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Lord Shiva -- primordial destroyer of evil, slayer of demons, protector, and omniscient observer of the universe -- was testing his wife's patience.
湿婆神--原始的邪恶毁灭者，屠魔者，宇宙之守护者和全知者--正在考验着他妻子的耐心。
Historically, the union between Shiva and Parvati was a glorious one.
历史上，湿婆和帕尔瓦蒂的结合是十分动人的。
They maintained the equilibrium between thought and action on which the well-being of the world depended.
他们维持着世界的幸福所依赖的思想与行动之间的平衡。
Without Parvati as the agent of energy, growth, and transformation on Earth, Shiva would become a detached observer, and the world would remain static.
若没有了帕尔瓦蒂来掌管世间的能量、生长和转化，湿婆就会变成一位被失去了双眼的观察者，世界将不再运转。
But together, the two formed a divine union known as Ardhanarishvara –– a sacred combination which brought fertility and connection to all living things.
但他们共同组成了一个神圣合体--半女世尊，一个能为所有生物带来生育和连结之力的神圣结合。
For these reasons, Parvati was worshipped far and wide as the mother of the natural world –– and the essential counterpart to Shiva's powers of raw creation.
因此，帕尔瓦蒂作为与湿婆的原始创造力相对应的自然之母而被广泛的崇拜。
She oversaw humanity's material comforts; and ensured that the Earth's inhabitants were bonded to each other physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
她监管着人类的物质享受；并确保着地球上的居民在物质、情感和精神上的相通。
Yet a rift had grown between these two formidable forces.
然而这两个强大的力量之间却产生了嫌隙。
While Parvati sustained daily life with care and control, Shiva had begun to belittle his wife's essential work
在帕尔瓦蒂小心的维持着日常生活的同时，湿婆开始贬低他的妻子所做的重要的工作，
and insisted on quarreling about their roles in the universe.
并执着于争论他们在宇宙中的作用。
He believed that Brahma, the Creator of the world, had conceived the material plane purely for his own fancy.
他相信创世神梵天设计出的物质世界纯粹出于他自己的喜好。
And therefore, all material things were merely distractions called māyā -- nothing but a cosmic illusion.
因此，所有的物质仅仅是一种被称为“幻（玛雅MAYA）”的消遣--除了宇宙的幻像之外，什么也不是。
For millennia Parvati had merely smiled knowingly as Shiva dismissed the things she nurtured.
几千年以来，帕尔瓦蒂总是放纵湿婆拆散她造物的行为，报之以微笑。
But upon His latest rebuke, she knew she had to prove the importance of her work once and for all.
但在他最近的指责下，帕尔瓦蒂明白她必须要一劳永逸地证明她工作的的重要性。
She took flight from the world, withdrawing her half of the cosmic energy that kept the Earth turning.
她离开了这个世界，同时，带走了属于她那一半用以维持世界运转的能量。
At her disappearance, a sudden, terrifying and all-encompassing scarcity enveloped the world in eerie silence.
当她消失之际，一下子，可怕的、包罗万象的虚空将世界笼罩在阴森恐怖的寂静中。
Without Parvati, the land became dry and barren. Rivers shrank and crops shriveled in the fields. Hunger descended on humanity.
没有了帕尔瓦蒂，土地干旱而贫瘠。河流干涸，作物枯萎。饥饿降临人间。
Parents struggled to console their starving children while their own stomachs rumbled.
父母挣扎着安慰他们挨饿的孩子，尽管他们自己也已饥肠辘辘。
With nothing to eat, people no longer gathered over heaped bowls of rice, but withdrew and shrank from the darkening world.
没有了食物，人们食不果腹，退避了这个黑暗的世界。
To His shock and awe, Shiva also felt the profound emptiness left by his wife's absence.
同时，让湿婆震惊与害怕的是妻子的离开带来了深深的空虚。
Despite His supreme power, He too realized that He was not immune to the need for sustenance, and His yearning felt bottomless and unbearable.
尽管拥有至高无上的力量，湿婆意识到自己也不能免于对食物的需求，对帕尔瓦蒂的怀念也变得无穷无尽，难以忍受。
As Shiva despaired over the desolate Earth, He came to realize that the material world could not be so easily dismissed.
当湿婆在荒凉的地球上感到绝望的同时，他开始意识到物质世界不可能被轻易的毁灭。
At her husband's epiphany, the compassionate Parvati could no longer stand by and watch her devotees wasting away.
既然有了丈夫的顿悟，帕尔瓦蒂的同情心也不允许她再袖手旁观，眼睁睁地看着信徒们日益消瘦。
To walk among them and restore their health, she took the form of a new avatar, carrying a golden bowl of porridge and armed with a jewel-encrusted ladle.
为了游走在信徒之中并恢复他们的健康，她使用了一个新的化身，手持一个金色的装满粥的碗和一个镶嵌宝石的勺子。
As word of this hopeful figure spread, she was worshipped as Annapurna, the Goddess of food.
随着这个代表着希望的形象的传播，她被尊称为安娜普尔，食物之神。
With the arrival of Annapurna, the world blossomed anew.
随着安娜普尔的到来，世界重新充满了活力。
People rejoiced at fertility and food, and communed together to give thanks.
人们被丰收和食物所鼓舞，聚集在一起感谢女神。
Some believe that Annapurna first appeared in the sacred city of Kashi, or the Place of Freedom, on the banks of the Ganges
有人认为，安娜普尔最初出现在恒河两岸的圣城喀什，或自由之地，喀什的开放厨房，
where she opened a kitchen to fill the bellies of the people until they could eat no more.
在那里她开设了一个厨房来为人们充饥，直到他们再也吃不下。
But it was not only mere mortals who were served at her feast.
但来到她宴会上的不只有凡人。
Humbled at the scenes of earthly pleasure blooming all around him, Lord Shiva himself approached the goddess with an empty bowl and begged for food and forgiveness.
谦逊地融入在他周围绽放着世俗的欢乐，湿婆神拿着一个空碗接近女神并乞求食物和宽恕。
For this reason, the supreme deity is sometimes portrayed as a poor beggar at the mercy of Annapurna;
由此，这个至尊神有时被描绘成被安娜普尔怜悯的可怜乞丐。
holding her golden bowl in her left hand, while the right forms the abhaya mudra –– a gesture of safety and assurance.
左手捧着她的金碗，右手做着象征着安全、安心的无畏手印。
With these symbols, this powerful avatar makes it clear that the material world is anything but an illusion.
这个强大的化身用这些符号来表明，物质世界绝不是幻想。
Rather, it is a cycle of life that must be sustained -- from the feeding of open mouths and rumbling bellies, to the equilibrium of the Earth.
而是必须维持的生命循环，小到喂养嗷嗷待哺和饥肠辘辘的人们，大到地球的平衡。
