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Devī also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
: देवी) is the
SanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
word for
GoddessA goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
, used mostly in
HinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, its related masculine term is
deva' is the Sanskrit word for god or deity, its related feminine term is devi. In modern Hinduism, it can be loosely interpreted as any benevolent supernatural beings. The devs in Hinduism, also called Suras, are often juxtaposed to the Asuras, their half brothers. Devs are also the maintainers of...
. Devi is synonymous with
ShaktiShakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...
, the female aspect of the divine, as conceptualized by the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect, which represents consciousness or discrimination, remains impotent and void. Goddess worship is an integral part of
HinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
.
Devi is, quintessentially, the core form of every Hindu Goddess. As the female manifestation of the supreme lord, she is also called Prakriti, as she balances out the male aspect of the divine addressed
PurushaIn some lineages of Hinduism, Purusha is the "Self" which pervades the universe. The Vedic divinities are interpretations of the many facets of Purusha...
.
Devi is the supreme Being in the
ShaktismShaktism is a denomination of Hinduism that focuses worship upon Shakti or Devi – the Hindu Divine Mother – as the absolute, ultimate Godhead...
tradition of
HinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, while in the Smartha tradition, she is one of the five primary forms of God. In other Hindu traditions of
ShaivismShaivism is one of the four major sects of Hinduism, the others being Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism. Followers of Shaivism, called "Shaivas," and also "Saivas" or "Saivites," revere Shiva as the Supreme Being. Shaivas believe that Shiva is All and in all, the creator, preserver, destroyer,...
and
VaishnavismVaishnavism is a tradition of Hinduism, distinguished from other schools by its worship of Vishnu, or his associated Avatars such as Rama and Krishna, as the original and supreme God....
, Devi embodies the active energy and power of male deities (
PurushaIn some lineages of Hinduism, Purusha is the "Self" which pervades the universe. The Vedic divinities are interpretations of the many facets of Purusha...
s), such as
VishnuVishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
in Vaishnavism or
ShivaShiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
in Shaivism. Vishnu's shakti counterpart is called
LakshmiLakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
, with
ParvatiParvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
being the female shakti of Shiva.
Indus Valley
The
Indus Valley CivilizationThe Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that was located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of what is now mainly modern-day Pakistan and northwest India...
, with its neighboring cultures of Zhob and
KulliThe Kulli culture was a prehistoric culture in southern Balochistan in Pakistan ca. 2500 - 2000 BCE. The pottery and other artifacts are similar to those of the Indus Valley Civilization and it is not clear whether the Kulli culture is a local variation of the Indus Valley Civilization or an own...
regions in
BalochistanBalochistan or Baluchistan is an arid, mountainous region in the Iranian plateau in Southwest Asia; it includes part of southeastern Iran, western Pakistan, and southwestern Afghanistan. The area is named after the numerous Baloch tribes, Iranian peoples who moved into the area from the west...
, have yielded data on prehistoric religious practices on the
Indian subcontinentThe Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
dating back to 3000 BC. Some scholars suggest that the Indus Valley culture has a cult of the
Great MotherMother goddess is a term used to refer to a goddess who represents motherhood, fertility, creation or embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother.Many different goddesses have...
or the Divine Mother, similar to such cults in Persia (
AnahitaAnahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as ' ; the Avestan language name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of 'the Waters' and hence associated with fertility, healing and wisdom...
),
Asia MinorAsia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
and the Mediterranean; and some have even hazarded a guess that this may be the earliest form of
ShaktismShaktism is a denomination of Hinduism that focuses worship upon Shakti or Devi – the Hindu Divine Mother – as the absolute, ultimate Godhead...
.
Vedic period
The
Vedic literatureThe Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
describes a number of significant goddesses including
UshasUshas , Sanskrit for "dawn", is a Vedic deity, and consequently a Hindu deity as well.Sanskrit is an s-stem, i.e. the genitive case is . It is from PIE , cognate to Greek Eos and Latin Aurora....
