Maa Shailputri Vrat Katha
Vande vāñchitalābhāya chandrārdhakṛtaśekharām।
Vṛṣārūḍhāṁ śūladharāṁ śailaputrī yaśasvinīm॥
The first form of Maa Durga is known as ‘Shailaputri'. She is named ‘Shailaputri' because she was born as the daughter of Parvataraja Himalaya. Sitting on a Taurus, this Maa has a trident in her right hand and a lotus flower in her left hand. She is the first Durga among the nine Durgas. In her previous birth, she was born as the daughter of Prajapati Daksha. Then her name was ‘Sati'. She was married to Lord Shankar.
Once Prajapati Daksha performed a very big yagya. In which Prajapati Daksha invited all the gods to participate in their respective yagyas. But he did not invite Shankar ji to this yagya. When Sati heard that her father Prajapati Daksha was going to perform a very big and grand yagya, she felt like going there and she expressed this desire to Shankar ji.
After listening to everything and thinking over it, Lord Shankar said- “Your father Prajapati Daksha is angry with us. He has invited all the gods and goddesses in his yagya. He has also given them their yagya-shares, but has not invited us. He has not even sent any information. In such a situation, it will not be right for you to go there to the yagya without being invited.”
Shankar ji's words had no effect on Sati and her desire to see the yagya being performed by her father and to go there and meet her mother and sisters was not satiated in any way. Knowing her strong request, Lord Shankar ji allowed her to go to her father's house for the yagya.
After getting permission from her husband, Sati reached her father's house happily but on reaching her father's house, Sati saw that no one was talking to her with respect and love. All the people were standing with their faces turned away from her. Only her mother embraced her affectionately and asked about her well-being. The words of her sisters and other family members were also full of sarcasm and mockery. This behavior of the family members hurt Sati a lot. She also saw that there was a feeling of disdain towards her husband Lord Shankar. Prajapati Daksh also said very insulting words to her.
Seeing all this, Sati's heart was filled with remorse, anger and rage. She thought that I had committed a grave mistake by not listening to my husband. Lord Shankar tried to convince me a lot not to come here but I did not listen to even one of his words and I made a grave mistake by coming here. She could not tolerate the disrespect and insult of her husband Lord Shankar and she burnt her body to ashes in the fire at that very moment. Hearing this sad incident, Shankar ji became very angry and he sent his followers to King Daksha and completely destroyed the yagya being performed by Daksha.
Sati had burnt her body to ashes in fire, after which in her next birth she was born as the daughter of Shailraj Himalaya. In this birth she became famous by the name ‘Shailaputri'. Haimavati and Parvati are also her names. According to a story written in the Upanishad, she had also destroyed the pride of the gods in the form of Haimavati.
Goddess Shailaputri was also married to Lord Shiva. Like her previous birth, she became the wife of Lord Shiva in this birth as well. The importance and powers of Shailaputri Durga, the first of the nine Durgas, are infinite. She is worshipped and prayed to on the first day of Navratri. The yogis begin their yoga practice with the worship on this first day. On this day, the yogis concentrate on the Mooladhar Chakra.
