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Lord Shiva – primordial destroyer of evil,
slayer of demons, protector,

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and omniscient observer of the universe –
was testing his wife’s patience.

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Historically, the union between Shiva 
and Parvati was a glorious one.

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They maintained the equilibrium between 
thought and action

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on which the well-being 
of the world depended.

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Without Parvati as the agent of energy, 
growth, and transformation on earth,

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Shiva would become a detached observer, 
and the world would remain static.

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But together, the two formed a divine 
union known as Ardhanarishvara–

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a sacred combination

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which brought fertility and connection 
to all living things.

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For these reasons, Parvati was worshipped
far and wide

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as the mother of the natural world–

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and the essential counterpart to Shiva’s 
powers of raw creation.

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She oversaw humanity’s material comforts;

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and ensured that the earth’s inhabitants
were bonded to each other

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physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

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Yet a rift had grown between these 
two formidable forces.

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While Parvati sustained daily life with 
care and control,

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Shiva had begun to be-little his wife’s 
essential work–

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and insisted on quarreling about 
their roles in the universe.

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He believed that Brahma, the Creator 
of the world,

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had conceived the material plane 
purely for his own fancy.

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And therefore, all material things 
were merely distractions called māyā–

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nothing but a cosmic illusion.

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For millennia Parvati had merely smiled 
knowingly

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as Shiva dismissed the things she 
nurtured.

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But upon His latest rebuke,

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she knew she had to prove the 
importance of her work once and for all.

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She took flight from the world,

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withdrawing her half of the cosmic 
energy that kept the earth turning.

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At her disappearance, a sudden, terrifying
and all-encompassing scarcity

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enveloped the world in eerie silence.

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Without Parvati, the land became dry 
and barren.

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Rivers shrank and crops 
shriveled in the fields.

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Hunger descended on humanity.

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Parents struggled to console their 
starving children

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while their own stomachs rumbled.

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And with nothing to eat, people no longer
gathered over heaped bowls of rice,

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but withdrew and shrank from 
the darkening world.

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To His shock and awe,

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Shiva also felt the profound emptiness
left by his wife’s absence.

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Despite His supreme power,

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He too realized that He was not immune
to the need for sustenance,

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and His yearning felt bottomless 
and unbearable.

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As Shiva despaired over the desolate 
earth,

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He came to realize that the material 
world could not be so easily dismissed.

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At her husband’s epiphany,

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the compassionate Parvati could no longer
stand by

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and watch her devotees wasting away.

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To walk among them and 
restore their health,

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she took the form of a new avatar,

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carrying a golden bowl of porridge 
and armed with a jewel-encrusted ladle.

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As word of this hopeful figure spread,

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she was worshipped as Annapurna, 
the Goddess of food.

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With the arrival of Annapurna, 
the world blossomed anew.

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People rejoiced at fertility and food, 
and communed together to give thanks.

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Some believe that Annapurna first appeared
in the sacred city of Kashi,

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or the Place of Freedom, 
on the banks of the Ganges–

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where she opened a kitchen to fill the
bellies of the people

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until they could eat no more.

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But it was not only mere mortals who were 
served at her feast.

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Humbled at the scenes of earthly pleasure
blooming all around him,

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Lord Shiva himself approached the goddess
with an empty bowl

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and begged for food and forgiveness.

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For this reason, the supreme deity is 
sometimes portrayed as a poor beggar

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at the mercy of Annapurna;

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holding her golden bowl in her left hand,
while the right forms the abhaya mudra–

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a gesture of safety and assurance.

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With these symbols, this powerful avatar 
makes it clear

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that the material world is anything 
but an illusion.

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Rather, it is a cycle of life that must be
sustained–

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from the feeding of open mouths and 
rumbling bellies,

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to the equilibrium of the earth.