No Portion for Shiva
Bala Kanda, Chaupai 63
Doha 63 · Movement 1 of 2
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
Bhavani enters her father's house and finds no homecoming. Only her mother receives her with genuine warmth. Her sisters meet her with smiles edged by mockery, while Daksha does not ask after her welfare. At the sight of his daughter, anger burns through his body instead of affection.
Sati walks into the sacrificial arena. Fires blaze, priests move in order, and offerings stand prepared for the gods. She searches the ritual arrangement and finds nowhere a portion consecrated for Shambhu. The empty place makes Shiva's warning suddenly present in every detail.
Her own humiliation had not pierced so deeply. The insult to her Lord becomes an unbearable fire. Among the world's many sufferings, contempt directed at what one holds sacred cuts with singular force. Her mother tries repeatedly to console her, but grief has already hardened into wrath.
Among the ordered offerings, one empty place burns brighter than every altar.
Read the passage from the Manas
AI-created devotional illustration · Chaupai 63
Sati's unnamed mother gently comforts her at Daksha's home; Sati looks troubled.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 84, 85 · printed pages 82, 83. Reader passage: bala-kanda-chaupai-063. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- At Daksha's home others do not honor Sati out of fear of Daksha; her mother alone receives her respectfully
- Sati notices no yajna share for Shiva, recalls his words, and feels distress and anger; her mother tries to comfort her
Artistic choices
- Select the mother's respectful comfort, without depicting mocking sisters, hostile father, missing-share symbolism or later death
- Conventional imaginative Sati and unnamed older mother, grey-streaked hair, cream/rust and pink saris, gentle touch and restrained troubled gaze, courtyard bench, faint wall silhouette, flowering sprig and coral field added; no Prasuti/Asikni identity asserted
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
पिता भवन जब गई भवानी। दच्छ त्रास काहुँ न सनमानी।। सादर भलेहिं मिली एक माता। भगिनीं मिलीं बहुत मुसुकाता।। दच्छ न कछु पूछी कुसलाता। सतिहि बिलोकि जरे सब गाता।। सतीं जाइ देखेउ तब जागा। कतहुँ न दीख संभु कर भागा।। तब चित चढ़ेउ जो संकर कहेऊ। प्रभु अपमानु समुझि उर दहेऊ।। पाछिल दुखु न हृदयँ अस ब्यापा। जस यह भयउ महा परितापा।। जद्यपि जग दारुन दुख नाना। सब तें कठिन जाति अवमाना।। समुझि सो सतिहि भयउ अति क्रोधा। बहु बिधि जननीं कीन्ह प्रबोधा।।
When Bhavani arrived at her father's house, Daksha, out of hostility, offered her no honour at all. Only her mother greeted her with warmth and respect. Her sisters met her with broad, mocking smiles.