Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.1959

c9.1959

2) Family life. Śiva has two wives, Gaṅgā and Pārvatī (See under Gaṅgā and Pārvatī). He lodges Gaṅgā on his head. Umā, Kātyāyanī, Gaurī, Kālī, Haimavatī Īśvarī, Śivā, Bhavānī, Rudrāṇī, Śarvāṇī, Sarvamaṅgalā Aparṇā, Pārvatī, Durgā, Mṛḍānī, Caṇḍikā, Ambikā, Āryā, Dākṣāyaṇī, Girijā, Menakātmajā, Cāmuṇḍā, Karṇamoṭī, Carcikā and Bhairavī—these are synonyms of Pārvatī. Śiva lives on the top of the Mahāmeru, where there are nine cities. At the centre is Brahmā’s Manovatī; exactly to the east of it is Indra’s Amarāvatī; at the south-eastern corner is Agni’s Tejovatī; on the south is Yama’s Saṃyamanī; at the south-western corner is Kṛṣṇāñjanā of Nirṛti, on the west is Varuṇa’s Śraddhāvatī, at the north-western corner is Gandhavatī of Vāyu, on the north is Kubera’s Mahodayā, at the north-eastern corner is Śiva’s Yaśovatī—this is the set of the nine cities.