Long before us, the divine themselves showed what it means to choose someone for a lifetime.
Shiv & Parvati
Devotion that moved the mountains
Parvati, daughter of the Himalaya, gave her heart to Shiva, the great ascetic lost in meditation. When nothing else could reach him, she chose tapasya.
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Her penance grew so intense that she gave up even fallen leaves as food, and the sages called her Aparna. One day a young ascetic came to her and mocked Shiva as a wanderer of cremation grounds, unfit for a princess. Parvati refused to hear another word against him. The ascetic smiled and revealed himself: it was Shiva, moved by a love that no test could shake. Maa Umiya, our Kuldevi, is worshipped as a form of this same Uma, Parvati.
True love is patient, steadfast and unshakeable.
Ram & Sita
Where you go, I go
In Mithila, Ram lifted and broke the mighty bow of Shiva that no king could even move, and Sita placed the varmala around his neck.
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Years later, Ram was sent into exile in the forest for fourteen years. He asked Sita to stay behind in the comfort of the palace. Sita answered that her place was beside him, and that a forest with him would be sweeter than any palace without him. She walked out of Ayodhya at his side, through every hardship that followed.
Marriage is walking the same path, in palaces and in forests alike.
Krishna & Rukmini
The first love letter
Princess Rukmini of Vidarbha had given her heart to Krishna, but her brother had promised her hand to Shishupala.
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Refusing to give up, Rukmini wrote a letter to Krishna, pouring out her heart, and sent it with a trusted Brahmin. On reading it, Krishna rode to Kundinapura, carried her away in his chariot and brought her to Dwarka, where she reigned beside him as his chief queen. It is often called the first love letter of our tradition, and it reached the very Dwarkadhish we bow to today.
Love needs courage: to speak your heart, and to answer when it calls.
Savitri & Satyavan
Love that outwitted death
Savitri chose Satyavan, a prince living in the forest, even after learning he was destined to die within a year.
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On the fated day, Yama, the lord of death, came for Satyavan's soul. Savitri followed him step after step. Moved by her wisdom and devotion, Yama offered her any boon except her husband's life. She asked for children born of Satyavan. Bound by his word, Yama had no choice but to return Satyavan to her. Married women across Gujarat still honour her on Vat Savitri.