, Prithivi,
AditiAditi in Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language. In the Vedas Aditi is mother of the gods from whose cosmic matrix the heavenly bodies were born...
,
SaraswatiIn Hinduism Saraswati , is the goddess of knowledge, music, arts, science and technology. She is the consort of Brahma, also revered as His Shakti....
,
VacVāk or Vāc is the Sanskrit word for "speech", "voice", "talk", or "language", from a verbal root "speak, tell, utter"....
,
NirrtiIn Hinduism, ' is the goddess of death and corruption, one of the dikpāla , representing the southwest . The name has the meaning of "absence of ṛta, lawless"...
,
RatriRatri, often also called Ratridevi, is the goddess of night in the Vedas and the mythology of India and Hinduism. She is sister to Ushas, the Vedic goddess of Dawn...
,
AranyaniIn Hinduism, Aranyani is a goddess of the forests and the animals that dwell within them.Aranyani has the distinction of having one of the most descriptive hymns in the Rig Veda dedicated to her, in which she is described as being elusive, fond of quiet glades in the jungle, and fearless of remote...
; and a number of minor ones, including Puramdhi, Parendi, Raka, Dhisana, – hardly mentioned about a dozen times in the Rig Veda, and they all are associated with bounties and riches. Few others like Ila, Bharati, Mahi, Hotra are invoked and summoned through hymns to take their share during certain rituals.
According to the Vedas, Shakti is claimed to be
MayaMaya , in Indian religions, has multiple meanings, usually quoted as "illusion", centered on the fact that we do not experience the environment itself but rather a projection of it, created by us. Maya is the principal deity that manifests, perpetuates and governs the illusion and dream of duality...
or illusion that casts a veil over
BrahmanIn Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
, the Ultimate reality. Shakti and Brahman are inseparable entities that lie in a single body which reaffirms the claim that Shakti and
ShivaShiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
coexist.
Manifestations
Devi or the divine feminine is an equal conterpart to the divine masculine, and hence manifests herself as the Trinity herself - the Creator (Durga or the Divine Mother), Preserver (Lakshmi, Parvati & Saraswati) and Destroyer (Mahishasura-Mardini, Kali & Smashanakali ).
Mahadevi
Many texts, myths and rituals concerning goddess subsume them all under one great female being, named generally as Mahadevi or Devi. Earliest Hindu tradition as reflected in the Vedas speak of discrete goddesses like Lakshmi and Parvati. Later, there emerged a tendency to relate all goddesses to one ultimate goddess, the best example of such texts being the Devi Mahatamaya. Another important feature of Mahadevi mythology and theology is the insistence that assumes both benign and terrible aspects of Mahadevi.
Durga
In Hindu pantheon, Durga is one of the most popular goddesses, and her creation takes place in the context of a
cosmicA Religious cosmology is a way of explaining the origin, the history and the evolution of the universe based on the religious mythology of a specific tradition...
crisis. The
asura-In Hinduism:In Hinduism, the Asuras constitute a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes considered sinful and materialistic. The Daityas and Danavas were combinedly known as Asuras. The Asura were opposed to the Devas. Both groups are children of Kasyapa...
s were on the ascent, and they had become a threat to cosmic stability. The male gods were unable to contain and subdue them. A number of male gods having failed to subdue the demons led by
MahishasuraIn Hindu mythology, Mahishasura was an asura.Mahishasura's father Rambha was king of the asuras, and he once fell in love with a water buffalo ; Mahishasura was born out of this union...
, assembled into a conclave and emitted their energies together which took the form of the
the warrior goddess,
DurgaFor the 1985 Hindi Film of Rajesh Khanna see DurgaaIn Hinduism, Durga ; ; meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible"; , durga) or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress" is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having eighteen arms, riding a lion...
, that is, the invincible.
Vedic literature does not have any particular goddess matching the concept of Durga though it has references to certain goddesses as slayers of demons.
