The Goddess in India

Lecture for The Joseph Campbell Series,

St. Peter’s Episcopal church

Rome, GA 2/9/2005

Part 1: The Goddess in Myth and Image

Goddesses Represent Shakti

Shakti is the divine POWER of

Nature

Creation

Life force

Movement

Mind

Strength

DestructionSundari beneath the Mango Tree.Madhya Pradesh or southern Uttar Pradesh, mid-9th century.

Goddesses are Represented as

• Images (murtis)

• Sacred Sounds (mantras)

• ‘Cosmo-grams’ (mandalas)

Goddesses are Interpreted as• Multiple

• The source of all things

• The core of human nature

• The means to spiritual freedom

• Manifest in the Arts

Historical Overview• Indus Valley Civilization (6500 B.C.E.-3000 B.C.E.)

• Vedic Tradition (3000 B.C.E.- 500 B.C.E.)– Prthvi: Goddess of Earth– Vac: Goddess of Speech– Sarawati: River/Goddess of Arts

• Pauranic Age (500 B.C.E.-500 C.E.)– Blossoming of Multiple Major Goddess Sects – Temple Traditions

• Tantras (600 C.E.-1400 C.E.)– Sakta sadhana– Goddess as Consort, Teacher, Deity

• Modern Period– Spread of Saktis through Ammachi and others

Multiple Goddesses• Groups of goddesses, emanations of Devi

• Seven Mothers (Saptamatrika)

• Eight Lakshmis (Ashtalakshmi)

• Eight Yoginis (protectors, classes of speech)

• Nine Durgas (Navadurga)

• Ten Great Wisdom Goddesses (Dasa Maha Vidya)

• Sixteen Phases of the Lunar Cycle or digits of the moon (the Nitya Kala Devis)

• 64 Yoginis (fierce guardians of the Goddess)

Parvati.. Chola period, ca 1100. Nagini. Bihar, ca. 100.

Khond tribal image of Markama Orissa, spring 1997.

Devi as trimurti, contemporary

Mother Goddess Figurine Pakistan, Mohenjodaro, ca. 2,600 - 1,900 B.C.

Torso of a fertility goddess (yakshi), from the Great Stupa at SanchiCentral India, Madhya Pradesh Sunga period, 25 B.C.–A.D. 25Sandstone

Renuka, Maharashtra, painted stone

• Saumya (Benevolent) Forms: Consort (Radha), wife (Sita, Parvati), goddess (Saraswati, Bhudevi, Mahalakshmi)

• The importance of marriage, auspiciousness

• Mother Forms (Protective): Kali, Sitala, Mariyamman, Bhagavati, Durga

• Earth Forms (Power and Purification): Rivers (Ganga), Shakti Pithas, Hills, Stones

Some Images of the Divine Feminine in Hinduism

•DURGA: Power and loveliness•SITA: Forlorn love and loyalty•RADHA: Delight and divine play•KALI: Destruction of evil•LAKSHMI: Wealth and abundance•SARASWATI: Arts, music, and

knowledge•DEVI: Empress of the Universe

Procession image of Parvati.Kapalisvara temple. Mylapur, Chennai

Varahi Devi, Punjab Hills, Basohli, ca. 1660-70

SitaHeroine of the Ramayana

epic

Ideal wife

Chaste, loyal, beautiful, longsuffering

Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana in the Forest.India, Punjab Hills, Kangra, ca. 1790.

Sita and Ram, North Indian temple images

Radha

• Beloved of Krishna

• Cowherdess (gopi)

• Represents the soul’s longing for union with the divine

Kali • Power of time, death, destruction, and yogic transformation

ChamundaNepal, 14th century.

Lakshmi • Prosperity, abundance, love, wealth, goodness

Saraswati• Arts, music, learning

Jain goddess Sarasvati. Gujarat, 1153.

