Furniture Glossary

ADAM STYLE - British neoclassical style that predominated from about 1760 to 1790. It was established by advertisement architect Robert Adam and his brother, James. A reaction to the more fanciful rococo style of the 1750s, it is characterized by slender, graceful lines, refined shapes, and restrained ornamentation.

ARMCHAIR - Seating that has both a backrest and armrests (see bergère and fauteuil).

ARMOIRE - Tall, upright cupboard or wardrobe that does not contain drawers and may or may not contain shelves. It closes with a door or doors at the front.

ART DECO - Derived from an historic Paris exposition in 1925 that celebrated the marriage of art and industry in denunciation of Art Nouveau. It introduced simple, streamlined forms that were majestically interpreted in exotic woods and materials. American designers of the 1930s took this look further, using asymmetry, arcs, sleek lines, and geometric shapes not only in furniture, but also in architecture and a wide range of household objects.

ART NOUVEAU - Style based, literally, on the "new art" of Europe in about 1875. Flowing, nearly freeform shapes from nature were carved and painted on furniture. An elongated, slightly curved line that ends in a more abrupt, nearly whiplike second curve is its most characteristic design.

ARTS AND CRAFTS - Both a furniture style and a movement that emerged in England toward the end of the 19th century in reaction to the excesses of the Victorian era and the Gay Nineties. It glorified craftsmanship in deliberately simple shapes with exposed joinery and spare ornamentation. William Morris and John Ruskin were among its proponents in England. Based on their beliefs and designs, Gustav Stickley pioneered a similar movement in America, before it waned with the onset of World War I.

BALL-AND-CLAW FOOT - Carved-foot motif that depicts a crane's claw gripping a ball or an egg. While it is most associated with 18th-century English and American furniture, it originated in China as a dragon's claw clutching either a crystal ball or a pearl or other jewel.

BALUSTER - Small turned, square, or flat column that supports a rail; also used to form chair backs.

BAROQUE - Name given to the 17th-century exaggerated style that originated in Rome. Massive and heavily decorated, it is an extension of ornamental Renaissance style and is characterized by a lack of restraint manifested in large, irregular, even fantastic curves, twisted columns, elaborate scrolls, and oversize moldings.

BASSINET - Bed for a baby, originally basket shaped.

BENTWOOD - Wood that is bent while wet into curved chair parts. Michael Thonet (1796 - 1871) of Vienna is the best-known producer of bentwood furniture and a pioneer in mass production. Bentwood is not related to molded plywood, a 20th-century innovation.

BERGÈRE - Armchair in which the sides, from the seat to the armrests, as well as the seat and back, are upholstered.

BIEDERMEIER - A furniture style of German derivation in the first half of the 19th century and named after "Papa Biedermeier," a cartoon character that represented the well-to-do, uncultured middle class. The furniture is often plain and blocklike in form and borrows freely from many styles, particularly French Empire, adding strength and comfort at the expense of grace and refinement.

BLOCK FOOT - The square end of an untapered leg.

BOMBÉ - Chest or commode with a bulge or swollen, convex shape on the front and sides.

BUFFET - Sideboard or "dresser" for the dining room, designed to hold platters and serving dishes.

CABRIOLE - Curved shape that resembles the leg of an animal, such as a goat ("cabriole" in Spanish). Its double curve turns in at the "knee" and flares out at the foot. It came into widespread use in the late seventeenth century.

CAMEL BACK - Triple-curved chairback frame with a raised central curve. A pierced-shield design, such as honeysuckle or anthemion, spans the back from the seat to the high curve.

CAMPAIGN FURNITURE - Portable furniture that folds, collapses, or is made of flat components that can be assembled or disassembled. It also often has handles. Initiated for military use, it is most associated with colonialism.

CARD TABLE - Folding table that originated in late-17th-century England to accommodate the nobility's passion for gambling.

CHAISE LONGUE - Literally, "long chair," a sofa or daybed with an upholstered back, designed for reclining. Today it is usually a single piece, but early versions encompassed a bergère with a large stool or two armchairs and a center stool.

CHANNEL BACK - A chair back with grooves or fluting as decoration.

CHESTERFIELD - Overstuffed couch or sofa with upholstered ends and no exposed wood. Back and arms are usually of one continuous curve.

CHEST-ON-CHEST - Chests of drawers in two sections, one on top of the other.

CHINA CABINET - Cabinet with glass fronts, created to display and store fine china. The sides may or may not be of glass.

CHINOISERIE - an artistic style which reflects Chinese influence and is characterized through the use of elaborate decoration and intricate patterns. Its popularity peaked around the middle of the 18th century.

CHIPPENDALE - English rococo style of the mid-18th century, named after Thomas Chippendale. The graceful proportions and delicate decoration of this furniture were refined adaptations from late Baroque, rococo, Louis XV, and Georgian periods. Two variations, Chippendale Gothic and Chinese Chippendale, attest to the famous cabinetmaker's influence and ability to borrow styles.

COLONIAL - In America this style dominated from the earliest settlements to the Revolution of 1776. Here as elsewhere it represents styles that are rooted in mother countries but adapted to the materials and uses of the colonies, primarily Africa, India, the Americas, and the Caribbean.

COMMODE - Initially a French chest of drawers on legs; now loosely defined as any type of low chest containing doors or drawers.

CONSOLE - Term originally applied to a bracket that supported cornices or shelves and later used to describe tables that were affixed to a wall and supported with legs only at the front. Today it describes all types of tables used along a wall.

CREDENZA - Serving table with a cupboard below the surface. It originated in the 15th century; in the 16th century, an upper, recessed tier was added.

DAYBED - Any type of elongated seating, including the chaise longue, designed for resting rather than sleeping. It usually has a raised end.

DIRECTOIRE - Style of French furniture that spanned the end of the French Revolution and Napoleon's conquest in 1799. It is named for the Directory government that replaced Louis XVI and called for designs of smaller scale and less ostentation along with the elimination of regal references.

DROP LEAF - Hinged flap or panel that can be raised, then supported in order to increase the surface area of a table. The term now applies to such a table.

ELIZABETHAN - Large furniture of severe form and style that emerged initially during the reign of Elizabeth I in England from 1558 to 1603. It was revived in the 1820s and is characterized by heavy carving as well as massive size.

EMPIRE - Neoclassical style dictated by Napoleon in France between 1804 and 1815. It is based on imperial forms from Greece, Rome, and Egypt and was designed to draw parallels between Napoleon's realm and the great ancient empires. Furniture was consciously majestic, made of rich woods and metals, and decorated with emblems, including bees, crowns, laurel leaves, mythological figures, and the letter N.

ÉTAGÈRE - A series of open shelves supported by slender columns and used to display curios.

FAUTEUIL - Upholstered armchair, originally French, with open sides (see bergère). FEDERAL - American furniture style from 1780, following the Revolution, to 1830. It began by echoing and often amalgamating the neoclassical styles of such English masters as Adam, Hepplewhite, and Sheraton, and later took on influences from France. Duncan Phyfe is among its most notable craftsmen. It is refined and rectilinear, often with veneering and inlay. Brass feet and casters and brass-ring drawer and door pulls are common on casegoods.

GEORGIAN - Refers to furniture styles that evolved during the long reign of England's three Georges, I, II, and III, from 1714 to 1795. At first it retained earlier Queen Anne forms, with an increasing use of decoration and diverse ornamentation. Popular motifs were eagles' heads and claws, leaves, satyrs' masks, and lions' heads and claws.

GOTHIC - Late medieval furniture forms derived from the cathedrals of Europe. Heavy, large pieces were generously carved in architectural motifs. Chests banded with decorative wrought iron, large trestle tables, and such symbols of status as "beds of estate" and X-framed chairs are characteristic.

HEPPLEWHITE - Style named for cabinetmaker George Hepplewhite, whose furniture drawings were published after his death in 1786. They exemplified the Adam and neoclassical styles, but had slimmer, lighter lines and less angular shapes. Hepplewhite often used the Prince of Wales's feathers motif on chair backs.

HIGHBOY - Tall chest of drawers, usually consisting of two sections. An upper chest sits on either a tablelike structure or a lowboy with long legs. (See chest-on-chest).

INLAY - Design formed of contrasting woods, grains, metal, tortoiseshell, mother of pearl, or other material inserted to be flush with the furniture surface.

INTERNATIONAL STYLE - Modern, functional furniture developed in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. Its most important origin is Germany's Bauhaus, with such practitioners as Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Simple lines and an absence of decoration are its hallmarks. New materials, such as chrome and glass, along with factory production, signify its departure from earlier furniture traditions.

JACOBEAN - Style of English furniture during the first half of the 17th century, named for King James I, who reigned from 1603 to 1625. Italianate carving, especially cupboards with arabesques, and the common use of upholstery typify the robust and comfortable style, which continued through the reign of Charles I, from 1625 to 1649.

KLISMOS - Ancient Greek chair form with saber-shaped legs, splayed at the front and back. The back legs continue up to support a shoulder-high, curved back.

LOUIS XIV - Baroque furniture that accompanied the reign of Louis XIV in France from 1643 to 1715 was a somewhat reserved version of that style, featuring modest rather than exaggerated curves. Furnishings and decoration reflected formal grandeur. Decorative motifs, often boldly carved, included beasts from mythology, garlands of fruit and flowers, animal forms, and the fleur-de-lis in particular.

LOUIS XV - The more feminine rococo style evolved during Louis XV's reign, from 1732 to 1774. It was exemplified by diminutive scale, rounded edges, flowing lines, and freeform ornamentation. Oriental lacquer and porcelain plaques were sometimes incorporated into veneers.

LOUIS XVI - Neoclassical style came to the fore during the reign of Louis XVI, from 1774 to 1792, and with this revival, furniture became more rectilinear and geometric. Cabriole legs, for example, gave way to cylindrical or square ones. Also in reaction to earlier rococo styles, decoration, though opulent, was restrained. Floral themes, for instance, were replaced by architectural motifs.

LOVE SEAT - Double chair or small sofa, originally associated with Queen Anne style.

LOWBOY - English low chest or table with drawers.

MARQUETRY - Inlay of contrasting wood, inserted flush with the furniture's surface.

MISSION - Simple, rectilinear furniture, primarily of oak, in which the construction techniques are often exposed. It represents America's version of the English Arts and Crafts movement and is principally associated with Gustav Stickley and the Roycroft Community of upstate New York in the early 20th century, from which it spread to other regions.

