纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 068湿婆与雪山女神像（6）（在线收听）

"Parvati is a very good wife, who doesn't like people making fun of her husband. So worshippers have to be a little bit careful always to give respect to Parvati first, and then approach Shiva. That's considered to be the respectable thing to do, and the safe thing to do. But both of them are very, very munificent. You don't have to do much to please them, and they give [to] you very, very liberally."

This smiling sensuous image doesn't just show us a model couple that any earthly husband and wife might emulate, the sculpture of Shiva and Parvati is something more. It's a meditation on the very nature of God, for they are, as Shaunaka Rishi Das explains, the same person manifest in two different forms:

"God is male and female. And the thinking behind that is that God cannot be something less than we are. God cannot be 'not' female, because there are females here, so God has to have a female aspect."

神亦男亦女。这一想法的思维基础是，神是高于我们的存在。神不能摒弃其女性身份，因为世间有女性，所以他必须有女性的分身。

雪山女神是一位贤妻，不喜欢世人对她的丈夫不敬。因此信徒必须小心行事，务必先敬拜雪山女神，再敬拜湿婆。这才合乎礼数，并且不会出错。他们都十分慷概。你并不需要付出很多来取悦他们，他们会大方地回馈于你。