Himavat () is the personification of the Himalayan mountains in

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

. He is the guardian deity of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

, and finds mention in the epic '' Mahabharata'' and other Hindu scriptures.

Nomenclature

Various Hindu scriptures refer to the personification of the Himalayas by different names, and hence Himavat is also called Himavant (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

: हिमवन्त, lit. ''icy),'' Himavān (

: हिमवान्, lit. ''snowy''), Himaraja (

: हिमराज, lit. ''king of snow''), and Parvateshwara (

: पर्वतेश्वर, lit. ''god of mountains'').

Legend

Himavat fathered Ganga, the river goddess, as well as Ragini, and

Parvati Parvati (, , IPA: /Sanskrit phonology, pɑɾʋət̪iː/), also known as Uma (, , IPA: Sanskrit phonology, /ʊmɑː/) and Gauri (, , IPA: /Sanskrit phonology, gə͡ʊɾiː/), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the Devi, ...

, the second consort of

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

. His wife and

queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

is the Vedic goddess Mainavati, the daughter of Mount Meru, according to the

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

, or is the daughter of Svadhā and her husband Kavi, a member of the class of Pitṛs, as per some other sources like the Vishnu Purana. The Shiva Purana describes the wedding between Himavat and Menā. The sacred text of '' Devi Gita'', which is found in the last nine chapters (31-40) of the seventh ''skandha'' of Devi-Bhagavata Purana, is a dialogue between

and her father Himavat. It deals with the universal form of the ''

Devi ''Devī'' (; ) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is Deva (Hinduism), ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The concept ...

'', meditations on the major texts of '' Upanishads'', ''ashtanga-yoga'', the

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

s of ''jnana'', ''karma'' and ''bhakti'', locations of the temples dedicated to the ''Devi'' and the rituals pertaining to her worship. His story also finds mention in '' Brahmanda Purana'' and '' Kena Upanishad''.

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

once performed a tapasya on the peaks of the Himalayas to appease Himavat, which led to his eldest son, Pradyumna, being born to his favourite wife, Rukmini.

References

* *'' Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend'' ({{ISBN, 0-500-51088-1) by Anna Dallapiccola. Hindu gods Himalayas Mountains in Buddhism Mountain gods