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If y ou ask thi s questi on to the fol l ow er of abr ahmi c r el i gi ons, then theansw er w oul d be str ai ght ‘N o’. Most of the w ester n r el i gi on i s based onthe mascul i ne god, w i th f l ow i ng w hi te bear d, l ong gol den hai r si tt i ngon a gol den thr one i n a heav en sur r ounded by w hi te cl ouds. On the contr ar y , i f the same questi on i s ask ed to fol l ow er of easter nr el i gi ons, then the most pr obabi l i st i c answ er w oul d be ‘YES’ as most ofthe eastern religion treat both the masculine and feminine aspectas the manifestation of the same supreme god. For ex ampl e, Hi ndubel i ev es god to be a equal pr opor ti on of mal e and femal e aspects ofdi v i ni ty , commonl y k now n as Shi v a (Pur ush) and shak ti (Pr ak r i t i ).

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Shi v a-Shak ti Ev en many r el i gi ous scr i ptur es menti ons Lor d Kr i shna i ncompl ete


w i thout r adha and Radha & Kr i shna together ar e consi der ed as one soul Al though the Chr i sti ani ty tr eat the mascul i ne gender Jesus as thei rgod but i t i s sur pr i si ng to note that a bi bl e v er se states “God cr eatedhuman bei ngs i n hi s ow n i mage”. N ow w i thout any of fence, themascul i ne aspect of human bei ngs i n Jesus i s qui te under standabl e butthe questi on ar i ses i n my mi nd on the femi ni ne aspect i n i mage of Jesus.If we look into some other cultures then Goddesses are associatedwith love, motherhood, earth and household whereas some culturesworship goddess for death, salvation, healing, death anddestruction.In thi s festi v e season of dussher aa, w e w i l l go thr ough anci entscr i ptur es to under stand Goddess w or shi p not onl y f r om an Indi anper specti v e, but al so f r om w ester n per cepti on of goddesses. Greek, Romans, Native Americans and Egyptians had a deeptradition of goddess worship in their cultures. It i s sur pr i si ng to notethat i n anci ent t i mes, Goddess w or shi p w as mor e pr ev al ent i n thew ester n w or l d than i t i s now .. Recent ex cav ati on i n the w ester n w or l dhas pr oduced mor e than 50 femi ni ne f i gur es w i th some dati ng mor ethan 20,000 y ear s ago, the most famous bei ng Venus of w i l l endor f . Tohav e a br i ef i dea, l et us l ook at some of thei r r ev er ed goddesses-

Abnoba- a Cel t goddess of natur al for est and r i v er s Agrona- the goddess of w ar ; Rhea - Gr eek Goddesses as Mother of al l Gods; Aphrodite - the goddess of beauty and l ov e Athena- the goddess of W ar and W i sdom. Bast - the Egy pti ans goddesses w ho pr otects the phar aoh and Isis - the Egy pti an goddess of mother hood, magi c and fer ti l i ty .


Goddesses i n W or l d r el i gi ons


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Si mi l ar l y , Jews worships Lilith as Adam first wife who refused toreturn to Garden of Eden after mating with archangel Samael.Outsi de Jew i sh communi ty , Li l i th i s r ev er ed as Mother Inana, al sok now n as Ishtar and A sherah. Stor y fur ther conti nues w i th Adammar r y i ng Ev e and i n jeal ousy , Li l i th tak es the for m of ser pent to tr i ckEv e to eat the f r ui t of k now l edge, w hi ch w as r esponsi bl e fordegr adati on of mank i nd. Some of the other dei t i es menti oned i n Jew i shHebr ew tex ts ar e: § Agr at Bat Mahl at


§ Anath§ Asherah § Ashima § Astarte § EishethIn Chr i sti ani ty , Mar y , mother of Jesus Chr i st i s v ener ated as a sai nt.Though not as a dei ty , but her v ener ati on as Mother of god, mother ofchur ch, l ady of sea etc has conti nued si nce the i ncepti on ofChr i sti ani ty . In some orthodox Christian community, Sophia ismentioned as the embodiment of divine wisdom like a divinefemale spirit or GoddessTher e ar e many si mi l ar ex ampl es i n Chi nese, Amer i can, Japanese andPol y nesi an my thol ogi es i ndi cati ng the i mpor tance of femi ni ne aspectof god. These si mi l ar i t i es ar e str i k i ngl y si mi l ar to Indi an my thol ogysi nce most of the w ester n w or l ds ar e goddesses or guardian of naturalelement similar to the connotation of Mother Goddess (BharatMata) in Indian Subcontinent. For ex ampl e, ther e i s a templ e dedi cated to goddesses i n Penang,Mal ay si a. Al though thi s dei ty i s w or shi pped as a for m i f Buddha, but i tsname, depi cti on and hi stor i cal ev i dences cl ear l y r efer s i t to GoddessChandi , w hi ch i s mani festati on of Goddess Dur ga. In anci ent Egy pt,ther e w as the goddess N ut r epr esenti ng the w hol e uni v er se.