MODERNE - American style of furniture in the 1930's that derived from Europe's Art Deco and International Style. It is characterized by polished surfaces, sleek shapes, curves that contrast with straight lines, and asymmetry, and utilized new materials and manufacturing processes adapted from industrial design. The architecture of skyscrapers was also influential.

NEOCLASSICAL STYLE - Revivals of interest in ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian themes, which occurred during the Renaissance, Adam, and Empire eras, and especially in the late 18th century, when appetites for it were whetted by archeological discoveries.

NEO-GOTHIC - Revivals of aspects of Gothic detailing, which took place in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the former, circa 1745, references to Gothic arches and tracery were applied to rococo furniture. Later, Gothic ornamentation was added to neoclassical forms.

OTTOMAN - Upholstered bench or seat with no arms or back, named after the Turkish influence of the early 18th century.

PALLADIAN STYLE - Based on designs by mid-16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio, which featured very large and dramatic pediments, cornices, and sculptural decorations of eagles, scallop shells, acanthus leaves, and other motifs, rendered in massive scale. Windows and columns in this style carry the name today.

PARQUETRY - Mosaic of wood pieces in a geometric pattern, such as herringbone.

PEMBROKE - Small rectangular drop-leaf table with a drawer, named after England's Earl of Pembroke, circa 1771.

PROVINCIAL - Furniture from the hinterlands that is inspired by designs from the major centers of a country but adapted to local materials, tastes, and ways of living. Location not only influenced alterations in design and materials, but also spawned useful pieces, such as the cobbler's bench, that were not needed by the cities' royals or nobles.

QUEEN ANNE - Style that arose in England during the reign of Queen Anne, from 1702 to 1714, in a break from French influences. Veneering in walnut was popular, and gentle, subtle curves added grace. This period marked the development of secretaries and china cupboards and a maturing of the cabriole leg, serpentine arms, and soft, rounded frames and shapes.

RÉCAMIER - Daybed shaped like a Roman reclining couch. It was named after Madame Récamier of Parisian society in the early 1800's and has a curved headboard and shorter curved footboard.

RÉGENCE STYLE - Spanned the transition between the death of Louis XIV in 1715 and the ascension of Louis XV in 1723, when France was ruled by a regent. The furniture style was a parallel transition from massive straight lines to graceful curves.

REGENCY - Neoclassical style of British furniture that was popular during the first four decades of the 19th century. It is named for the Prince of Wales, who, as regent, stepped in to rule from 1811 to 1820 because his father, King George III, went insane. It spawned adaptations and faithful reproductions of Greek and Roman furniture, such as the saber-legged Klismos chair, and coincided with Directoire and Empire styles in France.

ROCOCO - Style of 18th-century European furniture made of rich woods with elaborate scrollwork and curved forms. Its origins are from the Régence style of France, and its influence was widespread. It is considered a daintier, more refined version of earlier Baroque style.

SECRETARY - Slant-top desk on top of a chest of drawers that became popular in America and England during the 18th and 19th centuries.

SETTEE - An elongated armchair that accommodates two or more people. It was developed in the 17th century, was often upholstered, and predates the sofa.

SHAKER - Furniture designed and made by Shakers, an American religious, communal sect founded in the 19th century, that believed beauty derived from usefulness and impractical objects were sinful. The unadorned furniture features clean, spare, elegant lines, exemplified in the slim, tall, Shaker ladder-back chair.

SHERATON - British neoclassical style named after Thomas Sheraton, who published designs in the early 1700s that reinterpreted Adam style by diminishing ornamentation. Sheraton pieces are more delicate than Adam, yet more severe and linear than Hepplewhite. Many contain inlay, painted decoration, and bands of contrasting veneer. Openwork with urn, swag, or lyre motifs is characteristic of his chair backs.

SIDEBOARD - Table with a wide drawer at the center flanked by drawers or cupboards on the sides and made to be used against a dining room wall for storing and serving food.

SIDE CHAIR - Small-scale, armless chair, designed to stand against a wall when not in use.

SLEIGH BED - Bed with a high headboard and slightly lower footboard. It resembles the shape of a horse-drawn sleigh, and it was developed in America in the early 19th century.

SLIPPER CHAIR - High-backed, usually upholstered chair with short legs, developed in America in the 18th century for bedrooms.

SOFA - An extension of the armchair, less formal and longer than a settee. It was developed in the mid-18th century and became very popular by the early 1800s when it gained springs to aid comfort.

SOFA TABLE - Long, narrow table with drawers and drop-leaf ends, typically used to store and use gameboards.

SPINDLE - Slim length of turned wood, often used in a series for chair backs.

STICKLEY - Furniture designed and built by Gustav Stickley, who pioneered the American Arts and Crafts movement and promulgated its principals of clean, unadorned, durable furniture through publication of The Craftsman in 1901.

TAMBOUR DESK - Rolltop desk that is most notable for its use of a flexible, draw-down cover made of "tambours," a succession of narrow strips of flat wood glued to stiff cloth. The edges fit in grooves at the edges of the top frame of the desk, allowing the length of tambours to slide up and down.

VENEER - Thin sheet of fine wood or other material attached on top of and flush with an underlying layer that is usually of lesser quality, for decoration. As a verb: the act of adding this type of decoration. (See inlay, marquetry, and parquetry).

VICTORIAN - Style named for England's Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 to 1901, applied to English and American furniture of that time, particularly in the mid-years of her reign. That furniture takes its cue from and elaborates on rococo and Louis XV style, with exaggerated curves and size, lush upholstery (often in complicated curves and shapes), ellipses, spools, and carvings. Among its hallmarks is horsehair cushioning.

VITRINE - Cabinet with a glass door. The sides and top may also be of glass, and it is designed to store and display china and curios.

WARDROBE - Tall, upright cabinet with a door or doors. Designed for storing clothing, it sometimes also contains a chest of drawers.

WILLIAM & MARY - Named for the joint reign of England's King William III and Queen Mary II in the late 17th century, this style carried William's Dutch influence, particularly in floral marquetry and oyster veneer. It was elegant in scale and shape. In America, it represented a provincial or country American Baroque style.

WINDSOR CHAIR - Style of chair that originated near Windsor castle circa 1710 and is thought to have originated with wheel-makers. It has a bentwood back frame, usually with a chair back that has a pierced slat flanked by spindles. WING CHAIR - High-back easy chair with upholstered "wings" or panels that project from both sides of the back and curve down to upholstered arms.



Disclaimer: This glossary was created as part of my work with furniture in Jai Vilas Scindia Palace, Gwalior and has not since then been revised. Please cross check with books by scholars of the field. New research has come up since then. This was for my personal reference only.

Glossary - Indian Mythology

A

Abhay-mudra: a gesture (mudra) which dispels fear
Abja: ‘Lotus’, which is born or produced from water. Padma; Nilotpal
Adisakti: the primeval sakti.
Aditi: Name Of The Vedic Divine Mother Goddess who embodies the primordial vastness of Universal Nature symbolized
Adya sakti: primary sakti or primordial active female principle
Agama: a collection of traditional religious teaching contained in non-Vedic texts. The Agamas are the basic texts of Tantrism
Agni-Durga: an eight-armed three-eyed form of Durga.whose emblems are discus, sword, shield, noose and goad. One hand is in varada pose.
Aksamala: a rosary of string god beads which may consist of pearls, bones, dried seeds. Berries and skulls for demonic rites.
Amba: Mother. An aspect of Parvati. She carries a child (bala) water-vessel, lotus and noose.
Ambika: a Hindu goddess often identified with Amba. She is the Jaina counterpart of Durga. Ambika is also distinct from Parvati, Durga and Kali, when she is one of the central Sakta Cult deities.
Amrita: Immortal. The ambrosia, the food or drink of the gods. According to the Atharvaveda, amrita was produced during the cooking of the sacrificial rice-mess.
Anada: ‘Joy’, ‘happiness’ epithets of Siva and Balarama.
Andhakasura: the ausra who embodies darkness (tams) or spiritual blindness so holding all creatures in thrall.
Annapurna: filled with (or giver of) food. Name of a gentle form of Parvati who averts famine.
Aparajita: a name of Durga whose mount is lion. Her emblem includes sword, shield, snake, Pinaka, arrow, and the snake Vasuki.
Apsara: going in the waters. Seductive eternally young nymphs, the celestial dancers of the gods.
Apsmara: a demon-dwari personifying the evils of ignorance
Ardhalaksmihari: part Lakshmi and part Hari (Visnu).
Ardhanarisvara: a gentle (saumya) aspect of Siva in androgynous form which denotes the inseparability of all male and female forms the cause of creating in the world.
Astasvasaras: Eight Sisters – Parvati, Uma, Gauri and Jagadambi, the gentle aspect and; Kali, Durga, Chamunda and Mahesvari, the terrific forms.
Asura: Demons.
Avatara: Descent a divine incarnation which descends to earth in bodily form to protect gods, priests holds men and all creatures from evil and to safeguards the teaching.by a cow

B

GLOSSARY

Bhadra: Auspicious. A name of the goddess Laksmi who is depicted on a lotus plinth a characteristic of many deities
Bhadra-Kali: Originally a nature goddess later adopted by Saivas. She emerged from Uma’s wealth when her husband Siva was insulted by her father, Daksa. She carries 12 weapons
Bhagvati: The lady – a benign aspect of Parvati (Devi) who embodies the combined emerges of Siva, Visnu and Brahma.
Bhairavi: Terror or the power to cause terror. Name of a goddess, the sixth Mahavidya.
Bharati: A minor Vedic goddess who represent eloquence and hence is often associated with the Goddess Sarasvati.
Bhogasakti: Name of the Sakti of Siva when in his Sada Siva aspect.
Bhudevi: Second wife of Visnu, personifying the earth
Bhuta: A term for the five elements, Rudra is called Bhutesvara, Lord of all elements.
Bilva or Bel: The sacred wood-apple tree regarded as a vegetal form of Siva.
Bindu: Drop-point limit. Dot denoting the beginning of manifestation from the undifferentiated or non-manifestated state which is the productive point of potentiality – void (sunya)
Brahman (neuter): The ultimate substratum of the forces of the universe, the self-existent which is quality-less (aguavat). Brahman is the essence in all things and hence cannot be an object of knowledge, only the deities minor manifestations of Brahman can be approached by man.
Brahman: Brahma’s egg. Name of the cosmic golden egg that circumscribes the totality of manifestation and from which Brahma was born. It is divided into 21 regions, the earth being 7th from the top.
Brahmani Or Brahmi: Another name of Sarasvati, a consort of Brahma. Brahmi is a non Vedic goddess later adopted as Brahma’s sakti. She is included among the saptamatrikas.
Brahmapasa: Brahma’s noose. Name of Brahma’s mythical weapon

