Uma is Mother Goddess Shakti. She appeared as the daughter
of Himavan, King of Himalayas, and his wife, Mena. Uma means ‘one who measures
Shiva.’ ‘U’ means ‘Shiva’ and ‘ma’ means one who measures. She is Shakti.
Goddess Uma appeared before Indra, the king of Devas, to
impart the knowledge of Brahman (Supreme Reality) – this is mentioned in the
Kena Upanishad.
As per Matsya Purana, Uma appeared after the death of Sati
to bring back Shiva into householder’s life. But Shiva was not ready to accept
Uma and then she performed severe austerities to please Shiva.
Popular stories of Goddess Uma are found in the
Kumarasambhava of Kalidasa. Goddess Shakti performed severe tapas without
taking food. As per Kumarasambhava, Uma means ‘do not daughter.’ Here ‘Ma’
means ‘do not’ and ‘U’ means ‘my daughter.’ Legend has it that Mena, mother of
Goddess Uma, was worried about her daughter undertaking severe penance and
therefore constantly uttered ‘Uma’ and Goddess got the name.
Goddess Uma is popularly known as Parvati. She
is also known as Gauri. She has thousands of names depending on which way a
devotee want to perceive her.
Source - Encyclopedia of Hinduism - Volume XI - page 22 published by India Heritage Research Foundation and Rupa Publications
Source - Encyclopedia of Hinduism - Volume XI - page 22 published by India Heritage Research Foundation and Rupa Publications