The Seven Sages Receive Their Task
Bala Kanda, Doha 77
Doha 77 · Movement 2 of 2
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The seven sages stand before Shiva and receive a delicate mission. They must go to Parvati and test the love that has survived birth, prophecy, solitude, hunger, and time.
They will also urge Himavan to call his daughter home, fulfilling the sign given by the voice from heaven. The trial and the homecoming must meet before all doubt is removed.
The sages depart carrying neither weapon nor gift. Their questions will be the final fire through which Parvati's devotion must pass. Each question will test whether ridicule can move what suffering could not.
Seven figures descend from Shiva, bearing a test shaped entirely from words.
Read the passage from the Manas
पारबती पहिं जाइ तुम्ह प्रेम परिच्छा लेहु। गिरिहि प्रेरि पठएहु भवन दूरि करेहु संदेहु।।77।।
"Go to Parvati and test her love. Urge the mountain king to send her home, and so remove all doubt."