C

Chamunda: One of the most terrifying forms of goddess Durga who symbolizes universal death and destructionas well as delusion (moha) or malignity (paisunya).
Chanda: An Aspect Of Mahisasurmardini And Also One Of The Nine Durgas. Her Emblems Include An Elephant Goad, Discus, A Large And A Small Drum, Mirror, Bow And Arrow, Mace, Sword, Shield, Hammer, Axe, Spear, Conch, Trident, Vajra Etc. Her Mudra Is Abhaya
Charka: Discus or wheel. One of Visnu’s attributes. It represents power and protection.
Chaturbhuja: Four armed. A number of divinities are shown with forearms which signify their divinity and superhuman powers. The arms also denote the four quarters of the universe.She is also one of the Saptamatrika

Chandanayika: Name of one of the Nine Durgas
Chandarupa: Name of one of the Nine Durgas
Chandavati: Name of one of the Nine Durgas
Chandi (or Chanda): Two of the many names of the Great Goddess whose sacred animal is inuana. She is the embodiment of the vats uncontrollable intensity of divine enrgy and divine wrath.
Chandika: A goddess who symbolizes desire (kama). She is sometimes identified with Chamunda.
Chandisakti: The personification of Chandi’s energy which emerged from the goddess body howling like hundred jackals
Chinnarmasta or Chinnamastaka: The Beheaded. The Headless form of Durga representing power of sacrifice venerated by Saktas of Bengal. she is one of the Mahavidyas
Chintamani: The wish-fulfilling gem that came with Laksmi

D

Daitya: Son of kasyapa (one of the ten prajapatis) and Diti. They are the implacable enemies od gods.
Daksa: Skilled/able. The personification of ritual power which thinks men with the god. His father was Brahma and his wife, Prasuti. He had many daughters, 13 of whom were married to Dharma or Kasyapa. One of the daughters Svaha was married to Agni and another, Sati to Siva.
Damaru: A small double sided drum, shaped like hourglass and carried by Siva.
Danda: Staff or a Club signifying power and sovereignty. A emblem of Yama, god of death
Dasabhuja: Ten armed. The ten arms of particular deities representing the ten quarters of the sky and by extension symbolizes universal dominion.
Devi: Goddess
Dhana-Laksmi: A form of the goddess Laksmi denoting wealth
Dhanus: ‘Bow’ carried by Visnu’s incarnation Rama.
Dharani: Earth. A goddess personifying the earth and regarded as avatara of Laksmi.
Dhenu: A milch cow, symbolizing the abundance of the earth and said to be an animal form of Laksmi
Dikpala: The concept of the eight divine guardians of the four quarters and the four intermediate quarters – Indra (E), Agni (SE), Yama (S), Nirti (SW), Vayu (NW), Kubera (N), Isana (NE).
Dipa: Light. Laksmi is specially associated with Light.
Diti: Limited. A vedic goddess, the mother of demons (asuras) and sister of Aditi. Mother of Maruts, the howling storm gods.
Durga: An independent goddess personifying Shakti, consort of Siva
Durga: Name of an asuraDurga-Laksmi: The two goddess combined in one figure

G

Gada: Club. Mace which may be of various shapes and fashioned from wood or iron. The club symbolizes the power that ensures conformity to universal law and also represent Samkhya principle called buddhi.
Gaja-Laksmi: Name of an image of Laksmi depicted with an elephant (gaja) on each side. Their raised trunks sprinkle water over her which suggest she is mother goddess.
Ganga: The name of one of the most sacred river of India and its personification as a goddess who symbolizes the purity derived from primordial water, and hence her colour is white.
Gauri: Her colour is bright yellow. A gentle benevolent aspect of goddess, Parvati, consort of Siva. She is usually portrayed as two or four armed beautiful woman of white complexion. Her upper hands carry a rosary and a water pot, and lower hands are in abhaya and varada mudra.
Gaus: Cow. The most sacred animal in Hinduism whose symbolic quas-divine status stems from the Indus civilization representing abundance.
Ghanta or Ghanti: Bell.
Godhika: Iguana, an emblem of Gauri
Guna(s): Quality or property, characteristic that constitutes all creation. Theoretically there are three main gunas – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas

H

Haimavati: Metronymic of Parvati, the daughter of Himavat.
Hiranyagarbha: Golden germ (or womb). The golden cosmin egg from which the universe issued and a name of Brahma in his creative aspect. The golden germ expresses itself in the form of a vibrating energy (spanana – sakti rupa). It divides itself into the causal mass of potentialities (the causal waters Rayi) and the breath of life (span) pictured as the wind that creates the waves in the causal form which all forms develop.
Homa: The act of making an oblation to the gods by throwing ghee into sacrificial fire

I

Icchasakti: The tantric sakti of desire
Indira: Powerful one. Name of goddess Laksmi, consort of Visnu
Indrani: Sachi, consort of Indra and the embodiment of power and one of the Saptamatrikas. Her emblems are rosary, elephant goad, water vessel, a flower or leaves of atree, a vajra and spear.
Isu: Arrow
Isvara: Lord, the creator and the ruler of the Universe. The personification of the Absolute.

J

Jagadamba or Jagadambi or Jaganmati: Mother of the world, a dynamic mother aspect of the Great Goddess, Devi
Jayanti: Victorious. Name of daughter of Indra, and an epithet of Durga whose emblem are – a sword, trident, shield and spear.
Jnanasakti: A goddess personifying the power of knowledge.
Jyestha or Alaksmi: An ancient South Indian goddess who became popular in many parts of India. She is the elder sister of Laksmi, but represents the opposite qualities. Jyestha is one of the sistala, the goddess of small pox. A crow (dead ancestors) is her symbol depicted on her banner and her mount is an ass – an animal used ritually to expiate sexual offences.

K

Kacchapa: Tortoise. The vehicle of Yamuna
Kailasa: A mountain peak said to be part of Himalaya and the abode of Siva and his family
Kala: Black. Time kala (Siva) and Visnu are regarded as an aspect of Cosmic Time (Mahakala).
Kala: Bhadra. Time (or Death). An aspect of Siva’s sakti, who is worshipped in burial grounds
Kali: Name of one of Agni’s 7 tongues of fire. The sakti of Siva who symbolizes the power of time. She may hold a noose, vajra, skull topped staff, swords and severed head
Kalika: A variety of Chamunda and one of Durga’s many names. As Kalika she represents Absolute Time from which Brahma, Visnu and Mahesvara and, other gods were born
Kalyanasundaramurti: An auspicious aspect of Siva taking Parvati’s hand in marriage.
Kama: The godama represent the creative impulse behind existence
Kamadhenu: The mythical wish-fulfilling Cow of plenty which emerged from Churning of the Ocean
Kamaksi or Kamakhya: Waton-eyed. A cruel form of Durga to whom formerly human beings were sacrificed . her chief temple is in Assam.
Kamandula: Small water-pot. Brahma has a water-pot as an emblem
Kapila: 7th century BC. According to tradition the t\ounder of the Samkhya system
Karma: An act of performance
Kasyapa: An ancient sage, the embodiment of the power of procreation. He is an archaic manifestation of the Lord of all creatures (Prajapati)
Katyayani: An aspect of the goddess Durga
Kauberi: Wife of Kubera and daughter of danava Mura, she is also called Yakshi or Carvi
Kaumari: Also called Sena. Name of the sakti of Kaumara (Skanda). Her mount is peacock and she is in abhaya nad varada mudra. She holds a staff bow, banner bell , water vessel, cockerel lotus, axe, spear etc.
Kausiki: Name of a goddess who sprang from the cells or Kosa of Parvati’s body
Kirttimuka: Face of glory. A magical protective mask to keep away evil
Kubera: King of Yakshas. And god of wealth
Kumbha: Pot or a Pitcher of water
Kurma: Cosmic Tortoise and an Incarnation of Visnu

L

Laksmi: Goddess of wealth and fortune. Consort of Visnu, the protector of the Universe
Laksmi-Narayana: Laksmi and her husband Visnu shown together

M

Madhavidevi: Earth goddess
Mahasakti: Great Sakti. The Mother aspect of Devi worshipped by Saktas
Mahesveta: An earth-goddess, a consort of Siva
Mahavidyas: Great (or transcendent) knowledge. Ten tantric goddesses of Sakti
Mahisa: Buffalo
Mahisasurmardini Durga: The Great Goddess who slayed of the Mahisa demon
Manasa: folk goddess of snakes
Maruts: Vedic storm gods, the allies of Indra
Matŗ: Mother
Matŗkas: Divine Mothers
Maya: Creative power or Illusion

N

Nama-rupa: Name and Form (or aspect)
Nirguna: ‘Beyond Qualities or Attributes’, the neuter Brahman

O

OM: The sacred syllable, the source of all mantras

P

Padma: Lotus,Symbolizes creation
Parasu: Battle-axe. Given to Durga by Visvakarma
Parvati: Daughter of King Parvat and consort of Lord Siva
Prakŗti: Nature. The world substance, matter, the source of universal material
Pratima: Image
Prithvi: The Earth
Puja: Worship or Homage
Purana(s): A collection of ancient texts – traditional tales describing the creation and destruction of the universe

R

Rajas: the tendency to manifest. One of the three gunas
Rupa: Form, Image.symbol

S

Sachi: A goddess personifying divine strength and power. She is Indra’s consort
Saguna: Deva
Salabhanjika: Statue or sculpture representing a girl gathering the flowers of a sala tree
Samkhya: The oldest of the six Hindu philosophies (darsana)
Sannyasin: Brhamin
Saptamatŗka: The group of seven divine mothers
Sarasvati: An ancient river and goddess personifying wisdom and speech
Sattva guna: Goddess. Purity, one of the three gunas
Savitri: Gayatri
Simha: Lion
Smriti: That which is ‘remebered’
Sri or SriDevi: Another name of Laksmi
Sruti: That which is ‘heard’
Sukta: A vedic ‘human’. Later the term denoted a wise saying, a song of praise etc.
Surasundari: Celestial nymph

T

Tamas: The tendeny to non-manifest and non-activity

U

Uma: Consort of Siva
Usa: Goddess of the dawn

V

Vach: Speech. Personified by goddess Sarasvati
Vahana: Mount or Vehicle carrying gods
Vaisnavi: Consort of Visnu holding a club and a lotus
Vajra: Thunder-bolt
Vana-Durga: Forset Durga, depicted in green
Vani: Sarasvati
Varahi: Consort of Varah holding a spear and a plough
Varuni or Varunani: Wife of Varuna and goddess of white wine and holds a wine cup (casaka), apiece of meat, alotus and Parijata flowers
Veda: Collection of four Samhitas written around 1500 BC onwards. Prior to it, were passed on orally
Vedanta: The end (anta) of Veda. Name of one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy
Vidya: Knowledge
Vighna; Obstacle
Visvarupa: Multi-form of a god or goddess

Y

Yajña: Offering sacrifice
Yakshi: The female Yaksha and a name of Kubera’s wife
Yama: The god of Death
Yami: Twin sister of Yama
Yamuna: A name of a river. Flanked at the doorways of Hindu temples along with Ganga to purify devotees before enetering the Sanctum
Yogesvari: The terrific form of Cinmaya Devi also represents light of pur consciousness. One of the eigth mother
Yoni: Female generative organ vulva when depicted with linga represent the two of them the cosmic Purusha and Prakriti – dualism


Disclaimer: This glossary was created as part of my MA assignment in 2003 and has not since then been revised. Please cross check with books by scholars of the field. New research has come up since then. This was for my personal reference only.

