Parvati

==History==
[[File:Huvishka with Ommo and Oesho.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Coinage of [[Kushan]] ruler [[Huvishka]] with, on the reverse, the divine couple ''Ommo'' ("ΟΜΜΟ", Umā) holding a flower, and ''[[Oesho]]'' ("ΟΗϷΟ", [[Shiva]]) with four arms holding attributes. {{Circa|150}}-180 CE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dani |first1=Ahmad Hasan |last2=Harmatta |first2=János |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia |year=1999 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=978-81-208-1408-0 |page=326 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DguGWP0vGY8C&pg=PA326 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ommo-Oesho coin of Huvishka British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1888-1208-557 |website=The British Museum |language=en}}</ref>]]

The word Parvati does not explicitly appear in [[Vedic literature]]. Instead, Ambika, Rudrani and others are found in the ''Rigveda''. The verse 3.12 of the ''[[Kena Upanishad]]'' dated to mid-1st millennium BCE contains a goddess called Uma-Haimavati, a very common alternate name for Parvati.{{sfn|Kinsley|1988|p=36}} Sayana's commentary in ''Anuvaka'', however, identifies Parvati in the ''Kena Upanishad'', suggesting her to be the same as Uma and Ambika in the Upanishad, referring to Parvati is thus an embodiment of divine knowledge and the mother of the world.<ref name=johnmuir>John Muir, {{Google books|wNPaeose9K4C|Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India|page=422}}, pp 422–436</ref> She appears as the ''shakti'', or essential power, of the Supreme [[Brahman]]. Her primary role is as a mediator who reveals the knowledge of Brahman to the Vedic [[Trideva]] of [[Agni]], [[Vayu]], and [[Varuna]], who were boasting about their recent defeat of a group of demons.<ref>''Kena Upanisad'', III.1–-IV.3, cited in Müller and in Sarma, pp. ''xxix-xxx''.</ref> But Kinsley notes: "it is little more than conjecture to identify her with the later goddess Satī-Pārvatī, although [..] later texts that extol Śiva and Pārvatī retell the episode in such a way to leave no doubt that it was Śiva's spouse.." [IAST original].{{sfn|Kinsley|1988|p=36}}

Sati-Parvati appears in the epic period (400 BCE–400 CE), as both the ''[[Ramayana]]'' and the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' present Parvati as Shiva's wife. However, it is not until the plays of [[Kalidasa]] (5th–6th centuries) and the [[Puranas]] (4th through the 13th centuries) that the stories of Sati-Parvati and Shiva acquire more comprehensive details. Kinsley adds that Parvati may have emerged from legends of non-[[aryan]] goddesses that lived in mountains.{{sfn|Kinsley|1988|pp=36–41}} While the word Uma appears in earlier Upanisads, [[Edward Washburn Hopkins|Hopkins]] notes that the earliest known explicit use of the name Pārvatī occurs in late ''[[Hamsa Upanishad]]''.<ref>Edward Washburn Hopkins, {{Google books|-H0eiuvcG5IC|Epic Mythology|page=224}}, pp. 224–225</ref>

Weber suggests that just like Shiva is a combination of various [[Vedic period|Vedic]] gods [[Rudra]] and Agni, Parvati in Puranas text is a combination of wives of Rudra. In other words, the symbolism, legends, and characteristics of Parvati evolved fusing Uma, Haimavati, Ambika in one aspect and the more ferocious, destructive Kali, Gauri, [[Nirṛti (goddess)|Nirriti]] in another aspect.<ref name=johnmuir/><ref>Weber in {{harvnb|Wilkins|2001|p=239}}.</ref> Tate suggests Parvati is a mixture of the Vedic goddesses [[Aditi]] and Nirriti, and being a mountain goddess herself, was associated with other mountain goddesses like [[Durga]] and [[Kali]] in later traditions.{{sfn|Tate|2006|p=176}}