FEMALE GODDESSES
Devi, or Mahadevi is the most complex and the most
powerful of the goddesses. She owes these characteristics to the
combination of her descent traced back to the great Moher Goddess of
the ancient times and to shakti, the active dimension of the
godhead, the divine power that underlies the godhead’s ability to
create the world and to display itself. Devi or shakti assumes both
benign and terrible forms. In the benign forms she displays positive
roles: fertility, the protection and establishment of religious
order, cultural creativity, wifely duty and material abundance. Some
important examples of these forms are Lakshmi, Saraswati, Sati,
Parvati and Prithvi. In the terrible forms she plays her most
fundamental protective role, guardian of the cosmos in the form of a
formidable warrior.
Besides supplicating the
goddess for the bestowal of favours, her worshippers also invoke her
for active and sometimes violent assistance against demons, terrors
and disasters. This contributed to the development of a group of
fierce-looking female deities.
Once female deities became
fully independent they responded to the usual forces in Indian
religion to take on different forms. They were made the vehicle for
the assimilation of non-Hindu mythology and practices in the same
way as their male counterparts.
Some goddesses have strong
maternal natures, some are domestic and closely identified with male
deities, some are the very embodiment of art and culture, some are
associated with the wild untamed fringes of civilization and there
are also the ones who have strong independent natures and are great
warriors. The number of goddesses in contemporary Hinduism alone is
simply overwhelming. Apart from the innumerable village goddesses
there are also the geographical goddesses associated with specific
regions. Some of the important groups of goddesses are the
Nava-Durgas, the Sapta Matrikas and the Ten
Mahavidyas.
THE NAVA DURGAS
The goddess Durga has nine
important forms called the Nava-Durgas. During the Nava-Ratri
festival (October), each of the goddesses is worshipped on a
particular night for the destruction of evil and for the
preservation of Dharma (religion). The nine Durgas are:
Shailputri.
She is
worshipped on the first night and is the daughter of Himavan. She
has two hands, one holding a trident and the other a lotus. She
rides a bull.
Brahmacharini. The second Durga-shakti
has two hands. One holds a water-pot and the other a rosary. She
symbolizes devotion.
Chandraghanta. The third Durga-shakti is
golden complexioned, rides a tiger and has ten hands and three eyes.
The hands hold various types of weapons with two in a boon-giving
and protective mode.
Kushmanda.
The
fourth Durga-shakti has eight arms, holding various types of weapons
and a rosary. She rides a tiger and has a presence like that of the
Sun.
Skandamata. Riding a lion, she is the
mother of Skanda who is shown sitting on her lap. She has three eyes
and four arms with two holding lotus flowers and two in a blessing
and protective mode.
Katyayani. The sixth Durga-shakti is
the daughter of the sage Katya. Riding a lion, she has three eyes
and eight arms holding various weapons. She is golden
coloured.
Kalaratri.
She is
black coloured with flowing hair, has three eyes and rides a donkey.
She has four hands with two holding a cleaver and a
torch.
Mahagauri. She is fair complexioned
with four arms and wearing white clothes. She holds a drum and a
trident and rids a bull. She has a peaceful expression on her
face.
Siddhidhatri.
This form
is shown seated on a lotus or a tiger. She has four arms and has the
ability to bless her devotees with twenty-six different
boons.
THE SAPTA
MATRIKAS
The Sapta Matrikas or seven Mother
Goddesses are primarily an independent group who have violent
natures, are associated with diseases and are particularly prone to
afflict small children. They have a single face and are recognized
by their vehicle (animal/bird) shown with them. They usually have a
small child sitting on the lap. The Matrikas are:
Brahmani has four hands, two
carrying a vase, and a rosary and two in boon-giving and protection
poses. Her vehicle is a goose.
Maheshwari
has four,
six or ten hands, carrying a javelin and a rosary and two hands in
boon-giving and protection poses. She has three eyes and the bull is
her vehicle.
Kaumari has two, four or twelve
hands, carrying a spear and a cock. Two of the hands are in
boon-giving and protection poses. She has three eyes and rides a
peacock.
Vaishnavi has four or six hands,
carrying a conch-shell and wheel. Two of the hands are in protective
and boon-giving poses. She rides an eagle.
Varahi has a boar’s head and four
hands, carrying a plough and a spear and two in the boon-giving and
protective poses. Her vehicle is the bull.
Indrani has four hands with two in
the charitable and protective poses and two carrying a spear and a
thunderbolt. She rides an elephant.
Chamunda has four or ten hands
carrying a skull-cap, a goad, a sword, a spear, an arrow, a shield,
an exe, etc. She rides a corpse or owl.
THE TEN MAHAVIDYAS
The Ten Mahavidyas are an
important group of female deities who are manifestations of the
Supreme Goddess. They are not consistently described, and some of
the goddesses, such as Kali and Tara are individually important and
have several manifestations themselves. The following descriptions
are typical of the way in which each of the forms is
described.
Kali has a fierce countenance,
is naked and dwells in the cremation grounds. She holds a severed
head and a bloodied cleaver, has disheveled hair, wears a garland of
decapitated heads and a girgle of severed arms.
Tara is nearly identical with
Kali. She is dark, rests her foot on a corpse, wears a tigerskin and
a necklace of severed heads. She laughs terribly, stands on a
funeral pyre and is pregnant. She has four hands holding a dish, a
cleaver, scissors and a lotus.