Goddesses of India

Parvatī, the consort of Śiva


Of all the consorts of Śiva the one that is aristically and lovingly the most celebrated is Parvatī. Unlike Durgā and Kalī who assume their own independent religious status in the Hindu pantheon and are worshipped and venerated ritually, Parvatī engages the greater attention of the poets and painters, musicians and dancers. Numerous are her aspects, varied persona, multiple attributes and many her names. Of all the mythic beings in the Hindu pantheon she is perhaps the most loved one.

As a young girl, daughter of the mountain king Parvat and mother Mena, she is demure and charming. As a young woman she grows into unsurpassed grace and elegance and is the embodiment of perfect sensual beauty, a sundari. In her courtship with the reticent Śiva she is the epitome of tapasya, penance, and is Parvatī tapasvini. As Śiva’s consort she becomes his vama and ardhangini. In her affection towards her two sons Ganeśa and Kartikeya she is the loveing mother. As his constant companion she leads Śiva to perfect knowledge and becomes Parvatī vimarshini. As a provider to the medicant Śiva she Annapoorna. As Minakshi and Gauri she offers herself to the devout Śiva bhakta. And in combining all these diverse roles ahe is Parvatī yogini.

Mythology:

The story of Parvatī’s life, as for all Hindus begins even before she is born.

After Śiva’s first consort Sati had immolated herself, he completely withdrew from the worldly life. The gods remained concerned at Śiva’s uninvolvement with the world and his indifference to the ravages that the demon Taraka was unleashing on the three worlds. The gods approached Aditī, the mother of all. She agreed to enter the womb of Mena, the wife of the mountain king Parvat. Parvatī was born at the midnight in the season of spring. The child was name Kalī and grew beautiful day by day and fondly attached to the entire town, it was thus that she was called Parvatī.

Even as a child she knew she was to marry Śiva and did severe penance. At an appropriate time king Parvat approached the sage Narada and asked him to read Parvatī’s fortune. Narada on reading predicted that she was to marry a naked ascetic but assured that he would be none other than Śiva himself and revealed Parvatī’s past life. Mena however, was apprehensive. Parvat told her that he had a dream that Śiva arrived at Aushadiprastha to practice austerities and had a discourse with thire daughter Parvatī, where he expounded the magnificient Vedanta. Śiva asked Parvat to keep his beautiful daughter away from him as woman is an illusion, Māyā. On hearing this Parvatī addressed to the Lord and explained that the energy behind every activity was the matter-Prakŗti, and that it is prakŗti that creates, sustains and destroys everything that is embodied. Parvatī explained that while Śiva was the pristine Purusha, she was the primordial Prakŗti – the Samkhya doctrine.

The dream came true. But Śiva continued his solitary inward meditation. And Parvatī with her severe austerities as she was also a tapasvini, knew too well that sadhana or spiritual effort would be complete without tapasya.

The gods in despair approached Kama, the god of love and desire to shoot arrows of love to Śiva. Kama took up his bow and shot five arrows made of aravindam, ashoka, chutam, navamallika and nilotphalla flowers. Kama’s arrows awoke Śiva from his meditation and his anger burnt Kama to ashes. But by this time, Śiva’s desired for Parvatī. However to test Parvatī, he disguised himself and tried to convince Parvatī not to marry Śiva. But Parvatī refused to agree. Seeing her devotion, Siva revealed his true identity and married Parvatī.



Mahişāsurmardinī-Durgā

The origin of Mahişāsurmardinī-Durgā is as mysterious as her rise to the status of Mahādevī or Mahāsurī. Some scholars have attempted to trace her origin from the cult of Mother Goddess of the pre-vedic society, where mother was all powerful. She was however more than that; she became the proto-type of the cosmic energy (Prakŗti). The worship of the Mother Goddess of the matriarchal society in the pre-vedic society virtually formed the nucleus of the later Śāktism.

Durgā finds mention in the Taittirīya Āraņyaka, but not as a warrior goddess. The connotation of the word ‘Durgā’ are the demon Durga, great danger, impediments of the world, evil deeds, grief, worries, hell punishment of Yama, birth, fear and disease. The term is used in sense of killing. Since the Devī kills or removes all these is known as Durgā.

There are two hymns in the Khila-Rātri-Sūkta which refer to the goddess Durgā. The three deities, namely Vāc-Sarasvatī, Rātri and Śrī of the Sūkta are the three important manefaetations of Śakti as Mahākālī, Mahālakşmi and Mahā-Sarasvatī.

The Śaktā Upanişads enhanced the status of the goddess to an unprecedented degree in a philosophical garb. The Devī UpanişadI relates directly to the personification of Śakti such as Durgā, Mahālakşmi, Sarasvatī and Vaişņavī depicting as Brahmasvarūpiņī.

Pushpendra Kumar observes in “Śakti cult in Ancient India” that: she is infinite, unborn, incomprehensible and one because of her omnipresence. She is also not one as she is the whole universe. She is verily the Brahman and hence she is called in contradictions, being and not being all this universe, gods and all that exists. That, beyond which there is nothing, is Durgā. She is three-eyed and wears red garments. She is all compassion. She takes one beyond the ocean of births and deaths.

In the epics we get clear traces of Durgā though the goddess did not appear to have independent cult of her own. In the Rāmāyaņa she bears the epithet of Devī revered by all. She is always considered as the consort of Śiva having the names Girijā and Umā. In this we come across an interesting epithet of Simihikā noticed by Hanumān in the ocean. There is a tradition in the later Rāmāyaņa that Rāmchandra celebrated autumn worship of the goddess Durgā. The tradition has historical authenticity as several Purāņas of later date quote it in different ways.

During the time of Mahābhārata the role of Durgā is very conspicuous. Two hymns addressed to Durgā, one by Arjuna and other by Yudhişţhira bring to light her both Śaivite and Vaşņavite characters. In the Bhīşma Parva of the Mahābhārata we come across the hymn in the form of a prayer to Durgā, where Arjuna invokes the leader of the Siddhas. Yudhişţhira in the Virāţa Parva invokes the goddess Durgā as the sister of Hari to remove danger.

Mythology:

The account of the origin of the goddess Mahişāsurmardinī-Durgā in Devī-Māhātmya of the Mārkaņdya Purāņa describes that the gods were defeated in a great battle by the Asuras which lasted for over 100 years when Mahisha was the king of the asuras and Indra of the gods. Then the vanquished gods, placing Prajāpati Brahmā as thair head, went to Śiva and Vişņu and narrated to them the entire episode of their defeat and miseries.

Having heard the story from the bodies of the krodhit (angry) gods – Śiva, Vişņu, Brahmā, Indra and other gods was emitted great energy, which pervaded the three worlds with its lights, gathering into one, becoming a female. In Vāmana Purāņa she has been called Kātyāyanī, as she emerged from the āśrama of Sage Kātyāyanā. In chapter 22 however of the Vāmana Purāņa the incarnation of the Great Goddess in the form of Kausiki for slaying the demons Śumbha and Niśumbha. She was according to the text produced from the sheath of Pārvatī and became to be known as Kausiki.

In the ­Devī Bhāgavata Purāņa the gods inform Vişņu that only a female could be the cause of the death of the demon. Thereafter she was born with eighteen arms, three eyes, a shining face, red lips and was bedecked with all jewellery and ornaments. All the gods presented their weapons to her. The formation of the human form of the goddess, therefore, is ascribable to the following gods:-

Śiva’s energy face
Agni’s energy three-eyes and long hair
Vişņu’s energy arms
Moon’s energy two breasts developed
Indra’s energy waist came into being
Varuņa’s energy her legs and thighs were formed
Earth’s energy her hips appeared
Brahmā’s energy her feet and toes were formed
Kūbera’s energy her nose was formed
Vayū’s energy her ears were formed
Prajāpati’s energy her teeth
Sun’s energy her hands and fingers were made

To her, the gods gave the following attributes:-

Śiva a Trident
Agni a Dart
Vişņu a Discus
Indra a Thunder Bolt and a Bell6
Varuņa a Conch
Brahmā a Rosary and a Water pot (Kamandula)
Kūbera a Mace
Vayū a Bow
Surya a Quiver and Arrows
Kāla a Sword and a Shield
Himavān a Lion
Visvakarmā a Battle Axe
Yama a Staff



Kālī

Of the many manifestations of the Mahadevī, her ten terrific forms, together known as Daśamahāvidyās, are very important. The Mahābhāgavata Purāņa writes Etah sarvah prakŗşţah mūrtayah vahumūrttişu (from the numerous ramifications of Devī daśamahāvidyās are the greatest). According to the Cāmuņdā Tantra Daśamahāvidyās are;
Kālītārā mahāvidyā şodaśi bhuvaneśvarī
Bhairavī Chinnamastā ca Mātāngī Kamalātmikā/
Dhūmāvati ca Vagalā Mahāvidyāh Prakīrtitāh//

Kālī and Tārā are known as Mahāvidyās, Şodaśi, Bhuvaneśvarī,Bhairavī Chinnamastā as Vidyās and Vagalā, mātańgī and Kamalā as Siddhavidyās. Purņas contains an interesting story with regard to the origin of Mahāvidyās. The story runs that Dakşa arranged a yajña and invited all gods and goddesses except his daughter Satī and her husband Mahādeva. Satī was shocked at the unpleasant behaviour of her father, but attempted to persuade Śiva to accompany her to Dakşa’s house or to permit her to go alone. Despite her repeated request Siva denied her to go. Devī requested that if she was not treated properly by her father she would sacrifice herself in the yajña. Mahādeva remained firm in his decision. So did Satī. At this stage the enraged Devī assumed a terrible form and decided to teach a lesson to her husband, Siva. She appeared before him in a fierce posture roaring loudly, looking effulgent with the rays of thousand suns, decked with garland of skulls and with disheveled hair. Śiva was terrified to see such a dreadful appearance of Devī and attempted to flee away. But she covered all the ten directions with her ten forms. This form of Devī came to be known as Daśamahāvidyās. She is black and fearful,; she is Mahāprakŗti, destroyer of the universe.