Chundi Bodhi sattv a i n Penang, Mal ay si aAnci ent pur ani c tex ts ar e abundant w i th ex ampl es of goddesses l i k eDur ga, k al i , shak ti etc. Fur ther , ex cav ati ons f r om the anci ent Indus-Sar asw ati Ci v i l i zati on, hav e fur ther suggested the i mpor tance ofgoddess w or shi p thr ough v ar i ous seal s, i dol s and and femi ni ne f i gur es.One of the seal show s a mal e god or some k i nda tr i bal chi efw or shi ppi ng goddesses w hi l e on other seal s, ther e ar e sev en attendantsaccompany i ng the centr al goddess.


Man bow i ng to a GoddessFemi ni ne f i gur es found i n Ter r acotta, Mohenjo-Dar o i s si mi l ar toar ti facts ex cav ated f r om many other anci ent Asi an and w ester nnati ons l i k e Bal uchi stan, Mesopotami a, Asi a Mi nor , Pal esti ne, Sy r i a,Cr ete, Tr anscaspi a, Cy pr us, the Bal k ans and Egy pt.Famous ar chaeol ogi st cum anthr opol ogi st , James Geor ge Fr azer , sai dthat goddess w or shi p i n w hol e of Eur ope and Afr i ca has thei r or i gi n i nthe Indi an N eol i thi c cul tur e. These excavated figures also showsand fertility aspect which suggest the goddesses as the mother ofall gods and creation-the tradition still prevalent in Hinduism.If w e just hav e a deep gl ance at our natur e, then w e w i l l f i nd thatCor r el ati on ear th as mother or goddess mak es mor e sense. Si mi l ar tow omen gi v e bi r th to Humans and l ook af ter her , ear th gi v e bi r th tov ar i ous pl ant and nour i sh her . Human baby consume al l i ts ener gyfr om mother mi l k w hi l e pl ants der i v es al l i ts ener gi es f r om ear th. In


fact , i n the ear l i est agr i cul tur al c i v i l i zati on near the fer ti l e r i v erN i l e, Goddess i s ex pr essed as the domi nant my thi c for m.



Mother Goddess f r om the Indus-Val l ey

Hi ndui sm i s a compl ex bel i ef sy stem w hi ch per cei v es many gods andgoddesses as bei ng emanated f r om the same supr eme Br ahman. AdiShank ar a sai d “ther e i s onl y one Supr eme Par aBr ahman and al l theother ar e for ms and ex pansi on of thi s Par a-Br ahman. Thi s Par a-Br ahman i s of ten under stood as the dual mal e femal e pai r : Lakshmi-Vishnu, Radha-Krishna, Shiva-Shakti, Brahma-Saraswati, Ram-Sita, etc. which has its own significant meaning.Being a creator , Brahma needs knowledge or goddess Saraswati(Vaak) to create. Similarly, the Preserver, Lord Vishnu needs thegoddess of prosperity and wealth, goddess Lakshmi to preserve.Finally, the destroyer, lord shiva needs power to destroy. So heneeds goddess Parvati, Durga, or Kali for power. Some of thescriptures refer these dual male-female pairs as the manifestations of GoddessA di Parashakti , the Supreme mother. It also perfectly fits the Vedicnotion "T ruth is one; the wise call it by var ious names"”Si nce Hi ndui sm Gr ants i ts fol l ow er the f r eedom to w or shi p god i n thew ay they w ant, i t shoul d not be sur pr i si ng to note that the cr uel for mof w or shi p w hi ch r equi r es sacr i f i ce i s al so fol l ow ed to some ex tentespeci al l y i n tr i bal ar eas. In contex t, bel ow ar e four major sects ofHi ndui sm.Vaishnavism, W or shi p Lor d Vi shnu and i ts av atar s as supr eme god Shaivism, w or shi p of Lor d Shi v a as supr eme god Shaktism , w or shi ppi ng the Goddess or Dev i Smartism , nonsectar i an w or shi p and tr eati ng al l gods as di f fer entfor m of the same supr eme god-Br ahman Most of the Hi ndus fal l s i n the smar ti sm sects and consi derw or shi ppi ng al l gods i ncl udi ng the w ester n Jesus, easter n Buddha, jai nti r thank ar s etc. Each of these sects fol l ow s thei r ow n r i tual s, tr adi ti on


and spi r i tual ex er ci ses to w or shi p thei r god al though each one i s mor eor l ess si mi l ar to the other . Shak tis m and Shaiv is m b eliev e ing o ddes s as co ns o rt o f lo rd s hiv a. Lo rd Shiv a fo rms thes upreme half, w hile the o ther half is Go ddes s s hak ti. Vai shnav i sects consi der Lor d Vi shnu femi ni ne aspect Yogmay a, w hotak es the for m of Goddess Dur ga to l ook af ter the mater i al i st i c cr eati onof l or d Vi shnu as her ow n chi l d.



