The first verse of the celebrated Sanskrit poet Kalidasa's famous epic poem Raghuvamśa ("the story of the dynasty of Raghu", a king of the solar lineage of India) is as follows:
वागर्थाविव संपृक्तौ वागर्थप्रतिपत्तये ।
जगतः पितरौ वन्दे पार्वतीपरमेश्वरौ ।।
"I bow to the mother and father of the world, Pārvatī and Parameśvara (Ṥiva), who are inseparably conjoined, just like a word and its meaning are inseparably conjoined for the purpose of comprehension."
This is the classic meaning of the verse. However, clever scholars probably discovered that they could put a pun on the last word by splitting it slightly differently.
First method of splitting:
पार्वती - परमेश्वरौ = Pārvatī and Parameśvara
Second method of splitting:
पार्वतीप - रमेश्वरौ = Pārvatīpa and Rameśvara
= Pārvatī's husband and Ramā's husband
= Ṥiva and Viṣṇu
In the second case, the word पितरौ is easily translated as "two fathers" instead of the special meaning of "father and mother" for the first case.
This seems to be a clever way of showing the equivalence of the two great Gods Shiva and Vishnu with the aim of calming sectarian rivalries and conflicts.
Another verse from Bhartrhari shows this same equivalence:
महेश्वरे वा जगतामधीश्वरे जनार्दने वा जगदन्तरात्मनि ।
न वस्तुभेदप्रपत्तिरस्ति मे तथापि भक्तिस्तरुणेन्दुशेखरे ।।
"I do not see any fundamental difference between Shiva the Overlord of the universe, or Vishnu the Inner Soul of the universe. But still my affection is for the one who has the newborn moon as an ornament (Shiva)."
This verse also gives a glimpse of the Hindu idea of picking your own "Ishta devata" or personal deity based on your temperament and liking. As the spiritual principle is the same, there is no inequality in the devotion or piety.