Mythology:

Kālī or Mahālī, the first Mahāvidyā, is the most popular deity in India. The origin of this goddess, who in later phase became widely accepted as tantric goddess, dates back to the vedic period. In the seven tongue or flames of Agni, Kālī stands first. Kālī is again known as Rātri Devī or kālrātri. In the vedic literature she is associated with another ferocious demoness Niŗtti as both of them are black in complexion, cause distress and death, dreadful war goddesses surviving on enemy’s blood.

In Durgā Saptaśatī Cāmuņdā is called Kālī. The story of this text relates that Canda and Muņda, the two allies of Śumbha and Niśumbha attempted to kidnap Ambikā her face turned to dreadful countenance. At that moment Kālī appeared in a dreadful form with mouth wide open, shrunken belly, droopy eyes, decked in tiger’s skin, garland of human heads shouting in lion’s roar. This goddess Cāmuņdā born from the fury of Durgā in the battle field has the independent status unlike other Mātrikās born from other important gods bearing their characteristic features.

In yet another mythological narration Kālī is said to be the black complexioned daughter of the mountain king Pārvat from his queen Mena born on the midnight in the spring season. She practiced severe austerities to win Śiva as her husband. After her marriage with Śiva when one day he teased her as Kālī, that is black-complexioned, she felt insulted. Immediately she left kailāsh and went to perform penance to win a boon. Satisfied with her Brahmā gave her the boon to be the fair-complexioned Gaurī.

The Lińga Purāņa gives an interesting legend wherein Kālī was created to kill a demon named Dāruka who beacame very powerful through severe penance. Brahmā offered him a boon making him all powerful. He was to be killed by a woman alone. Pārvatī took the task of killing him. Instantly she entered the body of Śiva and created her body within by drinking poison from his neck. When Mahādeva knew her gradual growth in his own body he emitted her through his third eye. The created goddess came to be known as Vişakālī or Nīlakaņţhī. She was dreadful in appearance, three-eyed, armed with a trident and snakes.

In the Vilamkā Rāmāyaņa of the 15th century AD Kālī has been beautifully described. Rāmchandra boasted of his prowess by killing the ten-headed Rāvaņa; Sītā smiled at Rāma’s pride and challenged, could he kill thousand headed Rāvaņa? Ra accepted but to his misery he lost the battle and cried in misery. Sītā appeared at this critical moment in the dreadful form of Kālī and killed the demon king and started dancing in her war cry. Her dance was so fierce that the whole universe started shaking for its roots. The Gods got scared and approached Śiva, who presented himself before her as a dead body. Brhamā immediately pointed out to her that her husband Śamkara was lying below her feet. When she identified Śiva she looked aghast, lolled out her tongue and stopped her terrific dance.



Saptamātŗkās


Mythology:

The Mahābhata relates that after the annihilation of the demon king Hiraņyakaśipu by Narasimha-Vişņu, his son Prahlāda, a devoet devotee of Visnu renounced the worldly life; Andhkāsura became the chief of the demons. To obtain unlimited power and strength he invested in severe austerities, which made him invincible to the gods. The gods went to Kailash to Lord Śiva. While Śiva was listening to them paitently, Andhkāsura appeared suddenly and attempted to snatch way Pārvatī, which in turn cursed him as he was to die if he lies evil eyes on someone like his mother and since he was born out of andhkār created by Pārvatī when she had earlier once closed Śiva’s eyes. Siva instantly charged him and injured him with Paśupata weapon. Blood drops from the demon when touched the earth, arose many more Andhkāsuras. Siva was at fix. All the gods then combined their energies and created their Śakti’s to assist śiva in his battle.. the ferocious goddesses devoured up every drop of blood gushed out of the wounds of the demon and finally killed him.


According to the Mārkaņdeya Purāna, the Mātŗkās were created to assist Ambikā to kill Raktavīrya, the most powerful ally of the demon-king Sumbha and Niśumbha. In both the cases, the Mātŗkās were created so as not to allow drops of blood falling on the ground.

Another version of the story regard to the killing of Andhkāsura by śiva, occurs in Matsya Purāņa. Here after the death of the demon king the Mātŗkās continues to destroy the universe. Śiva then seeks the help of Narasimha, who creates 32 divine mothers more powerful and formidable than the previous ones. These divine mothers appear in a way that none could stand the flash of wrath emanating from their eyes. All the Mātŗkās then took refuge in Narasimha, who advised them to foster and guard the universe as men and animals look after their children. The same version is repeated in the Kūrma Purāņa with the inclusion of the malevolent Bhairava.


Brahmāņī
Brahmā
Mada (desire)
Ladle in her right hand
Hamsa

Māheśvarī
Māheśvara
Krodha (anger)
Trisula (Trident )
Bull

Kaumārī
Kaumār
Moha (Illusion)
Spear
Peacock

Vaişņavāi
Vişņu
Lobha (greed)
Mace
Kneeling Garuda

Vārāhī
Vārāha
Asuya
Daņda-dhāriņi
Mahiş

Indrāņī
Indra
Mātsarya (aristrocracy)
Vajra
Elephant

Cāmuņdā
Paiśunya (malignity)
Preta

In the Varaha Purāņa the story of Andhakāsura and Mātŗkās has allegorical meaning. The Mātŗkās represent Ātma-vidyā or spiritual wisdom against Andhakāra, the darkness of ignorance (the Apasmāra, the dwarf of ignorance whom śiva as Natrāja destroys under is foot). Siva represents Vidyā fighting against the darkness avidyā. The more this is attempted to be attacked by vidyā, the kore does it tend to increase for a time; this fact is represented by the multiplication of the figures of Andhkura. Unless the eight evil qualities like kāma, krodha etc. are completely brought under control of vidyā and kept under retraint, it can never succeed in putting down andhkāra.

Meaning


Philosophical: “As śakti, prakŗti and māyā, the Devī is portrayed as an overwhelming presence that overflows itself, spilling forth into the creation, suffusing the world with vitality, energy and power. When the Devī is identified with these philosophical ideas, then a positive point is being made: the Devī creates the world, she is the world, and she is not understood so much as binding cratures to finite existence as being the very source and vitality of creatures. She is the source of creatures – their mother-and as such her awesome, vital power is revered.”*

The idea of Brahman is another central idea with which the Devī is associated. In the Upanişads, and throughout the Hindu tradition, Brahman is described in two ways: as nirguņa (having no quality or beyond all qualities) and saguņa (having qualities). As nirguņa, which is usually affirmed to be the superior way of thinking about Brahman, ultimate reality transcends all qualities, categories and limitations. As nirguņa, Brahman transcends all attempts to circumscribe it. It is beyond all name and form (nāma-rūpa). As the ground of all things, as the fundamental principle of existence, however, Brahman is also spoken of as having qualities, indeed, as manifesting itself in a multiplicity of deities, universe and beings. As saguņa Brahman reveals itself especially as the various deities of the Hindu pantheon. The main philosophical point asserted in the idea of saguņa Brahman is underlying all the different gods is unifying essence, namely, Brahman. Each individual deity is understood to be partial manifestation of Brahman, which ultimately is beyond all specifying attributes, functions and qualities.

The idea of Brahman serves well the attempts in many texts devoted to the Devī to affirm her supreme position in Hindu pantheon. The idea of Brahman makes two central philosophical points congenial to the theology of Mahādevī: (1) she is ultimate reality itself, and (2) she is the source of all divine manifestations, male and female (but especially female). As saguņa Brahman, the Devī is portrayed as a great cosmic queen enthroned in highest heaven, with a multitude of deities as agents through which she governs the infinite universes.

She is not just an icon to be worshipped; an art object to be curated in a museum, a symbol to be decoded, a metaphor to be pried open, an ancient goddess that is an anthropological curiosity, a goddess whose marriage is a sociological analysis. Perhaps she is all of this but she is much more than the sum of those disciplines. She is chit, our very being, she śakti or the energy that animates us and the world around us; her presence is a doorway to anada or bliss; she is the very embodiment of isaundarya or beauty; not just sensuous but spiritual, a spandana or throb of knowledge through which we seek our own self.

The Kashmir Śaivism, which is strongly advaitic or non-dualistic in nature postulates an unique epistemology or system of knowledge from which emerges a world-view that has underpinned Indian aesthetics for the last millennium. The chitanada (or joyous self-awareness) for the Kashmir Śaivite leads the individual from ‘aham’, “I am” to the initial realization ‘aham idam’, “I am myself”, and then to the ultimate realization ‘aham evam vishvarupam’ “I am the entire world.” In the word ‘aham’, ‘a’ stands for Śiva (puruşa), ‘h’ stand for Pārvatī (prakŗti) and ‘m’ is the bindu or the anusvara. In chanting ‘aham’ one is not only asserting the togetherness of the two elements – puruşa and prakŗti but equally realizing that it is Pārvatī, prakŗti who herself brings the chant to a point of stillness through the bindu.


Practical: The famous astro-physicist Stephen Hawking argues that the universe is created from the gravitational attraction between the (active) matter and the (inactive) non-matter. The non-matter is a residue of the matter, which created distance because of repulsion due to their natural characteristic. As and when the condition changed and they by chance came closer the gravitational force attracted them towards each other and from there Big Bang took place, creating the Universe.

