0:00:08.159,0:00:13.699
Lord Shiva––primordial destroyer of evil,[br]slayer of demons,

0:00:13.699,0:00:19.969
protector, and omniscient observer of the [br]universe––was testing his wife’s patience.

0:00:19.969,0:00:25.284
Historically, the union between Shiva [br]and Parvati was a glorious one.

0:00:25.284,0:00:29.004
They maintained the equilibrium between [br]thought and action

0:00:29.004,0:00:31.865
on which the well-being [br]of the world depended.

0:00:31.865,0:00:37.525
Without Parvati as the agent of energy, [br]growth, and transformation on earth,

0:00:37.525,0:00:42.914
Shiva would become a detached observer, [br]and the world would remain static.

0:00:42.914,0:00:48.092
But together, the two formed a divine [br]union known as Ardhanarishvara––

0:00:48.092,0:00:49.842
a sacred combination

0:00:49.842,0:00:54.121
which brought fertility and connection [br]to all living things.

0:00:54.121,0:00:57.781
For these reasons, Parvati was worshipped[br]far and wide

0:00:57.781,0:00:59.992
as the mother of the natural world––

0:00:59.992,0:01:04.768
and the essential counterpart to Shiva’s [br]powers of raw creation.

0:01:04.768,0:01:07.948
She oversaw humanity’s material comforts;

0:01:07.948,0:01:12.176
and ensured that the earth’s inhabitants[br]were bonded to each other

0:01:12.176,0:01:15.120
physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

0:01:15.682,0:01:19.886
Yet a rift had grown between these [br]two formidable forces.

0:01:19.886,0:01:24.497
While Parvati sustained daily life with [br]care and control,

0:01:24.497,0:01:28.497
Shiva had begun to be-little his wife’s [br]essential work––

0:01:28.497,0:01:32.497
and insisted on quarreling about [br]their roles in the universe.

0:01:32.497,0:01:35.417
He believed that Brahma, the Creator [br]of the world,

0:01:35.417,0:01:40.106
had conceived the material plane [br]purely for his own fancy.

0:01:40.106,0:01:44.766
And therefore, all material things [br]were merely distractions called māyā––

0:01:44.766,0:01:47.416
nothing but a cosmic illusion.

0:01:47.416,0:01:51.076
For millennia Parvati had merely smiled [br]knowingly

0:01:51.076,0:01:54.196
as Shiva dismissed the things she [br]nurtured.

0:01:54.196,0:01:56.186
But upon His latest rebuke,

0:01:56.186,0:02:01.051
she knew she had to prove the [br]importance of her work once and for all.

0:02:01.051,0:02:03.281
She took flight from the world,

0:02:03.281,0:02:07.537
withdrawing her half of the cosmic [br]energy that kept the earth turning.

0:02:07.537,0:02:13.177
At her disappearance, a sudden, terrifying[br]and all-encompassing scarcity

0:02:13.177,0:02:16.238
enveloped the world in eerie silence.

0:02:16.238,0:02:19.798
Without Parvati, the land became dry [br]and barren.

0:02:19.798,0:02:22.720
Rivers shrank and crops [br]shriveled in the fields.

0:02:22.720,0:02:25.160
Hunger descended on humanity.

0:02:25.161,0:02:28.261
Parents struggled to console their [br]starving children

0:02:28.261,0:02:30.171
while their own stomachs rumbled.

0:02:30.171,0:02:34.498
With nothing to eat, people no longer[br]gathered over heaped bowls of rice,

0:02:34.498,0:02:37.808
but withdrew and shrank from [br]the darkening world.

0:02:37.808,0:02:39.538
To His shock and awe,

0:02:39.538,0:02:44.746
Shiva also felt the profound emptiness[br]left by his wife’s absence.

0:02:44.746,0:02:46.896
Despite His supreme power,

0:02:46.896,0:02:51.183
He too realized that He was not immune[br]to the need for sustenance,

0:02:51.183,0:02:54.924
and His yearning felt bottomless [br]and unbearable.

0:02:54.924,0:02:57.804
As Shiva despaired over the desolate [br]earth,

0:02:57.804,0:03:03.294
He came to realize that the material [br]world could not be so easily dismissed.

0:03:03.294,0:03:05.063
At her husband’s epiphany,

0:03:05.063,0:03:08.262
the compassionate Parvati could no longer[br]stand by

0:03:08.262,0:03:11.122
and watch her devotees wasting away.

0:03:11.122,0:03:13.702
To walk among them and [br]restore their health,

0:03:13.702,0:03:16.432
she took the form of a new avatar,

0:03:16.432,0:03:22.155
carrying a golden bowl of porridge [br]and armed with a jewel-encrusted ladle.

0:03:22.155,0:03:24.905
As word of this hopeful figure spread,

0:03:24.905,0:03:29.189
she was worshipped as Annapurna, [br]the Goddess of food.

0:03:29.189,0:03:33.610
With the arrival of Annapurna, [br]the world blossomed anew.

0:03:33.610,0:03:39.000
People rejoiced at fertility and food, [br]and communed together to give thanks.

0:03:39.000,0:03:43.629
Some believe that Annapurna first appeared[br]in the sacred city of Kashi,

0:03:43.629,0:03:46.729
or the Place of Freedom, [br]on the banks of the Ganges––

0:03:46.729,0:03:50.034
where she opened a kitchen to fill the[br]bellies of the people

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until they could eat no more.

0:03:52.124,0:03:56.124
But it was not only mere mortals who were [br]served at her feast.

0:03:56.124,0:04:00.733
Humbled at the scenes of earthly pleasure[br]blooming all around him,

0:04:00.733,0:04:04.733
Lord Shiva himself approached the goddess[br]with an empty bowl

0:04:04.733,0:04:07.393
and begged for food and forgiveness.

0:04:07.393,0:04:12.013
For this reason, the supreme deity is [br]sometimes portrayed as a poor beggar

0:04:12.013,0:04:14.143
at the mercy of Annapurna;

0:04:14.143,0:04:19.406
holding her golden bowl in her left hand,[br]while the right forms the abhaya mudra––

0:04:19.406,0:04:22.296
a gesture of safety and assurance.

0:04:22.296,0:04:26.180
With these symbols, this powerful avatar [br]makes it clear

0:04:26.180,0:04:29.830
that the material world is anything [br]but an illusion.

0:04:29.830,0:04:33.010
Rather, it is a cycle of life that must be[br]sustained––

0:04:33.010,0:04:36.320
from the feeding of open mouths and [br]rumbling bellies,

0:04:36.320,0:04:39.520
to the equilibrium of the earth.