Whenever it comes to the family of Lord Shiva, the names of Shri Ganesh and Kartikeya ji come first on every mouth. In such a situation, today we are going to tell you about the 8 daughters of Lord Shiva. Apart from Ganesha and Kartikeya Lord Shiva had 8 daughters and other sons too. So let’s know the story of the birth of Mahadev’s daughters and the mysterious things related to them.
There is a description in Shiva Purana
Very few people will know that Lord Shiva has many children. Among them, there are sons as well as daughters. Their description is found in Shiva Purana. Lord Shiva got a son named Kartikeya after marrying Parvati. Ganesha was made from the ubtan of Mother Parvati. Also he brought up an orphan boy named Sukesh. Jalandhar was born from the glory of Shiva. Ayyappa was born in the union of Shiva and Mohini. Bhuma was born from a drop of sweat on his forehead. There were two more sons named Andhak and Khuja about whom not much is mentioned, but they were Shivansh.
Shiva and Parvati’s 5 daughters in form of snakes
The description of the daughters of Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati is found in Shiva Purana. According to the legend written in Shiva Purana, Lord Shiva, and Mother Parvati were meditating in the lake when a faint smile appeared on Lord Shiva’s face. From that smile, 5 pearls fell into the lake. Five girls were born from those five pearls, but instead of being in human form, these girls were born in the form of snakes.
Lord Shiva used to play with his daughters
Being engrossed in meditation, Mother Parvati had no idea that daughters were born from Mahadev’s smile, but Mahadev was aware of this. Mahadev loved his daughters like his other children and regularly used to go to play with these five snake daughters in the morning in Brahma Muhurta.
Mother Parvati came to know the truth
One day Mother Parvati wondered where Lord Shiva goes in this early morning. Mother Parvati followed Lord Shiva to find out the truth. When Mother Parvati reached the lake, she saw Lord Shiva showering immense love on those five girls like a father, but being full of love for his wife, fear arose in the mind of Mother Parvati that these snake girls might hurt Mahadev. For this reason, Mother Parvati decided to end these girls. Lord Shiva sensed the intention of Mother Parvati and stopped Mother Parvati. When Mother Parvati asked Lord Shiva, she came to know the truth about being the mother of those snake girls.
Names of this daughters of lord shiva
The names of these five serpent daughters of Lord Shiva are Jaya, Vishhara, Shamilbari, Dev, and Dotali. It is mentioned in Shiva Purana that Lord Shiva has given a special boon to his daughters. According to this boon, whoever worships Mahadev along with worshiping those snake girls specialy on Panchami of Shravan Month, his family will never be afraid of snakebite. Along with this, by the grace of these snake goddesses, there will never be any shortage in wealth.
Ashok Sundari
Ashok Sundari, the elder daughter of Lord Shiva was given birth by Goddess Parvati to remove her loneliness. She wanted the company of a daughter. Ashok Sundari was very beautiful like Goddess Parvati. That’s why Sundari came in her name. At the same time, she was given the name Ashoka because she had come to remove the grief of Parvati’s loneliness. Ashok Sundari is especially worshiped in Gujarat. It is also said for Ashoka Sundari that when Lord Shiva beheaded the child Ganesha, she was scared and hid in a sack of salt. For this reason, they are also associated with the importance of salt.
Jyoti
The name of the second daughter of Shiva is Jyoti and two stories related to her birth are told. According to the first, Jyoti was born from the effulgence of Lord Shiva and is the form of his aura. According to another belief, Jyoti was born from the radiance that emanated from Parvati’s forehead. Jwalamukhi is also another name for Goddess Jyoti and she is worshiped in many temples in Tamil Nadu.
Mansa
You do not know about this daughter of Lord Shiva, this goddess gets very angry. According to the folktales of Bengal, snakebite is cured by Mansa Devi. He was born when Shiva’s semen touched the statue of Kadru, who is called the mother of snakes. That’s why she is called the daughter of Shiva but not of Parvati. That means Manasa was also not born from Parvati’s womb like Kartikeya.
Usually, she is worshiped without any idol or picture. In its place, a branch of a tree, an earthen pitcher, or an earthen snake is worshipped. She is worshiped to protect from chicken pox or snake bites. She is duly worshiped in many temples of Bengal.