I take the liberty to assume that the presence of the matter and the non-matter together is well represented in the story of Ardhanariśvara; then the separation follows eventually leading to the gravitational attraction of the two opposite nature, as propounded by the Samkhya philosophy of (sexual) duality of conscious (puruşa) and unconscious (prakŗti) elements.

The essence of everything in this universe was Prakŗti, which ‘is inherent in everything but has no shape of its own. It has neither beginning nor end.’ It is the Nature and, exists even without any name or forms (nama-rūpā) as steam exists in water, fire exist in spark. It needs an external inactive force (puruşa) – fire to boil water to create steam and; air to blow spark to produce fire.

According to this practical philosophy, the body was like a plant which germinated from, the seed, grew spread and then withered away; yet, something remained. The seed disappeared from view but produced another plant. The seeds germinated due to the rains but what grew depended on the seed alone; that is, only paddy grew from paddy, not wheat. For a man, a seed was like his karma (action or doing) and Īśvara or God was like the rain, which was the cause of the growth of the plant. A logical inference from this principle was that the Samsār (a chain of appearances) had neither a beginning nor an end.

Prakriti

Introduction


Art in India is never removed from life, intimately tied as it is to religion, aesthetics and utility. A walk into a temple or a place of worship becomes an experience at different levels – tactile, olfactory, sensory and visual, spiritual and religious.

The Indian tradition is rich with goddesses. So varied are her manifestations and names that every village and every scripture, every Purāņa and poet created their own unique image of her. While sometimes she is a consort, at other times she is fertility goddess; at times she is a benevolent figure yet at other places she is horrific and malevolent.

Śakti worship was of great antiquity in India. Archaeological remains from pre-historic times and from the proto-historic cities of the Indus civilization that were at the height of sophistication between 2600-1900 BC include large number of crudely fashioned female clay figurines, generally called Mother Goddess. The dominance of such terracotta figurines among the material remains from these cultures and absence of corresponding male figures suggest important role played in ancient times by female divinity. Starting around 1300 BC, a group of nomadic people who called themselves Aryans, or Noble Ones, became dominant in Northern India. Tah Vedas reflected a worldwide view of that was overwhelmingly masculine, particularly in the spiritual sphere. The earlier Mother Goddesses of India lay low, their voices, but the peasants in the numerous villages that dotted the countryside continued to worship them. Testifying to the quite continuance of an ancient tradition is the many terracotta goddess figurines deposited in the waters of an expansive tank belonging to the 1st and 2nd century at Shringaverapura near Allahbad.

Post-vedic literature including the Upanishads, composed from the 4th century BC onwards continued to promote the male dominated worldview, but start from the 1st millennium AD witnessed the goddess of India slowly emerge from their hibernation and make their presence felt in a significant but subdued role as Dayānīs (beneficient wish granters) in the form of Yakshīs. Finely fashioned terracotta plaques that featured a female deity began to be made by skilled artisans, probably for use in the home shrines of wealthy and sophisticated townspeople; simultaneously, terracotta figurines began to be moulded in the round to create some truly remarkable sculptures. Sometime during the 1st-2nd century AD, images of goddesses began to appear in the more lasting medium of stone, and many of these feature as warrior goddess, most often with 6 arms, grappling with a buffalo demon. Also, dating from the 5th-6th century are the first well-preserved Indian stone images of Mother Goddesses who either hold an infant in their arms or accompanied by a toddler; images of these kind measure just under one meter tall, and were exquisitely carved by stone sculptors.


Prakŗti


In the beginning there was no creation. Brahmā-Prajāpati was in distress.

He asked himself: “why are humans not growing in numbers?”

He then heard a voice: “because you have not created the fertility aspect of man”

In front of him appeared Lord Śiva as Ardhanāriśvara. Before Brahmā, he separated into a man and a woman. Brahmā realized his mistake and apologized to Śiva’s śakti. Then he created woman so that man can produce his next generation or vamsa.

The underlying principle of Śaktism is (sexual) dualism, which has been aptly described as “duality in unity”. In this development of the primitive mother worship, the goddess was transformed into personification of female energy (Śakti) and as the eternal productive principle (prakŗti), united with the eternal male principle (puruşa) and became the creator and mother of the Universe.

The universe had always existed in Prakŗti; and according to the chain of Cosmic Evolution, it sometimes appeared and sometimes disappeared but it could be brought to ‘existence’ from non-existence, because without the material, how anything could be formed. For example, if the cream was not already hidden in the milk, how could it be produced?

What is this Prakŗti, which Kapila praised about eight centuries before Christ in Sāmkhya Darśana, the oldest philosophy of India? Prakŗti means ‘Nature’. As Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan has rightly noted, “the Man-Nature relationship was at the core of this vision enunciated repeatedly at all dimensions – biological, physical, psychical, philosophical, metaphysical and spiritual.”^

The principles of Sāmkhya flowed from the principles of Cosmic Evolution. However, in explaining the Prime Movement it becomes inevitable to introduce non-material existence and an imperceptible being like Puruşa, “Spirit”. According to the practical philosophy steam is inherent in water but needs to be heated, an external being. The result of these contradictions was that, in later times, some followers of Kapila began to believe that Puruşa was the Prime Mover, or Īśvara of all. They therefore came to the conclusion that Puruşa was the eternal Father and Prakŗti the Mother. Some believed that Puruşa was in reality the great soul (absolute man) and Prakŗti was Śakti or his consort.*^

It is significant that the Sāmkhya philosophy enunciated for the first time, the principle that energy was never destroyed but was always dissipating, as a result of which the evolutionary cycle never came to an end. Probably that is why the Śakti disappeared from time to time to re-emerge.

The feminine conceptualization of nature occupies a very significant place in Indian religious history. ‘Pr’ is the sound of creation. The prime function of Prakŗti is to create. That is why Prakŗti has been identified with Mother from whom is our sristhi and over the years we have called her the Mother Goddess (Maa), the creator and mother of the Universe (Jagadambā), the female energy (Śakti). Almost all the geographical features of the natural environment are personified as goddesses.

In this connection J.N.Banerjea has observed, that “The worship of the female principle can be traced in the country, as in many other ancient countries of the world, to a very remote past…”

Samkhya divides all things that are there into two radically different kinds – consciousness (cetana) and unconsciousness (jada). The subjects of pure consciousness are Puruşa, and the totality of jada things is called Prakŗti, the causal system. The ultimate constituents of which Prakŗti or all jada things are composed are guņas – substantive entity. The essence of everything in this universe was Prakŗti, which ‘is inherent in everything but has no shape of its own. It has neither beginning nor end.’ The three Guņas are: (i) Sattva –the tendency to act or, which are responsive to the light of puruşa (ii) Rajas – the tendency to act or express themselves in motion, that is the dynamic principle in prakŗti, continuously changing; and (iii) Tamas­- the tendency to non-manifestation and non-activity or, which resist the light of puruşa and the force exerted by rajas gunas as it (tamas) is inert. Every phenomenon in Prakŗti is an admixture of all the three kinds of guņas.

These three guņas of Prakŗti – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas of the Devī are manifested in the three important goddesses –Mahāsarasvatī, Mahālakşmī and Mahākālī. These three manifestations are three tattvas of three fundamental principles of Mahādevī. Sattva stands for white colour, Rajas stands for red and Tamas stands for black.

Earth Goddess


The Earth is Mother; I am son of the Earth
[Atharva Veda, 12.1.12b]

The earth is the supreme, loving, life sustaining mother. She is beautiful, fertile, nurturing and generous. She is close to humans as their own skin. That is why it is said ‘mitti se bana insaan, mitti me mil jayega,’ (man is made of soil and be dissolved in soil). As person’s entire existence depends upon her, man is of earth, part of earth. The earth is his home. She is merciful, compassionate mother whose benign heart pours unconditional love to all, irrespective of their station in life.

Nature’s śakti is visible everywhere in the cyclic movement of germination, growth and decay of life. Śakti is the energetic feminine potency of the Earth Mother, the life line of the living earth. This mother aspect, when viewed in the light of human nature can be traced out from the Stone Age. In the case of a woman, pregnancy has been the most emotional stage and the birth of the child, a jubilant moment. In the early stages of human history the phenomenon must have made an awe-inspiring impact on the mind of man. For, in this, he must have understood the “fertility” aspect of a woman and that it was exclusive to her, to give birth to a child. She was seen as representation of fertility equaled with the earth which also produces the needs of man and helps in the production and sustenance of life.

The village communities in the North-West frontiers of India during the hunting and gathering stages in isolation from each other had developed the terracotta art. They had achieved proficiency by about the beginning of 3rd millennium BC. In the later part, a definite stage was reached in the development of the figurines of the Mother Goddess in the art of terracotta. John Marshall testifies emphatically (in Mohenjodaro and Indus Civilization, I, p. 48) that the worship of mother goddess was widespread in the Indus empire and further observes that “in no country in the world has the worship of the Divine Mothers, been from the time immemorial so deep rooted and ubiquitous as in India.”

But all the terracotta figurines cannot be called Mother Goddess. Dr. D.P.Sharma, curator of Indus Valley Gallery of National Museum points out that “only those figurines representing fertility can be called Mother Goddess. They can be distinguished from their full and round breast in place of conical shaped of other figurines, broad and triangular hips, highly ornated and found at religious sites. Sometimes they are represented only in Triangular shape.”

Pre-historic Evidence:

H.D.Sankalia points out that “a small figurine was found in that Belan Valley of the Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh…”

But S.P.Gupta has contested the claim and he does not feel that the figurine is that of a Mother Goddess. Hence the identification of the object discovered from Belan Valley cannot be claimed to be beyond suspicion, of its being that of the Mother Goddess.

Pre-Harappan Sites:

In the above background as well as in the absence of any tangilble evidence, it cannot be claimed with authority that the adoration of the Mother Goddess was in vogue in the Upper Paleolithic, though in the pre-historic cave paintings in the rock shelter of Bhimbetika a few female figurines with the signs of pregnancy have been found depicted, which could represent mother-hood. Still however their representations outnumber the male ones. This may indicate their use for cult purpose, the female energy or mother principle being one of the earliest forms of worship among several ancient races of the world.

The pre-Harappan Mother Goddess figurines found in the Zhob and Kulli cultures have grotesque character, they are the earliest expressions of the religious ideas of the first farmers of the sub-continent.


