Himavat is called The King of Mountains and Snow and is also known as the great mine of metal and the chief of mountains. Himavat’s abode is the Himalayas. With his consort Menavati (the daughter of Mount Meru and Vedic queen consort) they bore three children including Parvati (the wife of Shiva), Ganga (the river goddess) and Mainak. Lord Brahma is father of Himavat and Jambavan is his younger sibling. In Sanskrit, Himavat means snowy. In ancient India, as mentioned in the Mahabharata, the famous epic, Himavat ruled the Himalaya Kingdom.
A dialogue between Himavat and Parvati – his daughter is mentioned in Devi-Bhagavata Purana’s seventh skandha, which deals with Devi’s universal form, rituals related to her worship, loations of temples dedicated to the Devi, asthanga-yoga, the yogas of bhakti, karma and jnana and major texts of the Upanishads.
Spirituatl wisdom and truths in their highest forms are found in Himavat – the sacred Himalayan Mountains. Various cultures across India and the world have been profoundly shaped by the sacred Himalayan peaks.
Mena the queen of the highest mountains was a devotee of Goddess Sati and offered rituals to her. She receives the boon of getting 101 off-springs out which one is a girl and rest boys. The girl was named after the goddess and reincarnated with blue-black skin. Named as Kali also, the girl was desirous of having Shiva as husband. However Himavat was not in this favor due to demeanour and homelessness of Shiva. As per myth Kali spend a sorrowful life with Shiva, which proved that Himavat was right.