Taitriya-aranyaka mentions Durga, but not in a manner comparable to Durga of later Hinduism. Around 4th century AD, images of Durga slaying
Mahishasura begin to become common in many palaces in the Indian subcontinent.
The
theologyTheology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
underlying Durga’s emergence and exploits are revealed in Devi Mahatmyam, the most famous text extolling her exploits, and is described:
"Though she is eternal, the goddess becomes manifest over and over again to protect the world". This makes her on par with various
AvatarIn Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
s of
VishnuVishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
.
One of the most famous festivals associate with her is
Durga PujaDurga puja ; দুর্গা পূজা,ଦୁର୍ଗା ପୂଜା,‘Worship of Durga’), also referred to as Durgotsava ; , is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi, Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami and...
celebrated in the month of
AshvinAshvin , also known as Aswayuja, is the seventh month of the lunisolar Hindu calendar, the Tamil solar calendar where it is known as Aipassi and the solar India's national civil calendar. It is the sixth month of the solar Bengali calendar. It falls in the season of Shôrot, or Autumn...
(September-October), and is also called Navaratri festival.
Saraswati
Saraswati, the flowing one, is one of the most celebrated goddesses from the Vedic period through current times. She has been repeatedly mentioned in the Rig Veda, and has been identified with the
Saraswati RiverThe Sarasvati River is one of the chief Rigvedic rivers mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west, and later Vedic texts like Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas as well as the Mahabharata...
. Over a period of time, in later Hinduism, her connection with a river decreased considerably, and she is no longer a goddess who embodies sacrality of a river, but has acquired her independent history and attributes.
She is the goddess of speech and learning, and is the creator of
SanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, the language of the Vedas. She is the consort of
BrahmaBrahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
, the creator and member of the Hindu Trinity. She is equally revered by Hindus,
JainsJainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
and the Buddhists. Her
iconographyIconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
depicts her association with art, science and culture, which is dramatically different from some other major goddesses who are identified with fertility, wealth, and battles. She is shown as having four arms, and the most common items held by her in her hands are a book, a
vina-People:* Vina Bovy , Belgian operatic soprano* Vina Mazumdar , Indian academic and feminist* Vina Morales , Filipina singer, actress-Places:*Vina, Alabama, USA*Vina, California, USA*Vina , Serbia...
(lute), a mala, and a water pot. The book signified art, science and learning; the vina associates her with
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and
performing artsThe performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
; and the prayer beads and water pot signify her association with religious rites. She is worshipped on the first day of the spring according to Hindu calendar, called the Basant Panchami.
Sri Lakshmi
Sri, commonly known as
LakshmiLakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
and also called Sri Lakshmi, is one of the most popular and widely worshiped Goddesses in Hindu tradition since pre-Buddhist period. She has a considerable body of mythology and history. The earliest legend states that Sri is born as a result of austerities of
PrajapatiIn Hinduism, Prajapati "lord of creatures" is a Hindu deity presiding over procreation, and protector of life. He appears as a creator deity or supreme God Viswakarma Vedic deities in RV 10 and in Brahmana literature...
, and she represents ten qualities and objects, namely, food, royal power, universal sovereignty, knowledge, power, holy luster, kingdom, fortune, bounteousness, and beauty.
Sri appears in several Vedic hymns, and Sri is indicative of several positive attributes including beauty, glory, power, capability, and higher rank. In later Vedic literature, Sri signified the ruling power and the majesty of kings. Sri-Sukta, a hymn appended to the Rig Veda, is a famous Vedic chant, extolling Sri, and presents a detailed account of her, both conceptually and visually. The hymn also associates her with
lotusNelumbo nucifera, known by a number of names including Indian Lotus, Sacred Lotus, Bean of India, or simply Lotus, is a plant in the monogeneric family Nelumbonaceae...
and
elephantElephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
– an association, which has not changed in subsequent history.
By the late epic period (400 AD), Lakshmi became associated with
VishnuVishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
, and emerged as his wife or consort, and acquired - in addition to her earlier attributes - characteristics of a model wife.
