Lord Shiva — primordial destroyer of evil, slayer of demons, protector, and omniscient observer of the universe— was testing his wife's patience. Historically, the union between Shiva and Parvati was a glorious one.
湿婆神（Lord Shiva）——邪恶的原始驱逐者、恶魔杀手、保护神、对宇宙无所不知的观测者——正在考验妻子的耐心。从历史上看，湿婆和帕尔瓦蒂之间的结合是光荣的。
They maintained the equilibrium between thought and action on which the well-being of the world depended. Without Parvati as the agent of energy, growth, and transformation on Earth, Shiva would become a detached observer, and the world would remain static.
他们维持了思想与行动之间的平衡，而这正是世界幸福的基础。如果没有帕尔瓦蒂（Parvati）作为地球上能量，生长和转化的推动者，湿婆将成为一个独立的观测者，世界将保持静止。
But together, the two formed a divine union known as Ardhanarishvara — a sacred combination which brought fertility and connection to all living things. 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.
但是，两者共同组成了一个神圣的联盟，称为 Ardhanarishvara，这是一种神圣的结合，为所有生物带来了生育力和关联。由于这些原因，帕尔瓦蒂（Parvati）被视为自然世界的母亲而受到了广泛的敬拜 ——是湿婆（Shiva）原始创造力的基本对应。
She oversaw humanity's material comforts; and ensured that the Earth's inhabitants were bonded to each other physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Yet a rift had grown between these two formidable forces.
她监管着人类的物质安慰；并确保地球上的居民在身体，情感和精神上相互联系着。然而，这两种强大的力量之间却产生了裂痕。
While Parvati sustained daily life with care and control, Shiva had begun to belittle his wife's essential work — and insisted on quarreling about their roles in the universe. He believed that Brahma, the Creator of the world, had conceived the material planet purely for his own fancy.
帕尔瓦蒂（Parvati）在兢兢业业地维持着日常生活的同时，湿婆（Shiva）开始贬低他妻子的基本工作——对于自己在宇宙中的角色，他们一直在争吵。湿婆认为世界的创造者梵天，纯粹出于自己的幻想而构思了物质世界。
And therefore, all material things were merely distractions called māyā — nothing but a cosmic illusion. For millennia Parvati had merely smiled knowingly as Shiva dismissed the things she nurtured.
因此，所有物质事物都只是一种被称为“玛雅”的干扰而已——只是一种宇宙幻觉。几千年来，帕尔瓦蒂只在湿婆毁灭她所创造的事物时才故意地笑。
But upon His latest rebuke, she knew she had to prove the importance of her work once and for all. She took flight from the world, withdrawing her half of the cosmic energy that kept the Earth turning.
但在他最近的斥责中，她知道自己必须彻底地证明自己工作的重要性。她逃离了这个世界并撤走了使地球运转的一半宇宙能量。
At her disappearance, a sudden, terrifying and all-encompassing scarcity enveloped the world in eerie silence.Without Parvati, the land became dry and barren.
在她失踪后，突然，恐怖的、无处不在的匮乏笼罩着世界，世界陷入了可怕的寂静中。没有帕尔瓦蒂，土地变得干燥和贫瘠。
Rivers shrank and crops shriveled in the fields. Hunger descended on humanity.
河水干涸了，地里的庄稼枯萎了。人类开始遭受饥饿。
Parents struggled to console their starving children while their own stomachs rumbled. With nothing to eat, people no longer gathered over heaped bowls of rice, but withdrew and shrank from the darkening world.
父母在他们自己的肚子都饿的咕咕响的时候还在努力安慰他们挨饿的孩子。没有吃的，人们不再聚在一起吃着盛得满满的饭，而是逐渐从这个黑暗的世界中消失。
To His shock and awe, Shiva also felt the profound emptiness left by his wife's absence. Despite His supreme power, he too realized that He was not immune to the need for sustenance, and His yearning felt bottomless and unbearable.
除了震惊和感慨，湿婆还感受到了妻子离开后留下的极度空虚。尽管他拥有无上的力量，他意识到自己也需要食物，他开始想念妻子，这种感觉深不见底且无法忍受。
As Shiva despaired over the desolate Earth, he came to realize that the material world could not be so easily dismissed. At her husband's epiphany, the compassionate Parvati could no longer stand by and watch her devotees wasting away.
当湿婆在荒凉的地球上绝望时，他开始意识到物质世界不能那么容易地被毁灭的。看到丈夫的顿悟了，富有同情心的帕尔瓦蒂（Parvati）再也不能袖手旁观，看着拥护她的人类慢慢减少。
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. As word of this hopeful figure spread, she was worshipped as Annapurna, the Goddess of food.
为了能在人群中行走并帮助他们恢复健康，她采取了新的化身，端着一个盛满粥的金碗，并手持镶有宝石的长柄勺。随着关于这个带来希望的人物的消息传开，她被奉为食物女神安娜普纳（Annapurna）。
With the arrival of Annapurna, the world blossomed anew.People rejoiced at fertility and food, and communed together to give thanks.
随着安娜普纳的到来，世界重新绽放。人们因重新获得生育力和食物而欢欣鼓舞，并聚在一起表示感谢。
Some believe that Annapurna first appeared in the sacred city of Kashi, or the Place of Freedom, on the banks of the Ganges — where she opened a kitchen to fill the bellies of the people until they could eat no more. But it was not only mere mortals who were served at her feast.
有人认为，安娜普纳最初出现在神圣的城市喀什，或自由之地恒河之岸，在那儿她开了一个厨房来填饱人们的肚子，直到他们不能再吃了。但是，不仅是凡人得到了她的招待。
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. For this reason, the supreme deity is sometimes portrayed as a poor beggar at the mercy of Annapurna; holding her golden bowl in her left hand, while the right forms the abhaya mudra — a gesture of safety and assurance.
湿婆神对周围遍布的尘世欢乐景象感到心虚，他自己带着一个空碗找到了女神，乞求食物和宽恕。因此，这个至高无上的神灵有时被描绘成受到安娜普纳支配的可怜的乞丐。她左手握住金碗，而右手则形成无畏印的姿势——这个姿势代表安全和保障。
With these symbols, this powerful avatar makes it clear that the material world is anything but an illusion. 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.
有了这些符号，这个强大力量的化身就可以清楚地看到物质世界并不是一种幻想。而是必须维持的一种生命循环——从喂张着的嘴和填饱咕咕响的肚子到地球的平衡。
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