Children of Shiva & Parvati

In this blog we are going to discuss about the children of our dear couple Shiva & Parvati.

Kartikeyan

Kartikeyan is considered to be the eldest son of Shiva & Parvati. After Sati's death, a demon named Tarakasur had tortured the Devas and usurped their kingdom. He was granted a boon that he could only be killed by the son of Shiva. After Shiva's marriage with Parvati, Shiva's semen fell on the waters of Ganga. This semen was transported by Agni and fell on Bhudevi. This semen was further sent to the 6 Krittikas. These Krittikas raised Kartikeyan as their child after which he was sent to kill Tarakasur. After the death of Tarakasur, he resided in Kailash. Later he got married to Devsena and Valli, the rebirth of the daughters of Vishnu and Lakshmi named Amritavalli and Sundaravalli respectively.

Ganesha

Ganesha is considered to be the most popular child of Shiva & Parvati. Once Shiva entered Parvati's bathroom without her permission as Nandi was unable to stop Shiva from entering her washroom. As a result Parvati decided to create a child who would obey her. Thus she created a child from turmeric paste and added life in it. Thus, Ganesha was born. When Shiva was insisting to enter Parvati's washroom, Ganesha did not allow him to do so. Thus, the angered Shiva beheaded Ganesha with his trident but later resurrected him back to life by placing an elephant's head in order to avoid Parvati's wrath. He was even given the boon of being worshipped first by Shiva and declared that all worships would be unfruitful without the worship of Ganesha. Ganesha is married to Siddhi and Buddhi/Riddhi. Logically Riddhi and Buddhi are the same person as we never hear Riddhi-Buddhi together but hear Riddhi-Siddhi or Siddhi-Buddhi. He has two sons named Kshebh and Labh and a daughter named Santoshi. He is the remover of all obstacles and is one of the cutest gods ever.

Ayyappan

Ayyappan is the common child of Shiva and Mohini, the female for of Vishnu. A demoness named Mahishi was granted a boon to be killed by the common son of Shiva and Vishnu. Thus Ayyappan was born from Shiva and Mohini. Ayyappan can also be considered to be the child of Parvati, Lakshmi and Saraswati as Parvati is the wife of Shiva and Saraswati and Lakshmi are the wives of Vishnu.

Manasa 

Mansa was born from the falling of the semen of Shiva which was transported to the womb of Kadru, the wife of Kashyap. Parvati was suspicious that Manasa was a secret wife of Shiva and not his daughter. Due toquarells with Parvati, Shiva had to denounce her. One Parvati advised her to wear a garland of snakes on her wedding night after her marriage with Jagatkaru. This frightened Jagatkaru as a result of which he denounced her. Thus she became very aggressive. But in reality she is very kind to her devotees and is said to be a protector from the bites of snakes as her vehicle is a snake.

Ashoksundari

Once Parvati was willing to have a daughter and prayed to the Kalpa tree for a daughter as a result of which Ashoksundari was born. She was later married to Nahush.

Jyoti

Jyoti is also an important daughter of Shiva and Parvati. According to one legend, she is born from Shiva's halo and according to another legend she is born from the spark emerging from Parvati's forehead.

Hanuman

Though he is claimed to be an incarnation of Shiva, there are some hints which prove that he is his son. He is known as Shankar Suvan, which means the son of Shiva in the Hanuman Chalisa.