She is worshiped on
DiwaliDiwali or DeepavaliThe name of the festival in various regional languages include:, , , , , , , , , , , , , popularly known as the "festival of lights," is a festival celebrated between mid-October and mid-December for different reasons...
, a new moon night, to symbolize that her presence is enough to dispel all the darkness from the hearts of her devotees.
Parvati
Parvati is the daughter of the mountains (the
HimalayasThe Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
), and manifests the aspect of the goddess as the wife of
ShivaShiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
. She is generally considered a benign goddess. She is one of the principal deities of Shaktism and sometimes considered the essence of Shakti herself, i.e.
Adi-shakti. She has been identified as a reincarnation of
DakshayaniDākshāyani or Satī is a Hindu Goddess of marital felicity and longevity. She is worshipped particularly by Hindu women to seek the long life of their husbands...
or
SatiSati may refer to:*An alternative name for Hindu goddess Dakshayani, Shiva's first wife*Sati , an ancient Indian tradition of the immolation of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre, now illegal*Mindfulness...
, Shiva’s first wife, who destroyed her by self-immolation because her father,
DakshaIn Hinduism, Daksha, "the skilled one", is an ancient creator god, one of the Prajapatis, the Rishis and the Adityas. Daksha is said to be the son of Aditi and Brahma...
, had insulted Shiva. Parvati, when depicted alongside Shiva, appears with two arms, but when alone, she is shown having four arms, and riding a
tigerThe tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
or
lionThe lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
. She is also known by a number of other names, including
Durga (Goddess Beyond reach)
Ambika (mother),
Gauri (golden),
Shyama (dark complexioned),
Bhavani (Mother of Universe)
Bhairavi (awesome) and
Kali (black-colored or Goddess of Time). She is also identified as
MahadeviIn Hinduism, Mahadevi or "Great Goddess" is a term used to denote the Goddess or Devi that is the sum of all other Devis - an all encompassing Female Deity as the consort or complement to an all encompassing Male Deity or the Ultimate Reality in Shaktism.She is often identified with a specific...
.
In classical Hindu mythology, the
raison d’être of Parvati, and before that of Sati, is to lure Shiva into marriage and thus into a wider circle of worldly affairs. With the plays of Kalidas (5th-6th centuries) and the
PuranasThe Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
(4th through the 13th centuries) the myths of Sati, Parvati and Shiva acquired comprehensive details.
Kali
Kali is one of the most significant divinities, and many texts and contexts treat Kali as an independent deity, not directly associated with a male god. In case she is associated with a male god, it is invariably Shiva. In this aspect, she represents the omnipotent
ShaktiShakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...
of Shiva. She holds both the creative and destructive power of time.
The earliest reference to Kali in Hindu tradition date back to the 6th century, and locate her in the battle fields fighting
asura-In Hinduism:In Hinduism, the Asuras constitute a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes considered sinful and materialistic. The Daityas and Danavas were combinedly known as Asuras. The Asura were opposed to the Devas. Both groups are children of Kasyapa...
s. Her temples are recommended to be built away from human habitations. Vana Bhatta's 7th century drama
KadambariKādambari is a romantic novel in Sanskrit. It was substantially composed by Bānabhatta in the first half of the 7th century, who did not survive to see it through completion. The novel was completed by Banabhatta's son Bhushanabhatta, according to the plan laid out by his late father...
features a goddess named
ChandiChandi or Chandika is the supreme Goddess of Devi Mahatmya also known as Chandi or Durga Sapthashati. Chandi is described as the Supreme reality who is a combination of Mahakali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswati...
, an epithet of both Kali and
DurgaFor the 1985 Hindi Film of Rajesh Khanna see DurgaaIn Hinduism, Durga ; ; meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible"; , durga) or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress" is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having eighteen arms, riding a lion...
.
