The Mother Goddess, Devi, Shakti in the Hindu pantheon is the symbolic Earth Mother, the womb from which springs all of nature in her beatific bounty. The all encompassing Mother Goddess in her myriad guises, roles, interpretations and manifestations, occupying niches of needs and desires is embedded deep within the Indian psyche. Fables and legends grew and spread carried by wandering communities through illustrative and musical modes of communication, thus transgressing the often confusing babel of geographically dispersed dialects and languages. Thus the Hindu pantheon has always been image oriented with all the foibles and quirks of early settlers woven into the fabric of its behavioral characteristics. It was much easier for those communities to identify with a being or beings akin to them, but who in times of crisis would rise above baser instincts and epically carry forward the story to victory, thus maintaining the power of the legend.
Entwined in cultural folk myths and legends, the Mother Goddess or Shakti is the divine power that manifests, sustains and transforms the universe, the one unifying force of existence. She is the embodiment of creative energy and is conceived as the Universal Mother. Early origins, gleaned from Puranic literature, have been conceiving her in myth forms, verses, metaphors and tales, reinventing her varied manifestations. Folk art traditions have been envisaging her in extensive forms. In the folk enchantment of music, the primordial sound, ‘nad brahma’, or the celestial clash of light at the birthing of the universe is attributed to her and her variable chants reverbing across the multi-verse. Later religious customs and ritual practices have perceived the goddess through various conventions and gradually applicable needs.
Vedic cultures contemplated the cosmic world as a co relation of the male and female force, each in balance exerting a covertly sobering factor over the other. Early civilizations worshipped the natural forces of the sun, fire, and wind and denoted them as male. This male force or ‘purusha’ was the main principle progenitor of generative power but held dormant by a flamboyantly volatile feminine principle symbolized through the forces of Earth and water. This feminine force also termed ‘Prakriti’, then is the wellspring for the manifestation of power or ‘Shakti’
Entwined in cultural folk myths and legends, the Mother Goddess or Shakti is the divine power that manifests, sustains and transforms the universe, the one unifying force of existence. She is the embodiment of creative energy and is conceived as the Universal Mother. Early origins, gleaned from Puranic literature, have been conceiving her in myth forms, verses, metaphors and tales, reinventing her varied manifestations. Folk art traditions have been envisaging her in extensive forms. In the folk enchantment of music, the primordial sound, ‘nad brahma’, or the celestial clash of light at the birthing of the universe is attributed to her and her variable chants reverbing across the multi-verse. Later religious customs and ritual practices have perceived the goddess through various conventions and gradually applicable needs.
Vedic cultures contemplated the cosmic world as a co relation of the male and female force, each in balance exerting a covertly sobering factor over the other. Early civilizations worshipped the natural forces of the sun, fire, and wind and denoted them as male. This male force or ‘purusha’ was the main principle progenitor of generative power but held dormant by a flamboyantly volatile feminine principle symbolized through the forces of Earth and water. This feminine force also termed ‘Prakriti’, then is the wellspring for the manifestation of power or ‘Shakti’
Etymologically interpreted, the word ‘Shakti’ suggests energy and has its roots within the Sanskrit language. The ‘Svetasvatara’ Upanishad defines Shakti as the supreme power, denoting strength, effort, capacity or energy. She is divinity in the feminine form or the active counterpart of a male deity personified in later patriarchal societies as his wife or consort. She is then ‘Adi Shakti’, the unique energy source of creation. She is the initiating embodiment of the cosmic dance of Shiv and Shakti and the resultant birthing of the universe in all its multitudinous variations strung across a time space continuum. Shiv and Shakti, yin and yang ,necessary aspects facilitating the energy of creation. Shakti, gentle and protective on one hand or fierce and destructive on the other and therein lie the variable manifested images of Devi, the mother goddess.
Today, the mother goddess in her myriad incarnations, is revered across the sub- continent and beyond, achieving a form and purpose born out of need and social factors. Her divine presence is a part of India’s richly diverse cultural and religious heritage.
Primitive man has always been aware of the ecological balance of nature and the worship of the Mother Goddess automatically elevated nature to a divine position. A woman was also accorded a superior position in older societies. She not only symbolized life but was also a creator of life. Primitive tribal societies or family groups centered around her. Her maternal attributes were thought to be endowed with generative powers and so became life giving symbols. In earlier phases of social evolution, it was this maternal and procreative power that formed the focal point of religion. This matriarchal principle, in the course of time became personified as the Mother Goddess.
Published: Ahmedabad Mirror
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