PARVATI
Real Name:
Mahadevi Skakti Parvati
Occupation:
Queen of the Hindu Gods, goddess of weapons
Legal Status:
Citizen of Nirvana
Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of the existence of Parvati except as a mythological character.
Other Aliases:
Sati, Sakti, Shakti, Durga, Kali, Uma, Gauri, Tatatakai, Katukilal, Korrawi
(Tamil name), Nairamata (Buddhist name), Prawati (Balinese name), Mountain-goddess
Place of Birth:
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives:
Himavat (father), Menahka (mother), Lakshmi,
Sarasvati,
Ganga, Yamuna, Uma (sisters), Shiva
(husband), Ganehsa,
Skanda
(sons), Kali
(daughter), Jalamdhara (step-son, deceased), Padma, Vach (nieces), Kama
(nephews), Kartikeya (nephew, deceased), Brahma,
Vishnu, Agni,
Yama,
(brothers-in-law),
Group Affiliations: The Hindu Gods
Base of Operations:
First Appearance: (unidentified) Thor I #301, (identified) Wonder Woman II #149
History: Parvati is a member of the Devas, an other-dimensional race of beings worshipped as gods by the Hindus. The Devas are the descendants of the Adityas, the children of the goddess Aditi, mother-earth, also known as Gaea. The Adityas had been worshipped as gods by the Vedic tribes on earth but had been replaced as gods by the Devas in the new Hindu religion that developed in Ancient India. Under the new Hindu order, the former Adityas were known as the Asuras and ousted from power although several of them were worshipped under new names by the Persian Empire.
In her first incarnation, Parvati had been born as Sati, daughter of Daksha, one of the espoused Vedic gods. Sati had fell in love with Shiva, but her father would not encourage the marriage and instead offered her hand in marriage to any other god who desired her. He gathered all the gods to meet her, but he did not invite Shiva for Sati to choose. Sati tossed her bridal veil to the wind than choose anyone from her father's guests, and Shiva caught it and returned it to her. When he revealed that her father had forbid him from marrying him, Sati took her life by throwing herself into flame than marry anyone else. Angered at Daksha for his compliance in her death, Shiva slew Daksha.
Parvati was later reborn as one of the Apsaras, daughter of the snow-god, Himavat, who lived atop Mount Meru in the Himalayas (now known as Mount Everest.) After Sati's death, Shiva had exiled himself to an ascetic existence, but Kama the love-god struck him with an arrow that made him fall in love with the first woman he saw. Awakened from his trance, he opened his third eye and incinerated the mischievous young god, causing his death. When he noticed Parvati, he fell in love with her, but he did not marry her until she could best him in battle. Shiva and Parvati became insatiable lovers compared to the other gods; the energies from their love-making were capable of destroying whole worlds. They had two sons, Ganehsa and Skanda. One of Parvati's avatars, Kali the death-goddess, became so powerful that it split off from her and became another goddess. Although technically his daughter, Kali was on Earth worshipped as a form of Parvati and another wife of Shiva.
Despite being the wife of Shiva, Parvati was the object of desire by the god, Jalamdhara. Some years before, Shiva heard that Indra the thunder-god had increased in power due to an increase in worshippers and had reached a point that he had become almost as powerful as Shiva. Shiva's anger at this effrontery to his power had taken form and was born through the goddess, Ganga, the goddess of the Ganges River, as Jalamdhara, who abducted Parvati to be his wife, and gathered the Asuras, the former Adityas not worshipped in the Hindu religion, against the Devas. Shiva engaged Jalamdhara in battle to rescue Parvati, but he discovered that every time he tried to kill Jalamdhara that he returned back to life from his spilled blood. In preparation for his war against the gods, Jalamdhara had gained power from Brahma that he would insure his immortality and make him invulnerable against being killed by the gods. To defeat him, Shiva guided Parvati and the wives of all the Hindu gods to drink up all of Jalamdhara's spilled blood that there was nothing left of him to restore him to life.