Kali’s most famous appearance in battle contexts are found in the
Devi MahatmyaThe Devi Mahatmyam or Devi Mahatmya , or "Glory of the Goddess") is a Hindu text describing the victory of the goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura. As part of the Markandeya Purana, it is one of the Puranas or secondary Hindu scriptures, and was composed in Sanskrit around c...
when during the battle with
asura-In Hinduism:In Hinduism, the Asuras constitute a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes considered sinful and materialistic. The Daityas and Danavas were combinedly known as Asuras. The Asura were opposed to the Devas. Both groups are children of Kasyapa...
s, Durga becomes angry. Her face turns pitch dark, and suddenly Kali springs forth from Durga’s forehead. She is black, wears a garland of human heads, is clothed in a tiger skin, and wields a staff topped by a human skull. She destroys the asuras. Later, Durga seeks her assistance once more to annihilate Raktabija. Kali’s mythology recounts several such appearances, mostly in terrible aspects.
Mahavidya
MahavidyaMahavidyas or DashaMahavidyas are a group of ten aspects of the Divine Mother or Devi in Hinduism. The Ten Mahavidyas are Wisdom Goddesses, who represent a spectrum of feminine divinity, from horrific goddesses at one end, to the ravishingly beautiful at the other.The development of Mahvidyas...
s, that is, the supreme knowledge, revelations and manifestations, refer to a group of ten goddesses. They constitute an important aspect of
Mahadevi theologyIn Hinduism, Mahadevi or "Great Goddess" is a term used to denote the Goddess or Devi that is the sum of all other Devis - an all encompassing Female Deity as the consort or complement to an all encompassing Male Deity or the Ultimate Reality in Shaktism.She is often identified with a specific...
, which emphasizes that the Devi has a tendency to manifest and display herself in a variety of forms and aspects. Mahavidyas find no mention in the earliest Hindu texts, but appeared relatively late in Hindu tradition. According to some scholars, they are actually ten
TantricTantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
goddesses and parts of Kali, personifying her different facets. Seven of them represent creative forces embodies in Kali, and the remaining three embody her destructive nature and aspects. In the context of Hindu mythology, the origin of the ten Mahavidyas takes place in the story of Sati and Shiva.
Ten Mahavidyas are:
Kali' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...
,
TaraIn Hinduism, the goddess Tara meaning "star" is the second of the Dasa Mahavidyas or "Great Wisdom [goddesses]", Tantric manifestations of Mahadevi, Kali, or Parvati...
, Chinnamasta, Bhuvanesvari,
BaglaBagalamukhi or Bagala ,, is one of the ten mahavidyas in Hinduism. Bagalamukhi Devi smashes the devotee's misconceptions and delusions with her cudgel...
,
DhumavatiDhumavati is one of the Mahavidyas, a group of ten Tantric goddesses. Dhumavati represents the fearsome aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother. She is often portrayed as an old, ugly widow, and is associated with things considered inauspicious and unattractive in Hinduism, such as the crow and...
,
KamlaIn Hinduism, Kamalatmika or Kamala is the Devi in the fullness of her graceful aspect. She is believed as the tenth Mahavidya .-Iconography:...
,
MatangiMatangi is one of the Mahavidyas, ten Tantric goddesses and a ferocious aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother. She is considered as the Tantric form of Sarasvati, the goddess of music and learning. Like Sarasvati, Matangi governs speech, music, knowledge and the arts...
,
SodasiTripurasundarĩ or Mahã-Tripurasundarĩ , also called Śoḍaṣĩ , Lalitã and Rãjarãjeśvarĩ , is one of the group of ten goddesses of Hindu belief, collectively called Mahavidyas.As Shodashi,...
, and
BhairaviBhairavi is a fierce and terrifying aspect of the Devi virtually indistinguishable from Kali, except for her particular identification as the consort of the Bhairava.-Symbolism:...
.
Navadurga
Navadurga (
DevanagariDevanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
: नवदुर्गा), which literally means
nine Durgas, constitute, according to
Hindu mythologyHindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Nepali and Indian culture...
