone but Shiva himself.
The Test
Shiva came to her in the disguise of a Brahmin student and began to mock her choice. "Why do you want Shiva? He has nothing — no home, no wealth, no good family, no fine appearance. He wears animal skins and smears himself in ash. He is a wanderer, a beggar."
Parvati's eyes blazed. "I know who Shiva is. You have described his appearance. I know his nature. Do not speak of him again."
She had passed the test. Shiva revealed himself.
The Marriage
The marriage of Shiva and Parvati on Kailash is celebrated as one of the great events in all the cosmos — the gods attending, flowers falling from heaven, the mountains themselves blooming.