Devi - God as a Female

God may be in the details, 
But the Goddess is in the questions..

Once we begin to ask them, 
There's no turning back...

Keeping in line with the above sentiment, I'll begin this Navratri post with a question- God is Female.. Agree or Disagree?

For a follower of one of the Abrahamic Religions, the answer most likely would be 'NO', as Western religions are based on the premise of a Male God, generally envisioned with white robes and a flowing white beard, sitting high on a throne in a distant heaven.

For a person following one of the Eastern religions, the answer could very well be 'YES' as most Eastern religions give equal emphasis to both Male and Female aspects of divinity. For example, Hindu Theology, believes God to be a balance of the Male and the Female Powers, the Purush and Prakriti, otherwise referred to as Shiva and Shakti.

Shiva-Shakti

Continuing in the same vein, I'll ask another question.. Bible, Genesis 1:27, states that - God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female.

Now the question here is, if God is Male, how is a female in His image???

You may not have an outright answer to this one, but I hope the questions did begin a thought process in your mind! In the current post, we will try and understand the cult of the Goddess, not only from an Indian perspective, but also from the point of view of various other world religions.

 The Historical Perspective

Historically, the cult of the Mother Goddess was more widespread all over the globe than it is now. Older Western religions viz. the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Native American etc. included Goddess worship as a central part of their cultures.

In fact, more than 50 figurines of the Goddess have been found in excavations from all over Europe, dating more than 20,000 years ago, of which, Venus of Willendorf, is the most famous. Let us take a look at some of the goddesses worshiped in other ancient religions. Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Celts, Incas, Aztecs, all had their favorite goddesses viz.-

• The Celts had Abnoba- a goddess of rivers and forests and 
• Agrona- the goddess of war;
• Greeks had Rhea- the Mother of Gods;
• Aphrodite- the goddess of Love and Beauty and
• Athena- the goddess of Wisdom and War.
• Similarly, the Egyptians revered Bast- the protector of the pharaoh and 
• Isis- the goddess of magic, motherhood and fertility.

Goddesses in World religions

There are many more examples from Native American, Chinese, Japanese and Polynesian mythologies indicating that most ancient religions gave as much importance to the feminine aspect of God as the masculine. It is also interesting to note that most of these depictions look at the Goddess as the Guardian of Nature and have a Maternal connotation just like the Mother Goddess in the Indian sub-continent. Indeed, excavations from the Indus-Saraswati Civilization, have thrown up abundance of seals and figurines that suggest goddess-worship. Sometimes its a male-god or tribal chief worshiping a goddess while on other seals there are seven attendants accompanying the central goddess.

Man bowing to Goddess

 

The female figurines in terracotta found at Mohenjo-daro are comparable to similar artifacts excavated from archaeological sites in Baluchistan, Elam, Mesopotamia, Transcaspia, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Cyprus, Crete, the Balkans and Egypt. Famous Scottish anthropologist, James George Frazer, believes that all diverse goddesses worshiped in Europe were derived from a single concept originating from the Indo-European Neolithic cultures. The figurines also show an exaggerated fertility aspect suggesting the role of the goddess as a MOTHER-figure heralding a tradition that is still unbroken in Hinduism.

Goddess Worship in Hinduism

Throughout its millenia-old history, Hinduism provided its followers with the freedom of worshiping God in whichever form they want. While Vedas talk about the elemental gods, later scriptures especially the Agams and Puraans glorify three major aspects of God:

Vaishnavism, worship of Lord Vishnu and His Avatars 

Shaivism, worship of Lord Shiva

Shaktism, worship of the Goddess or Devi

These different sects provide different concepts, rituals and spiritual exercises for different modes of Awareness of the soul. Thus, Shaivism and Shaktism identify the Goddess as the consort of Shiva but while the Goddess is one half of the Complete Whole in Shaivism, she is Supreme in the latter. In Vaishnav tradition, Goddess is considered Lord Vishnu's Yogmaya who takes the form of Mother Durga to look after the Material Creation as Her own child.

Goddess Durga as Lord Vishnu's Yogmaya

The worship of Mother Goddess actually shows a FIVE-FOLD approach by the devotees. The FIRST approach is the one we have seen repeated in all ancient communities of the world - that personifies Divinity as the Mother Goddess. Rigved refers to Her as the Mahimata, or Earth-Mother; Viraja, the Universal-Mother; and Aditi, the Mother-of-Gods. Verse 7.8i.4 while addressing the Dawn-goddess Usha states - Vayam syama maturna sunavah - Let us be dear to you like sons to a mother.