Chinnamasta stands in a cremation
ground on the bodies of Kama and Rati. She has decapitated herself
with a sword, which she holds in one hand. In the other hand she
holds a platter with her head on it. Three jets of blood spurt from
her neck and stream into the mouths of two female attendants and her
severed head.
Bhuvaneshwari is said to nourish the
three worlds. She has four hands with two holding a goad and a
noose. She has a bright and light complexion and smiles pleasantly.
Her large breasts ooze milk.
Bagala is sometimes shown as
having a head of a crane, is seated on a jewel throne and is yellow
skinned. In one hand she holds a club with which she beats the enemy
and with the other she pulls out his tongue.
Dhumavati has a pale complexion and
is tall, with a stern unsmiling expression. Dressed as a widow she
wears dirty clothes, her hair is disheveled, she has no teeth and
her breasts are long and pendulous. She is afflicted with thirst and
hunger, has a large crooked nose, a quarrelsome nature and rides a
crow.
Kamala is described as a
beautiful, golden complexioned woman surrounded by elephants pouring
pitchers of water over her. She is seated on a lotus with two of the
same flowers in her hands. She has a affinity to
Lakshmi.
Matangi is coloured black. Her
eyes roll in intoxication and she reels about like an impassioned
elephant.
Sodasi is a girl of sixteen with
a red complexion. She is shown astride the prone body of Shiva. They
are on a pedestal supported by the gods Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra and
Indra.
Bhairavi has a reddish complexion
and wears a garland of severed heads. She holds a rosary and a book
in two of her four hands, with the other two in a charitable and
protective pose. Her breasts are smeared with
blood.
INCARNATIONS OF VISHNU
Whenever the forces of
evil began to rule the world. Vishnu the great preserver left the
heavens and descended on the earth in different forms to rescue
mankind from evil. Vishnu is said to have taken ten incarnations but
sometimes more than twenty-two forms are ascribed to him. Some of
the forms are cosmic in character while some are based on historical
events. It is interesting to note the evolution of these
incarnations from lower to higher forms of life and their reflection
on the history of the evolution of
mankind.
For
example:
Matsya, the fish incarnation
symbolizes the forming of protoplasm and
invertebrates.
Kurma,
the
tortoise symbolizes the amphibian form.
Varhaa, the boar symbolizes the
existence of mammals.
Narasimha,
the
half-man, half-animal incarnation shows the development of hands and
fingers on animals and the evolution of the sub-human or ape
form.
Vamana, the dwarf reflects the
incomplete development of man.
Parashurama, the Rama-with-the-axe
incarnation symbolizes the stone age. The axe symbolizes the start
of the use of metal by mankind.
Rama shows the ability of
mankind to live in cities and to have an
administration.
Krishna (one who knows the
sixty-four arts), reflects the development of the
sciences.
The Buddha
incarnation reflects the intellectual and scientific development
of man.
Kalki. In the years to come there
will be a moral degradation in society and this future incarnation
will save mankind.
Matsya
In his first incarnation,
Vishnu has the lower part of his body like that of a fish (Matsya)
and the upper part like that of a man. He has four arms; with two he
holds a conch-shell and a wheel, while the other two are holding a
lotus or a mace or are in the protection and boon giving
modes.
There are several
explanations as to why Vishnu assumed the form of the fish. One of
them describes him as turning into a fish so as to be able to tow a
ship in which Manu, the progenitor of the new human race, had taken
refuge from a devastating flood. The same story is found in the
Mahabharata where the fish is described as having a horn. In the
Bhagvada-Purana the story is further elaborated by the addition of a
fight between Matsya and the demon Hayagriva, who has stolen the
Vedas when Brahma was asleep.
Kurma
Vishnu, in his second
incarnation, is in the form of half-man, half-tortoise (Kurma). The
lower half being the tortoise. He is normally shown as having four
arms. In the upper two he carries the conch-shell and the wheel
while the lower two are in the protection and the boon giving
postures or carrying a mace and a lotus.
When the gods were in
danger of losing their authority over the demons, Vishnu advised
them to churn the ocean so that they might procure amrita (ambrosia)
which would make them strong and immortal. He promised to become a
tortoise on which would rest the mountain Mandara, which was used as
the churning stick.
Together with ambrosia, the
churning brought to the surface the other thirteen objects that had
been lost in the deluge. They were, Lakshmi (consort of Vishnu),
Sura (goddess of wine), Chandra (the moon), apsaras (celestial
nymphs), Kaustabha (the precious gem for Vishnu’s body),
Uchchaihshravas (the divine horse), Parijata (the wish granting
coral tree), Surabhi (the cow that grants all desires), Airavata
(the four-tusked elephant), Panchajanya (conch-shell) and Sharanga
(the invincible bow). However, after more churning, the power of the
ambrosia was almost neutralized by the appearance of its opposite,
halahala (poison). Shiva held this poison in his throat and saved
mankind. The poison was so powerful that it turned Shiva’s throat
blue, giving him the name ‘Neel-kantha’ or the ‘blue-throated one’.
The churning also brought out Dhanvantari (physician of the gods),
carrying the pot of ambrosia (amrita) in his hands
.
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