Gayatri Devi, contemporary

Devi• Queen of the Universe

• Bestower of bliss

Sakta Theology

• One Supreme Goddess is source of all– Mahadevi– Both ‘male’ and ‘female’ and transcendent– Unity that contains multiplicity/plurality. She is the ‘one’ in all things.– She takes form as the multiple gods and goddesses.

• The one Goddess is holographic and ‘tricosmic’– Self-replicating on all levels– Universe, self, and means to liberations

• Replicating ‘grid’ is the mandala.• Uses ‘illusion’ (maya) to veil Herself.• Uses grace (krpa) reveal herself.

The Goddess and Spiritual Practice

• Saktism: The Way of Power

Worship of the Goddess in Hinduism

Yaa devi sarvabhuteshu buddhirupena samsthitaa

Namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namo namaha

 

To that goddess who dwells within all beings in the form of intellect,

I bow again and again and again

 

- Chandi Path (Devi Mahatmya),

Ch. 5, v. 20

Chola period, 8th century C.E.Southern India,

Tantric Yogini Images

• The yogini is an adept who initiates and teaches

10th-11th Century temple images

Body as site of sacred power

Esoteric knowledge

Male initiates

Navaratri: Nine Nights Worship of the Goddess

• Semiannual celebration, in the bright moon fortnight of Chaitra (March-April) and Ashwin (September-October)

• Recitation of Chandipath and Lalita Sahasranama

• Triple goddess: Durga/Lakshmi/Saraswati

• Ashtami, Vijayadashami: Victory over evil

Sri Vidya: The Supreme Wisdom

• Tripurasundari, the Beauty of the Three Worlds

• Rajarajeshwari, Empress of the Universe

• Lalitamba: The Playful One

• Lalita Sahasranama and Saundarya Lahari

• Mantra, mudras, dhyana, puja to Sri Yantra

• Identification with Devi, reversal of the process of creation within oneself

Elements of Worship

• Image (murti)• Sacred sound (mantra)

– Deity as sound

• Sacred image (mandala)• Guru• Identification of self (atman) with deity

with guru with mantra with mandala. • “interweaving” (Tantra)

Power of Transformation

• Kundalini Shakti: coiled in muladhara chakra

• Awakened through grace or spiritual practice

• Transformation of physical and subtle bodies

• Unification with Paramashiva in sahasrara chakra: jivanmukti, liberation in life

Goddess in a Patriarchy?

• Priests have access to esoteric ritual and theological knowledge

• Priests manage spiritual power for the welfare of others

• Priests represent and channel divine energies

• Priests have spiritual, ritual, and social power

Female Spiritual Role Models

• Goddesses – usually Lakshmi, Parvati, sometimes Durga (Phoolan Devi, Indira Gandhi)

• Heroines – Sita, Kannaki, wives• Saints (bhaktas) – Mirabai, Lalleshwari, Antal,

Karaikkal Amma, unmarried and unconventional, extraordinary devotion to a male god/husband

• Sannyasinis – Gargi, renunciants, intellectual• Gurus – Celibate, unmarried, charismatic • Yoginis – Married or unmarried, sexually active adepts

and teachers, embodiments of Devi (goddess)

Yogini with DiscipleWest Bengal, Murshidabad, 18th century.

Saint Karaikkal Ammaiyar Tamil Nadu, Chola period, 12th century.

Sri Amritananda Mayi Ma

Shree Ma

Broader Contributions of Goddess Worship

• Regeneration of ecological awareness through pilgrimage and sacred geography

• Sacralization of mundane existence through puja

• Transform consciousness through Kundalini Yoga and meditation on Devi as mind

• Knowledge of ultimate structures of the universe

• Social benefits: gender egalitarianism, upliftment of both men and women

Carrie’s Question: “Do we need a Goddess?”

Hindu answer: God is just one half of God-dess and the latter contains

the former.

Conclusion

• Carrie’s Question:– “Do we need a Goddess?”

• Hindu Answer– God is one half of God-dess and the latter

contains the former.