Mahimata, the Mother of Creation

In the SECOND approach, Goddess is visualized Mystically in the form of Shakti, the Cosmic Energy which is the Source of all Creation. All things, material and abstract are only the manifestations of the Divine Female. Both the Puraans and Upanishads contain numerous references to Goddess as Shakti. The Mahabharat mentions Pradyumna’s worship of Goddess Katyayani, Aniruddha’s hymn to Goddess Chandi and Yudhishthira’s hymn to Goddess Durga.

 Aadi-Shakti, Cosmic Energy of the Universe

The THIRD approach, identifies the Goddess in the form of Dash-Mahavidyas or the Ten Wisdom Goddesses, who represent a spectrum of feminine divinity, from horrific goddesses at one end, to the ravishingly beautiful at the other. Worshiped by the followers of Tantrism, they are led by the fiercest of all, Goddess Maha Kali. The devotees understand them as different aspects of the same Great Goddess suited to the tastes, temperaments, and mental levels of spiritual aspirants

The ten goddesses are: Kali, Tara, Shodashi, Bhuvaneshwari, Bhairavi, Matangi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagala, and Kamala.

Dash Mahavidyas

 

The FOURTH approach is again devotional in nature, but here the goddess is (surprisingly) worshiped as the patron of the warriors. These warrior-goddesses are known as the Saptamatrikas, or the Seven Mothers. This group comprises of the warrior avatars of even otherwise benign goddesses such as Saraswati and Lakshmi (!!). Thus in the Matrika cult, Brahma's consort in martial mode is Brahmani, Shiva's better half is Maheshwari and Vishnu's consort is Vaishnavi.

The fierce Matrikas in battle mode

Image courtesy Grant Morrison's 18 Days

{Art by Mukesh Singh}

At this point, it may be worthwhile to remember the Indus-Saraswati seal shared earlier which depicted seven attendants of the central goddess. The seven may actually represent the Matrikas, especially since the depiction of these goddesses has remained almost unchanged even in later Art.

The FIFTH approach is of the Puranas like the Skanda Puraan, Brahmavaivarta Puraan, Devi Bhagwat Puraan, Prapancha-saratantra, Linga Puraan etc. which describe various goddesses as consorts of the Male gods. Thus, while Devi Durga is described as the Core Goddess, other goddesses are  described as Her expansions who form the Vital Energy (Shakti) of the Gods without whom, it is impossible for them to vanquish the Demons.

This fifth approach also covers all assorted LOCAL goddesses as well as the Nav-durga worshiped in India's towns and villages and accords them the status of being one with the Supreme Goddess Durga. The principal THREE forms of the Devi according to the each of the three gunas of course are Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Saraswati.

Female Hindu Holy Trinity

The Supreme Goddess DURGA

Of all texts related to goddess worship, Markandeya Puraan contains the most vivid description in the form of  a full book, known as Devi Mahatmya conceptualizing and adoring the Goddess and is the first scripture to celebrate the Goddess as the Supreme Divinity.

Goddess Durga is referred to variously as Chandi, the fierce goddess, who destroys the evil Asuras; as Annapurna or the giver of food; and as Jagaddhatri, one who upholds the world. In the ‘Devi Kavacha’ an auxiliary of the Mahatmya, Devi is conceived of in nine forms known as the Nava-durga.

These are:

1. Shailputri, daughter of the mountains; 
2. Brahmacharini, dwelling in Brahman; 
3. Chandraghanta, who has the moon for her bell; 
4. Kushmanda, the fertility goddess; 
5. Skandamata, mother of the war god Skanda; 
6. Katyayani, the daughter of Rishi Katyayana; 
7. Kalaratri, the dark night of dissolution; 
8. Mahagauri, the light of knowledge; and 
9. Siddhidatri, the bestower of success.

According to the traditional story of appearance of the Goddess, once a Buffalo-demon called Mahishasur (Greek Minotaur??) had conquered the Three Worlds. Due to a boon from Brahma, he was invincible against any male, be it a beast or human or even a demigod.

Mahishasur, the Minotaur

Mahish had subjugated the three realms and made them his slave. Tired of his tyranny, the Devas ran to Brahma for help and after Brahma disclosed his boon, the male gods decided to create a FEMALE warrior to eliminate the buffalo demon.

