Varaha Purana 22.16: Adhyaya 22, Shloka 16
Gaurī’s Rebirth, Umā’s Austerities, Rudra’s Test, and the Himalayan Wedding
एवमुक्ता तदा कन्या चिन्तयामास पार्वती । पितृभावेन शैलेन्द्रं भर्तृभावेन शङ्करम् । स्पृशामि तपसा पूता कथं विप्रं स्पृशाम्यहम् ॥ २२.१६ ॥
evamuktā tadā kanyā cintayāmāsa pārvatī | pitṛbhāvena śailendraṃ bhartṛbhāvena śaṅkaram | spṛśāmi tapasā pūtā kathaṃ vipraṃ spṛśāmy aham || 22.16 ||
So angesprochen, sann die Jungfrau Pārvatī nach: „Den Herrn der Berge betrachte ich als Vater und Śaṅkara als Gemahl; ich—durch Askese gereinigt—darf sie berühren; doch wie könnte ich einen Brāhmaṇa berühren?“
Pārvatī (narrative voice; internal reflection)
FAQs
It documents Purāṇic-era narrative framing of ritual purity and social etiquette (especially regarding contact), illustrating how tapas (austerity) is presented as a means of purification within classical Sanskrit literature.
Śailendra (“lord of mountains”) is a common epithet for Himālaya in Sanskrit texts; while not a precise toponym here, it points to the Himalayan cultural-geographic imagination central to Pārvatī’s origin narratives.
The verse foregrounds careful discernment about social and ritual boundaries—highlighting how intention/relationship (father/husband) and perceived purity can shape notions of appropriate conduct in the narrative world.
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