Puranas tell the tale of Sati's marriage to Shiva against her father Dhaksha's wishes and her subsequent self-immolation at Dhaksh'a Yajna, leaving Shiva alone in grief and having lost interest in worldly affairs. In Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Sati appears in her devine form to Shiva and reassures him that she will return to him as the daughter of Himavan. Sati then reborns as Parvathi, the daughter of Himavan and the apsara Mena and is named as Kali, the dark one as per her complexion. Both Sati and Parvathi as considered as the manifestations of Mahadevi, the great goddess. In Ramayana, the river Ganga is depicted as the elder sister of Parvathi, while in Harivamsa Parvathi has two younger sisters called Ekaparna and Ekapatala.

Parvathi is depicted as interested in Shiva's tales and his appearances from her very birth and she finally remembers has last life as Sati. As Parvathi grew up into a young woman, she began tapas to please Shiva to grant her wish to reunite with him. She has been portrayed as surpassing all other ascetics in penance, undergoing mortification. As a final test, Shiva tests her devotion by sending an attendant or appearing himself in disguise to criticize Shiva. Parvathi is untouched by the act, she retains her desire for Shiva compelling him to marry her. After their marriage, Parvathi moves to Kailash, the residence of Shiva.

Kumarasambavam(Birth of Kumara), the Kalidasa's epic gives details with matchlessly lyrical beauty the story of the maiden Parvathi; her devotions aimed at gaining the favour of Shiva; the subsequent annihilation of Kamadeva; the consequent fall of the universe into barren lifelessness; the subsequent nuptials, in these circumstances, of the partners on many previous births; the immaculate birth of Skanda(Kumara, Shiva's first son) and the eventual resurrection of Kamadeva after intersecession by Parvathi to Shiva in his favour.

The depiction of Parvathi's marriage to Shiva, in the Shiva Purana is seen as an allegory illustrating the desire of an individual to achive a state of liberation from strife and banality. If one sets aside, for a moment, the idea of Shiva as a male entity and sees him instead as representing a state beyond human suffering, then Parvathi becomes symbolic of the aspirant who wishes to achieve nirvana, and the story becomes something considerably more than a quaint romantic tale. The acharyas, scholastic saints, who wrote the Puranas, may have interpreted Parvathi's asceticism as a means of winning Shiva's hand in marriage, in order t discourage young girls from following the goddess's example and becoming renunciates. In modern day Hinduism the marriage aspect of this story has been inflated in importance, but the most compelling picture we are left with, is Parvathi as an ascetic.