They decided to pool all their creative as well as destructive powers for the process, and the COMBINED energies of all the gods took shape of a beautiful Goddess who was the Devi Durga.

Goddess Durga emerges from the Energy of Gods

The goddess was gifted weapons by all the assembled gods and she set forth on her mission. As soon as the Minotaur saw Durga's Divine form, he understood that the demigods had found a way around the boon granted to him by Brahma!

Rishi Markandeya, gives a detailed account of Ma Durga's battle with the demonic forces, including the slaying of Mahish in about 700 verses, chanted religiously by ardent devotees of the Goddess especially during the current Nine Days of Durga Puja.

Durga, Kali and other Matrikas together killed scores of demons including the dreaded Asuras like Shumbh, Nishumbh and Raktabeej.


 

 Ma Kali defeating Raktabeej

After a prolonged battle, the buffalo-demon was slain, and henceforth, Goddess Durga was given the epithet of Mahishasur Mardini, the Slayer-of-Mahish. This is the most widely depicted representation of the Goddess in art and there's a lot of profound symbolism inherent in the depiction of the Goddess in battle mode.

By vanquishing the buffalo-demon and reigning in a fierce Lion, Goddess Durga inspires us to tame our own ANIMAL INSTINCTS and rid ourselves of our Inner demons.

Goddess Durga slaying Mahishasur

The depiction also reflects taming of the MALE EGO by the Feminine principle to bring back balance in Creation and prevent the annihilation of our World.

The FEMALE principle tames this animal urge of mankind to destroy itself and gives it a push towards the creative process of sustenance. Men have indeed been responsible for a lot of blunders in our history just to pander to our egos. The development and deployment of the first Nuclear bomb; Iraq's annexation of Kuwait; America's attack on Afghanistan; Pakistan's attempt to steal Kargil from India, all being very apt examples of the same.. By controlling our animal urges, Ma Durga prevents us from straying from the path of Spiritual growth and brings us back in line.

Not only Hinduism, other ancient Eastern religions also recognized and revered the Goddess for the same. In my travels, I found an unlikely temple dedicated to the Goddess in Penang Island of Malaysia! Even though the deity here is worshiped as a form of Buddha, its name and depiction clearly refers to Goddess Chandi, which is another name for Goddess Durga :o)

Chundi Bodhisattva in Penang, Malaysia

Even with the increasing opportunities available to women in civilized societies, a majority of women in the developing economies as well as certain fanatical societies do not have equal rights as their male counterparts. The many hands of the Goddess could easily represent the multi-tasking woman of today!

    Traditional Goddess                                                    Modern Goddess

The prerogative is on us, the Men of today to acknowledge and respect the Goddess in women around us and to accord them the same respect we reserve for the Goddess in our Temples. 

Let this Navratri be a reminder to us to deal with our inner demons and re-establish the high status accorded to women in our ancient scriptures! I conclude this post with the ode to the Goddess, the Mahishasur-Mardini Stotra compiled by Shri Adi Shankracharya-

O Daughter of Himalayas, Dwelling in the Vindhyas, 

O consort of Shiva, glorified by Indra,

Creatrix of the Universe, Slayer of Mahisha,

O Daughter of the Mountain, Victory to You!

Arising from the Ocean, Nourishing the Three worlds,

Delight of Raas Dance, O consort of Vishnu,

Remover of all sins, Destroyer of evil Pride,

O Daughter of the Mountain, Victory to You!

Conqueror of Daityas, Vanquisher of Danavs,

Destroyer of Dhumralochan, Slayer of Shumbh-Nishumbh,
You stemmed the spawn of Rakta-bija,

O Daughter of the Mountain, Victory to You!

You are Invincible, with your Trident,

You string your mighty bow, and weild your shiny sword,

To remove the miseries, of all the Three worlds, 

O Daughter of the Mountain, Victory to You!

You are fond of battle, against worthy warriors,

You are fond of dancing, with Shiva as Ardha-narishwar,

Your beauty captivates even the heart of Cupid,

O Daughter of the Mountain, Victory to You!


You are all Auspicious, the Merciful Mother of All,

You are my mother, and I too am Your son,

Do not reject my prayer, even if its flawed,

O Daughter of the Mountain, Victory of Victories to you!
 

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Aum Shanti: Shanti: Shanti:

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