, the manifestation of
DurgaFor the 1985 Hindi Film of Rajesh Khanna see DurgaaIn Hinduism, Durga ; ; meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible"; , durga) or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress" is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having eighteen arms, riding a lion...
in nine different forms.
Navadurga are famously worshipped during the Autumn Navaratri or the Nine days, initiating the devotees into a period of festivities according to Hindu calendar.
Sita
Sita is one of the most popular divinities of Hinduism. Currently, Sita is associated with
RamaRama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
(an
AvatarIn Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
of
VishnuVishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
) as his wife, and she receives worship along with her husband Rama. She is one of the many incarnations of
LakshmiLakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
.
A female divinity called Sita was known before the
RamayanaThe Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
of
ValmikiValmiki is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself. He is revered as the Adi Kavi, which means First Poet, for he discovered the first śloka i.e...
. Sita literally means “furrow”, that is, the line made while plowing the land, and in Vedic period, she was one of the goddesses associated with fertility. The
Kausik-sutra and the
Paraskara-sutra associates her repeatedly as the wife of
ParjanyaParjanya, according to the 1965 Sanskrit–English dictionary by Shri Vaman Shivram Apte gives the following meanings:* Rain-cloud, thunder cloud, a cloud in general* Rain...
(a god associated with rains) and
Indra' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...
.
She emerged as a significant divinity with Valmiki’s Ramayana, written sometime between 200 BC and 200 AD, and various vernacular renditions of the same, with slightly modified contents, over next several centuries. These texts extol Rama and Sita as the divine couple, and countless mythology, legend, and folklores revolve around them. Sita is always represented in association with Rama, her husband, and Rama is central to her life and existence. She has the dominant role of all Hindu mythological tradition as far as the portrayal of ideal woman and ideal wife is concerned. She represents wifely devotion, forbearance and chastity. She overshadows several other divine Hindu wives including Parvati and Lakshmi, and other similar devoted wives of Hindu mythology like Savitri and Damayanti.
Her current history states that she emerged from the earth when king
JanakaJanaka or Raja Janaka were the kings of Videha Kingdom. Their capital was Mithila, which is believed to be present day Janakpur, Nepal...
was plowing the field during a ritual to invoke rains. She was married to Rama, was abducted by Ravana, reclaimed by Rama, and then banished out of his kingdom. In the forests, in an ashram of Valmiki, she raised her two sons,
KushaKusha may refer to:* Kusha , one of six schools of Japanese Buddhism in the Nara period* Kusha , in Hindu mythology, was one of the twin sons of Lord Rama and Sita* Kusha, tall tufted perennial grass. See also: Poa cynosuroides...
and
LavaLava or Luv and his twin brother Kusha, were the children of the Lord Rama and his wife Sita, whose story is recounted in the Ramayana. Per that text, he is known as the founder of Lavapuri,that is, the modern day city of Lahore,...
, who engaged the royal forces of Rama and inflicted heavy damage. Rama himself comes to fight with them, when Valmiki told him that they were his own sons. Rama requests Sita to come back, but remembering the injustices meted out to her, she called her mother Earth to receive her back, the ground opens up and she returned to where she had originally emerged.
Radha
Radha, which means prosperity and success, is one of the
GopiGopi is a word of Sanskrit origin meaning 'cow-herd girl'. In Hinduism specifically the name gopi is used more commonly to refer to the group of cow herding girls famous within Vaishnava Theology for their unconditional devotion to Krishna as described in the stories of Bhagavata Purana and...
s of
VrindavanVrindavan also known as Vraj is a town in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India...
, and is a central figure of
VaishnavaVaishnavism is a tradition of Hinduism, distinguished from other schools by its worship of Vishnu, or his associated Avatars such as Rama and Krishna, as the original and supreme God....
theology. Early literature speaks of a favourite Gopi of
KrishnaKrishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
, but her details emerge clearly centuries later.