Harappan Sites:

It curious that Indus finds do not include any positive religious material. All that we have to rely on for reconstructing the religion of the people is the testimony of seals, sealings, figurines etc. a large number of terracotta figurines of nude females have been found from Harappa as well as Mohenjodaro and other Indus valley sites like Baluchistan. Some of them, like the woman kneeling or holding a dish of cakes in her arm are probably mere toys without religious meaning. Others with children in their arms or left side may be assumed to be ex-voto offerings, perhaps with magical significance, for the boon of female fertility.

Post-Harappan Culture:

Very few figurines akin to Mother Goddess have been found in the post-Harappan village settlements of various parts in India between c. 1750-600 BC. Clay figurines may have been reported from several Chalcolithic sites in the Deccan. These figures are totally different from Indus types lacking in ornamentation and having plump physiognomy and stumpy limbs. The southern Tamil Nadu, Kerela, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have-not yielded Mother Goddes figurines belonging to the period earlier than 1st century BC.

Early Historic Sites:

During the early historical period the Indian cultural scene was flooded with various types of gods and goddesses and in due course of time the iconography of the deities was also developed making them not only more appealing to the human or even composite forms. Not many, but few Graeco-Hellenistic styled female figurines have been found from Taxila and Gandhara, and some indigenous-styled from Mathura. Most of the figurines of the Earth Mother were painted over with red slip or wash as of many of the figurines in India today as red is the colour of fertility.

Ring stones and triangular shaped discs with variety of formal relief of decorative and cultic character have been found at many sites. The carvings occupy only one face of the ring and are generally arranged in concentric bands with conventional figure of Mother Goddess, palm trees with varying thickness. Some of them are without figures of the Mother Goddess. There is a central hole in the ring. The small ring stones suggest the adoration of yoni, the female symbol generation was also prevalent, thogh not to such extent as the worship of lińga.

“Earth is known to all civilizations and cultures as the great Mother Goddess. Predating the Vedas are the figures of Mother Earth Goddess in the form of ring stones. The Vedas dedicate many hymns to Pŗthivī,” explains Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan as “the Bhūmisūkta being one of the greatest hymns. She is invoked as born of the waters of the ocean. Surrounded by space, she is the creator, the sustainer.”

Man says “I am the son of the earth, the rains are my father, let him, the Lord of the rain, fill the earth for us. O Earth protects us, purify us. Let people milk her with amity. O Earth, give us sweet words. The snowy mountain heights and thy forests, O Earth, shall be kind to us and we to them.”

Her fertility is symbolized through the image of the brimming vase, the bowl of plenty. Foliage and the lotus emerge from the bowl: the waters below the life giving forces of regeneration and energy of sun blossoms as the vegetation is the sap of life (the rasa). Water, earth, plant, animal, human and the divine come together in images of the goddess Pŗthivī, also identified as Devī. Myths evolved around each and every one of the trees and plants. Aśvattha was central, so also was Bilva, the mango, the Sāl, the coconut and the bamboo. If one of the tree of life, the other was the upturned tree of Upanisadic thought. The Sāl is not only central and vital to the ecological cycle of the forests of Bihar and Bastar providing vast communities with the famous Karma festival, but it is the Sāl tree whom Māyā embraced as Buddha was born.

The tree-woman relationship dominates Indian myth. The most functionally meaningful and inspirer of countless myths and the richest treasure of Indian sculptural motif is the Vŗkşikā, also called by other names- Yakşī, Surasundarī and many others. They stand against trees, embrace them and thus become an aspect of the tree articulating the interpretation of the plant and the human. The tree is dependent upon the woman for its fertility as is woman on the tree.

Even today in villages of Assam and Bengal girls are first married to a tree and then only a human groom is seeked for them so that they never have to live the life of a Sati. On the very topic famous Director Aparna Sen had made a movie called “Sati”.

Water Cosmology and Divine Feminine


The term “Water Cosmology” was first probably employed by Hume, in the Introduction to his Thirteen Principal Upanishads, pp. 10-14, with reference to such passages as Bŗhadaāraņyaka, 5.5, “in the beginning this world was just water,” and 3, 6 I, “all this world is woven, warp and woof , on water,”… *

The concept of Water as a potent power, as energy in liquid form, harks back to the time of Ŗgveda when sages linked the mysterious event of the creation with waters, apparently conceiving even at the early date of life developing from a primordial “soup”. Consider the first verse of the so-called Creation hymn:


There was neither non-existence nor existence then;
There was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond.
What stirred? Where? In whose protection?
Was there water, bottomlessly deep?


In the Purāņic conception of the birth of Brahmā, the creator is abjaja, lotus-born from the lotus that springs from Vişņu’s navel, said to represent the center of energy of the universe, while the lotus is the material aspect of evolution, the petals is consecutive forms (Agni Puraāņa, XLIX). Vişņu, as Śayana-mūrti, here reclines upon the waters; the great name Nārāyaņa is said to mean “moving on the waters”; of Kubera’s (God of Wealth) epithet Naravāhana, nara supposedly referring not to men (as later understood), but to water spirits, Gandharvas.

Life on earth emerges from the eternal waters that hold the potency of fire. The myths of waters take innumerable other forms relating to the ocean (Sāgara), the rivers and the nymphs of the skies. Indian literature is replete with their names – Sarasvatī, Gańgā, Yamunā, Urvaśī or Menakā. Indian folk lore sanctifies these. All these deities are members of the vast water cosmology so vital and central to Indian thought.

The nature of the Water Cosmology is, however, sufficiently revealed in what has been given. The ideology may be summed up as follows: from the primeval waters arose the plants, from the plants all other beings, in particular the gods, man and cattle. There is nothing in this tendency contradictory to the use of the human form, which in the case of the feminine powers of fertility and abundance can be traced far back into prehistoric times. But from water, we must move to the first vegetative and acquatic life principle. The lotus and the snake in botanical and zoological terms are born of the waters. These powers, particularly Śrī, who is closely connected with the waters, stand in close relation to the Water Cosmology, and at the same time are represented in the aspect of women.


Śrī Lakşmī

Lakşmī’s initial role as a goddess of wealth associated with lotus was soon elevated by the Mahabhārata epic (c. 400 BC – AD 400) in which she was transformed into the consort of Vişņu. Lakşmī may indeed be the most invoked among those deities who are dayanis. The lotus is a comparatively late entrant into Indian myth, but once it finds its place, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist art, thought and myth consider it indispensable. In all these cases whether as seat (āsana) or emblem or epithet, it denotes fecundity, abundance, well-being. Logically, lotus becomes goddess and is personified as Śrī and Lakşmī. She is praised as lotus-born (padmasambhavā), standing on a lotus (padmasthitā), lotus-coloured (padmavarņā), lotus-eyed (padmākşī) etc.

Mythology:

Wealth and power corrupted the demon-kings whom earlier Śrī Devī had blessed. Now, pleasure and comfort has weakened the god-king. Neither held on to dharma for long. Neither deserved her grace. So, the goddess dissolved herself in the ocean of milk. Instantly a gloom descended upon the world: reverberated with song and dance. Weapons lost their power, gems their sparkle, men their vigor. Cows did not give milk, fields became barren, and trees bore neither flower nor fruit. The cosmos became a desolate place, bereft of joy and laughter.

The goddess’s disappearance caused panic in three worlds. The gods and demons alike wanted to bring her back. Vişņu suggested by churning the ocean of milk, they can bring her back. With Mandara, king of mountains, as the spindle and Akupara, king of turtles, as the base, the devas and the asuras created the cosmic churn. Using Vasuki, the king of serpents, as the churning rope, they began churning the ocean of milk.

The churn twisted and turned, the ocean frothed and fumed, waves roared and spewed foam in every direction. Pleased by their efforts, the goddess finally emerged as Lakşmī, the desirable one, in all her splendor. Seated on a dew-drenched lotus (the symbol of life), dressed in red silk, red being the color of fertility, the sap of life. Bedecked in gold, she was the very embodiment of affluence, abundance and auspiciousness.

As she raised, rasa, life giving sap, began flowing in every direction. The earth palpated with life. Joy filled the air. Sacred elephants that hold up the sky came from the eight quarters of the universe raised their trunks and consecrated her with life-sustaining water.

With Lakşmī came a cow called Kamadhenu with enough milk to feed the world for all eternity, a wish-fulfilling gem called Chintamani and a tree called Kalpataru that bore evry flower and fruit desirable. Also came Kama, the delightful god of pleasure. With Kama came Priti and Rati, goddess of love and longing, and Vasanta, lord of spring. From her being emerged her seven daughters, the sacred river-goddess Ganga, Yamunā, Sindhu, Narmada, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri who nourished the earth and supported life.

Along with Lakşmī came the six-tusked, white-skinned elephant Airavata and the seven-headed flying horse Ucchaishrava. The gods claimed the elephant and the demons, the horse. The goddess also brought forth a throne, a crown, a footstool, a parasol, a fly-whisk, a cushion, a fan, a bow and a conch – the symbols of kingship. Lakşmī sought someone who would not succumb to the allure of power, pleasure and prosperity. She chose Visņu. Vişnu placed Śreevasta, the symbol of Lakşmī on his chest.



Sarasvatī

Sarasvatī, goddess of learning and music, emerged in two forms as early as Ŗgveda of c.1300 BC. She was Vāc, both speech itself and the goddess of speech, and she was the goddess of now non-existent Sarasvatī River in the Punjab. Soon after she became known by the double name of Sarasvatī-Vāc. Hindus considered her to be the consort of Brahmā, the creator, whose swan vehicle she acquired. She is the river of consciousness that enlivens the creation. She is the dawn-goddess, whose rays dispels the darkness of ignorance. Without her, there is only chaos and confusion. To realize her one must go beyond the pleasure of the senses and rejoice in the serenity of the spirit.

Mythology:

In the beginning, there was chaos: everything existed in a formless fluid state.

“How do I bring order to this disorder?” wondered Brahmā, the creator.
“With knowledge,” said Devi. Heralded by a peacock, sacred books in one hand and a flute in the other, dressed in white, she emerged from Brahmā’s mouth riding a swan as the goddess Sarasvatī.
Said the goddess, “knowledge helps man to find possibilities where once he saw problem.”

By her grace Brahmā acquired the power to sense, thought and comprehension and communicate. He began to looking upon chaos with eyes of wisdom and saw the wonderful potential therein. Brahmā thus became the creator of the world with Sarasvatī as his wisdom and later consort.

The goddess so conceived to have many forms in different age gropus. When she is one year old she is known as Sandhyā, when two years old she is Sarasvatī, of nine years as Durgā, of ten years as Gourī, of thirteen years as Mahālakşmī.

