PARVATI, generally written Parbatti, a hill of considerable height, south of the city of Poona, on the summit of which is a temple in honour of Parvati, consort of Mahadeva. This temple is much resorted to, and when lighted up ou great occasions, it shows well, and from its top is a fine view of the city and environs. On the annual Hindu ceremony of Dutchna, or alms-giving, mendicant Brahmans come from considerable distances. A gift on this day tells tenfold of an ordinary alms. Generous people on the road to and from this meritorious pilgrimage, make presents to some Brahmans. The whole month is indeed very fit for the benefits from hospitality and alms giving, so that the travelling Brahmans are fed, etc., all the way to Poona and home ; and it is said that forty thousand have been known to assemble ou this occasion at Parbatti. Its chief temple was erected A.D. 1749; *at a cost of Rs.10,00,000. It has images of Siva and other deities, one wholly of silver, and one of gold.— Major Moor, pp. 376, 377.
l'AIIVATI, iu Hindu mythology, a goddess, fabled to be the (laughter of I'arvata, a and the sakti or consort of Siva. She has been amalgamated with many Vedic and I'uranic and local goddesses. Her forms are more various and powers more extensive than those of any of the other Hindu deities ; and she acts sometimes de pendent on, at others wholly independent of, her husband. As a girl she was called Gauri. She is known as 'the mother,' .Ambika, who at a later period is identified with the wife of Rudra. Una, daughter of Himavat, or the Himalaya, is another form. Parvati, the mountain goddess, also the (laughter of Himalaya, is a still later and now more common title. As Kali, the black goddess, and Durga, she is the most terrible deity of the Hindu pantheon, to be propitiated by human sacrifices, and invoked when the destruction of an enemy was sought. She is also called Bhawani, in which she corresponds with Lucina. As Kamachi, she is the goddess of love-inspiring eyes ; and at Madnra she is worshipped under the name of Minachi, fish-eyed. Muir supposes that as early as the time of Pliny she was worshipped at Cape Comorin, called after her, Kanyakumari.
Parvati is known in her martial character as Durga, or active virtue, and as such she destroyed the Asura, or demon Mahesha, a personification of wickedness.
As Durga Mata, one of the characters of the Rajput, she is the Mother of the Mount,' and her shrine crowns many a pinnacle in Mewar ; and, with the prolific Gauri, she is amongst the amiable forms of the universal mother, whose functions are more varied and extensive than her sisters of Egypt and of Greece. As Durga Mata, she is the Mater Montana of Greece and Rome, according to Diodorus, an epithet of Cybele or Vesta as the guardian goddess of children. She seems to be the same as the divinity Of Ilieropolis, called Rhea, and Cybele in I'hrygia.
She is largely worshipped as Mera, and in Bengal as Durga.
Anna Punta Devi, a goddess of the Hindu mythology, is a beneficent form of Parvati. She is described as of a deep yellow colour, standing or sitting on the lotus, or water-lily. She has two arms, and in one hand holds a spoon, in the other a dish. In her dress she is decorated like the other modern images of Durga. Anna Puma is a house hold goddess, and is extensively worshipped by the Hindus. Her name implies the goddess who fills with food, and they believe that a sincere worshipper of her will never want rice. She is possibly the Anna of Babylon ; and she has been considered as the prototype of the Anna Perenna of the Romans, whom Varro places in the samo rank with Pallas and Ceres, and who was deified and held in high esteem by the Roman people, in consequence of having supplied them with food when they retired into Mount Aventine. Besides the great similarity of names, there is a singular coincidence in the times of their worship, the festivals of Anna Purna taking place in the early part of the increase of the moon, in the month Choitru (partly in March), and those of the Roman goddess on the Ides of March. In India, sho is known simply as Anna, also as Anna Puma or Anna Devati. In a hymn addressed to her by the rishi Agastya, she is personified as l'itu, or material food. Anna Punta is front the Sanskrit, Anna, food, and Puma, full. Another name is Anna, food, and l'rashana, feeding. The Rajput rite of Sati or self-sacrifice is traced to Pa•ti. Sat., to avenge an insult to Imam, in her own father's omission to ask her lord to an entertain ment, consumed herself in the presence of the assembled gods. With this act of fealty (Sati) the name of Daksha's daughter has been identified ; and her regeneration and reunion to her husband, as the mountain nymph Mera, or l'arrati, have by some been supposed to furnish the incentive to similar acts. In the history of the Hindu celestial Mera, the Rajputni has a memorable lesson before her, that no domestic differences can afford ex emption from this proof of faith. I'arvati, as the consort of Siva, has maternal claims upon Karti keya, the leader of the celestial armies, and Ganesha or Ganapati, the god of wisdom. As Parvati she is described of a white, as Kali of a dark blue or black, and as the majestic and tre mendous Durga, of a yellow colour.
Parvati by the Saiva sect is identified with the supreme sakti Mahaderi.
Parvati has no particular temples, but her statue has a sanctuary apart in the temples of Siva.
The argha or yoni in Hindu mythology is Parvati's especial emblem.
On one occasion, when Vishnu beheld Siva dancing about frantically with the deceased form of Sati in his arms, he cut it into fifty-one pieces; which Siva, who still continued in his frenzy, scattered in different parts of the earth. These spots he afterwards ordained to be places of worship to his own and his energy's peculiar emblems.