JayadevaJayadeva was a Sanskrit poet circa 1200 AD. He is most known for his composition, the epic poem Gita Govinda, which depicts the divine love of Krishna-an avatar of Vishnu and his consort, Radha, and it is mentioned that Radha is greater than Hari, and is considered an important text in the...
’s
Gitagovinda (12th century) presents a full depiction of Radha and her association with Krishna.
In fact, Radha is the original manifestation of Param(Adi) Shakti, i.e. Parvati (in sagun form), which is the supreme energy in the Hindu religion. She is same as mother Sita is who worshiped Goddess Gauri, whose partial incarnations are Lakshmi, Durga and Saraswati. In order to please
ParasivaIn Hinduism, Parasiva is the aspect of Siva, the Absolute which is beyond human comprehension and is beyond all attributes. In Saivite theology, the term is similar to Nirguna Brahman....
, one has to first please
Adi parashakti. So In order to please Krishna, one has to call Radha first. In Devi Bhagavata, it is mentioned that she is the one who fulfills all the desires of all creatures by simply crying while remembering her and She is the partial expansion of
ParvatiParvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
all energies.
Traditionally, Radha’s love for Krishna is likened to human soul’s yearning for God, and she is regarded as an ultimate model for devotees. Her role is also to be an intermediary between man and God.
Matrikas
Matrikas, that is, the mothers, are a band of divinities, which always appear in a group.
Shakti Peethas
Another important aspects of the Female divine are the various
Shakti PeethasThe Shakti Pithas are places of worship consecrated to the goddess Shakti or Parvati or Sati or Durga, the female principal of Hinduism and the main deity of the Shakta sect...
spread all across the nation, where over 51 body parts of Devi
SatiDākshāyani or Satī is a Hindu Goddess of marital felicity and longevity. She is worshipped particularly by Hindu women to seek the long life of their husbands...
, first wife of Lord
ShivaShiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
fell
after being broken apart by the
Sudarshana ChakraThe Sudarshana Chakra is a spinning, disk-like super weapon with 108 serrated edges used by Lord Vishnu. The Sudarshana Chakra is portrayed on the right rear hand of the four hands of Vishnu, who also holds a Shankha in his left rear hand, a Gada in his right fore hand, and a Padma in his left...
of Lord
VishnuVishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
.
Goddess
SatiDākshāyani or Satī is a Hindu Goddess of marital felicity and longevity. She is worshipped particularly by Hindu women to seek the long life of their husbands...
had earlier performed self-immolation at the ceremonial feast of her father king
DakshaIn Hinduism, Daksha, "the skilled one", is an ancient creator god, one of the Prajapatis, the Rishis and the Adityas. Daksha is said to be the son of Aditi and Brahma...
and an enraged and inconsolable Lord
ShivaShiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
was wandering all over the Creation, with her dead body, threatening its very existence. Each point on the earth where her body parts fell is now venerated as a Shakti Peetha - the seat of
ShaktiShakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...
or female power.
Further reading
- Aurobindo, Sri
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
. "The Mother". ISBN 0941524795.
- Kinsley, David. Hindu Goddesses: Vision of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Traditions. Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi, India. ISBN 81-208-0379-5.
- Pattanaik, Devdutt
Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik is an Indian physician turned leadership consultant, mythologist and author whose works focus largely on the areas of myth, mythology, and also management...
. The Mother Goddess: An Introduction. ISBN 81-871-1145-3.
- Pintchman, Tracy (1994). The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition. SUNY Press, New York, USA. ISBN 0-7914-2112-0.
- Sen, Ramprasad
' was a Shakta poet of eighteenth century Bengal. His bhakti poems, known as Ramprasadi, are still popular in Bengal—they are usually addressed to the Hindu goddess Kali and written in Bengali...
(1720–1781). Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair: Selected Poems to the Mother Goddess. ISBN 0-934252-94-7.
- Wangu, Madhu Bazaz (2003). Images of Indian Goddesses: Myths, Meanings, and Models. Abhinav Publications, New Delhi, India. ISBN 8170174163.
External links