Sarasvatī wore neither jewel on her body nor paint herself with bright colours. Her white sari reflected her essential purity, her rejection of all that is materialistic. The four Vedas, books of universal knowledge were her offspring. Her mount, the swan, came to personify pure knowledge and her herald, the peacock, became symbol of art.

Śiva, the destroyer once opened his third eye. Out came a terrible fire that threatened to burn the three worlds. There was panic everywhere. Only Sarasvatī remained calm. “Śiva’s fire burns only that which is impure and corrupt,” she said (Apasmara – the dwarf of ignorance or Avidyā).

She took the form of a river and with her pure waters picked up the dreaded fire. From that day, Sarasvatī came to be seen as the fountain-head of knowledge, Sharada, who leads man from darkness to light, from ignorance to enlightenment, from material decadence to spiritual upliftment.

Aum bhur bhuvah svahah
Tat savitur varenyum
Bhargo devasya dheemahee
Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat

May the pesplendent divine who is the life breath of the universe, who pervade the
three worlds, who removes miseries, brings joy, dispels darkness and ignores, propel
my intelligence in the right direction.

Sarasvatī is, essentially river-goddess but taken in high esteem by Vedic seers. She is both celebrated as a river and a deity. In the Ŗgveda, Sarasvatī does not appear to be anything more than a river goddess but, in the Brāhmanas she is identified with goddess of speech, vāc and consequently in the post-Vedic mythology she became the goddess of eloquence and wisdom and subsequently, became the wife of Brahmā.

In my opinion, the ŗşis understood the uniqueness of man – the power of speech. Also the Vedas were passed orally and required good speech (pronunciation) for shruti and good memory through wisdom for smriti. That is the reason which elevated Sarasvatī to the place of independent goddess as well as consort of the Creator, who with her wisdom removed all the chaos to carry on with creation.

Gańgā

Jawaharlal Nehru had called her a symbol of India’s age-long culture and civilization, ever-changing, ever flowing and yet ever the same Gańgā. The late Indira Gandhi did not consider it strange that the “Gańgā should have such an extraordinary hold on th imagination of the peoples of India…”

Mythology:

There are several versions of this myth. In one popular version from Vaisnava sources, the descent of the heavenly waters to the earth takes place from the ‘foot of Visņu’. The holy river had its origin in the heavens when Vişņu, in his vamana, dwarf-cum-giant incarnation measured three steps. His third step pierced the heavenly vault and caused the waters to flow. Throught the opening in the shell of the universe, the Gańgā flowed into Indra’s heaven, and settled around the immobile pole-star, Dhruva Tāra. In this form Gańgā is known as Vişnupadi. She meandered through the sky to the moon as the Milky Way, Ākāsh Gańgā and suggests the idea of a heavenly river.

The next episode of the myth describes the descent of Gańgā on earth. The story consists of long episodes which I shall not recount here. The heavenly Gańgā descended to the earth for salvic purpose, namely to animate and purify the 60,000 son’s of Sagara, who were reduced to ashes by glance of sage Kapila.

The Gańgā was brought down to the earth by Bhagiratha who performed fierce austerities on the Himalayan slopes and won the favour of the Goddess. She agreed to descend but warned Bhagiratha that the earth would split under the torrential currents of her fall. Gańgā asked him to placate Śiva. Śiva agreed to catch its gushing waters in his matted locks before releasing the waters. The mighty river wound her way through Śiva’s ascetic locks and found her course on the mountains and plains of India.

Dr. Madhu Khanna has compared the myth to the reality: the ecological implications of the myth can be decoded and its meaning lay bare. Water’s natural flow is rooted in a cyclic pattern. It continuously renews itself. Water circulates from land, sea to clouds by coming in link with solar heat. It returns to the land, river and lakes and underground streams below the soil and intermingles in the deep oceans…the course of Ganges as depicted in the myth is in consonance with ‘logic’ of the water cycle in nature.

Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan* also observes: the ecological message of the myth is as clear as the physical reality of the course of the Gańgā; with its origin in the Himalayas whether the mythically Kailāsa or actually Gomukha or Gańgotrī, the Vasundharā falls into the rich Deodar foreste through which it meanders, the several streams into which it breaks before reaching Haidvāra (literally the entrance of Hara Śiva).


Yamunā


Mythology:

Yamunā is the daughter of Seyna from the sum. On account of her shyness and trembling fear in meeting her husband, the sun cursed Sayna that a fickle river would be born of her. In other Purāņas she is the sister of Yama, the god of death. The harivamśa illustrates that Haladhara Baladeva brought Yamunā to his city through his plough. The Kūrma Purāņa alludes the sacredness of the river particularly in confluence of Gańgā and Yamunā at Prayāga.

As regards the blackish colour of the water Yamunā the Vāmana Purāņa writes that Mahādeva after destroying Dakşayajña was aimlessly wandering in the forests brooding over the loss of his beloved Satī. At this time Kandarpa hurled his weapon, thus maddening Śiva who in fury, anger and pangs of separation fell in the river Kālindī and consequently the water Yamunā turned blackish.

Though she was elevated to the status of divinity in the epic and purāņic ages she finds mention in the Aitareya Brāhmaņa, Śatpatha Brāhmaņa, Lāţyāyana, Ŗgvedasamhitā etc. point to the river and performed their yajñas. The Kūrma Purāņa highlights the sacredness of Yamunā particularly at its confluence (Prayāga).

The sculptures of Yamunā found so far indicate that she is similar to Gańga in iconographic features except that she has tortoise (kachchapa) as her vehicle. We do not know exactly when both the deities were amalgamated with each other and found together in sculptural representation. The personified images of Gańga and Yamunā they flank the doorways of temples. They appeared together profusely for the first time in the doorways of the temples during the age of the Guptas.

Meaning


Philosophical: “As śakti, prakŗti and māyā, the Devī is portrayed as an overwhelming presence that overflows itself, spilling forth into the creation, suffusing the world with vitality, energy and power. When the Devī is identified with these philosophical ideas, then a positive point is being made: the Devī creates the world, she is the world, and she is not understood so much as binding cratures to finite existence as being the very source and vitality of creatures. She is the source of creatures – their mother-and as such her awesome, vital power is revered.”

The idea of Brahman is another central idea with which the Devī is associated. In the Upanişads, and throughout the Hindu tradition, Brahman is described in two ways: as nirguņa (having no quality or beyond all qualities) and saguņa (having qualities). As nirguņa, which is usually affirmed to be the superior way of thinking about Brahman, ultimate reality transcends all qualities, categories and limitations. As nirguņa, Brahman transcends all attempts to circumscribe it. It is beyond all name and form (nāma-rūpa). As the ground of all things, as the fundamental principle of existence, however, Brahman is also spoken of as having qualities, indeed, as manifesting itself in a multiplicity of deities, universe and beings. As saguņa Brahman reveals itself especially as the various deities of the Hindu pantheon. The main philosophical point asserted in the idea of saguņa Brahman is underlying all the different gods is unifying essence, namely, Brahman. Each individual deity is understood to be partial manifestation of Brahman, which ultimately is beyond all specifying attributes, functions and qualities.

The idea of Brahman serves well the attempts in many texts devoted to the Devī to affirm her supreme position in Hindu pantheon. The idea of Brahman makes two central philosophical points congenial to the theology of Mahādevī: (1) she is ultimate reality itself, and (2) she is the source of all divine manifestations, male and female (but especially female). As saguņa Brahman, the Devī is portrayed as a great cosmic queen enthroned in highest heaven, with a multitude of deities as agents through which she governs the infinite universes.

She is not just an icon to be worshipped; an art object to be curated in a museum, a symbol to be decoded, a metaphor to be pried open, an ancient goddess that is an anthropological curiosity, a goddess whose marriage is a sociological analysis. Perhaps she is all of this but she is much more than the sum of those disciplines. She is chit, our very being, she śakti or the energy that animates us and the world around us; her presence is a doorway to anada or bliss; she is the very embodiment of isaundarya or beauty; not just sensuous but spiritual, a spandana or throb of knowledge through which we seek our own self.

The Kashmir Śaivism, which is strongly advaitic or non-dualistic in nature postulates an unique epistemology or system of knowledge from which emerges a world-view that has underpinned Indian aesthetics for the last millennium. The chitanada (or joyous self-awareness) for the Kashmir Śaivite leads the individual from ‘aham’, “I am” to the initial realization ‘aham idam’, “I am myself”, and then to the ultimate realization ‘aham evam vishvarupam’ “I am the entire world.” In the word ‘aham’, ‘a’ stands for Śiva (puruşa), ‘h’ stand for Pārvatī (prakŗti) and ‘m’ is the bindu or the anusvara. In chanting ‘aham’ one is not only asserting the togetherness of the two elements – puruşa and prakŗti but equally realizing that it is Pārvatī, prakŗti who herself brings the chant to a point of stillness through the bindu.


Practical: The famous astro-physicist Stephen Hawking argues that the universe is created from the gravitational attraction between the (active) matter and the (inactive) non-matter. The non-matter is a residue of the matter, which created distance because of repulsion due to their natural characteristic. As and when the condition changed and they by chance came closer the gravitational force attracted them towards each other and from there Big Bang took place, creating the Universe.

I take the liberty to assume that the presence of the matter and the non-matter together is well represented in the story of Ardhanariśvara; then the separation follows eventually leading to the gravitational attraction of the two opposite nature, as propounded by the Samkhya philosophy of (sexual) duality of conscious (puruşa) and unconscious (prakŗti) elements.

The essence of everything in this universe was Prakŗti, which ‘is inherent in everything but has no shape of its own. It has neither beginning nor end.’ It is the Nature and, exists even without any name or forms (nama-rūpā) as steam exists in water, fire exist in spark. It needs an external inactive force (puruşa) – fire to boil water to create steam and; air to blow spark to produce fire.

According to this practical philosophy, the body was like a plant which germinated from, the seed, grew spread and then withered away; yet, something remained. The seed disappeared from view but produced another plant. The seeds germinated due to the rains but what grew depended on the seed alone; that is, only paddy grew from paddy, not wheat. For a man, a seed was like his karma (action or doing) and Īśvara or God was like the rain, which was the cause of the growth of the plant. A logical inference from this principle was that the Samsār (a chain of appearances) had neither a beginning nor an end.


Disclaimer: This was part of my MA Museology assignment on Art History of India and in no way expert opinion. Please cross check with books by scholars of the field. New research has come up since then.