Parvati proved to be a powerful warrior-goddess in her own right in the form of the goddess, Durga, particularly against Mahisa of the Asuras. Like Jalamdhara before her, Mahisa had been granted a boon from Shiva to make her immortal. In order to slay her, Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu and the gods used flame to change Parvati into Durga, the warrior-goddess, in order to slay her. Armed with Vishnu's discus, Shiva's trident, Agni's vajra, Indra's thunderbolt and Varuna's conch shell, Durga slew Mahisa and her allies, Sumbha and Nishumbha, who had only been protected by Shiva against other gods. As Durga, it was Parvati's position to carry the weapons of the other gods into battle against their enemies.
After the Third Host of the Celestials, Parvati and her sisters, Lakshmi and Sarasvati, united with the mother-goddesses from all the pantheons of gods once worshipped or still worshipped on earth. This gathering included Frigga of the Asgardian gods and Hera of the Olympian gods. The Celestials had threatened to sever the gods connections to earth if they did not cease trafficking with mortals and had predicted to return in a thousand years to decide if humanity was fit to exist. Frigga had asked the wives of the god-kings of earth to locate twelve human beings of pure genetic potential to serve as prime examples of humanity when the Fourth Host of the Celestials should occur. The Hindu goddesses had succeeded in locating Jahahanel Patel of the Brahmin caste at the turn of the century to be their representative and concealed him in an underground location where he was attended by several minor Hindu goddesses. When the Fourth Host occurred, the supreme mother-goddess Gaea who was the ancestor of all the gods of earth presented these twelve examples known as the Young Gods. The Celestials voted in favor of earth in view of the Young Gods and departed Earth with them into outer space.
In recent
years, Parvati once more became Durga and Kali in order to battle Titans and
Rakshasas lead by the Titan Cronus using Nirvana has his foothold to invade
Elysium, the Judeo-Christian afterlife. Joined by the Olympian gods and Wonder
Woman, Parvati and the Hindu gods managed to defeat Cronus and exile him into
the underworld.
Height: 5' 10"
Weight: 345 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
Strength Level: Parvati possesses superhuman strength enabling her to
lift (press) 25 tons under optimal conditions, but as Durga or any of her other
forms, her strength is much greater, but to an unknown degree.
Unusual Physical Features: In her true godly form,
Parvati has four arms. As Durga or Kali, she has up to six to ten arms.
Known Superhuman Powers: Parvati possesses the conventional physical attributes
of the Devas or Hindu gods. Like all Devas, she is extremely long lived, but she
is not immortal like the Gods of Olympus: she has aged at an extremely slow rate
since
reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. She is immune to all
Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If she were somehow
wounded, her godly life force would enable her to recover with superhuman speed. It
would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of her
bodily molecules to cause her a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for
a god of significant power, such as Vishnu, Brahma or Shiva or for a number of
Hindu gods of equal power working together to revive her. Parvati also possesses
superhuman strength and her Deva metabolism provides her with far greater than
human endurance in all physical activities. (Deva flesh and bone is about three
times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the superhuman
strength and weight of the Hindu gods.)
Parvati also has the ability to tap into her shakti, or primal
female energies in order to create feats of magic. She cast and create spells,
throw bolts of energy and alter her appearance. Formost in her power is her
ability to transform into Durga who is primarily her form as the
warrior-goddess. In this state, she is far stronger and larger than she is
at her normal size capable of slaying demons. As Kali, she is the embodiment of
death, capable of vast destruction and demanding blood sacrifice. This form
reputedly became so powerful that it split off from her and became her daughter.
Parvati didn't lose this form, but it is feasible that she could consume enough
life-energies to spawn another portion of herself. Parvati is believed to be the
most powerful of the Hindu goddesses, capable of potentially generating enough
energy to destroy the universe.
Abilities: As Durga, Parvati is a powerful warrior of cunning speed,
ferociousness and determination.
Weapons: Parvat has access to a numerous weapons of Hindu origin
including swords, daggers, chakrams and discus.
Pets: Parvati often rides upon a tiger.
Comments: This bio includes Parvati in both the Marvel and DC Universes.
Last updated: 02/10/12