A Smar ti sm hav e no pr obl em i n w or shi ppi ng l or d Vi shnu or l or d Shi v aor ev en Jesus Chr i st for that they bel i ev e these di f fer ent names to bethe mani festati ons of the same supr eme God(Par aBr ahman).On thecontr ar y , A v ai shnav i te consi der s onl y l or d Vi shnu as the one supr emegod w or thy of w or shi p and other s ar e hi s subor di nate. Si mi l ar l y ,Shai v i te consi der s l or d Shi v a as one supr eme god and other as hi ssubor di nate. However to me, smartism makes the most perfectsense which is also responsible for the spread of Hinduism acrossthe western countries.




Comi ng back to goddess w or shi p, Goddess i s w or shi pped by dev otees i nf i v e appr oaches or f i v e w ay sThe FIRST one w e hav e al r eady seen r epeatedl y i n al l anci entci v i l i zati ons w hi ch sy mbol i ze di v i ni ty as mother goddess. Ri gv edamenti ons her as Aditi, meani ng Mother of Gods, Mahimata , meani ngMother Ear th; and Viraja , meani ng U ni v er sal Mother .Rigveda verse 7.8.4 addresses the Goddess Usha (Goddess ofDawn) as “Vayam s yama maturna s unav ah”.


Mahi mata, the Mother of Cr eati on


In the second appr oach, Goddess i s r eal i zed as ‘Shak ti ’, w hi ch i s cosmi cener gy - Sour ce of al l cr eati on. All creation of this universe -materialistic or abstract is the manifestation of the divine femalegoddesses.Vedas, U pani shads, pur anas and other anci ent tex ts contai nsi nnumer ous r ef r ences to goddesses as di v i ne Shak ti . Mahab haratdecs rib es Yudhi shthi r a w or shi ppi ng Goddess Dur ga, Arjunaw o rs hipping Yo g maya, Pradyumna w or shi ppi ng GoddessKaty ay ani , Ani r uddha w or shi ppi ng Goddess Chandi and so on.


Aadi -Shak ti , Cosmi c Ener gy of the U ni v er se Adi Shakti is the personification of divine feminine creative powercommonly referred as 'The Great Divine Mother'. She is regarded as thecontroller of all planets, Deities, and other heavenly bodies. Scriptures refers adi-Shakti as the originator of all creation of this universe. Scientifically, Energy canneither be created nor be destroyed but changes from one form to another. Adi, m eaningN ev er E nding r epr esent t h is P ar a ( Beyond) sh ak t i( E ner gy) . I . e. div ineener gy b eyond u niv er se. There is difference between Shakti and Adi Parashakti.Shakti refers to power of diety like Parvati, durga, kali etc but Adi Shakti refers topower of Param Brahman.


In thi r d appr oach, goddess i s i denti f i ed as Dash-Mahav i dy as(TenW i sdom Goddesses), r epr esenti ng the r ange of femi ni ne di v i ni ty f r omthe most hor r i fy oi ng goddess at one end to the most beauti ful at theother end just l i k e the l or d Kr i shna v i shw a-r oop dar shan. Thi s thi r dappr oach i s usual l y fol l ow ed by Tantr i cs and the l eadi ng goddess ofthi s tantr i c w or shi p s Goddess maha k al i , the danger ous of al l goddesses.Al l these ten goddesses r epr esent di f fer ent aspect of the same supr emegoddess. These ten goddesses ar e: Kali, Sho das hi, Tara,Bhuv anes hw ari, Matang i, Bhairav i, Dhumav ati,Chhinnamas ta, Bag ala, and Kamala .

Dash Mahav i dy as

In the four th appr oach, Goddess i s dev oti onal , y et w or shi pped as patr on


of w ar r i or s. These goddesses ar e w or shi pped by w ar r i or s to seekbl essi ngs for v i ctor y befor e goi ng to w ar . These w ar r i or goddesses ar eex pansi ons of Goddess Dur ga and ar e k now n as Saptamtr i k as, meani ngSev en Mother s.These sev en goddesses i ncl ude al l the w ar r i or av atar s of w ar r i or sgoddesses i ncl udi ng goddess Sar asw ati and Goddess Lak shmi but i n thi sMatr i k a cul t , Br ahma consor t ‘Sar asw ati ’ i s cal l ed as Br ahmani , Shi v a'sconsor t ‘Par v ati ’ as Maheshw ar i and Vi shnu's consor t ‘Lak shmi ’ asVai shnav i .

The f i er ce Matr i k as i n battl e mode Indus sar asw ati seal depi cted befor e w her e w e saw sev en attendants ofcentr al goddesses ar e actual l y these sev en goddesses, commonl y k now nas Matr i k a.


Indus-Sar asw ati Dur ga and Saptamatr i k as


Later templ e r el i ef depi cti ng the Sapta-Matr i k as Fi f th appr oach i s tak en f r om v ar i ous pur anas l i k e theBrahmav aiv arta Puraan , Sk anda Puraan , Prapancha-s aratantra , Dev i Bhag w at Puraan , Ling a Puraan etc . Accor di ngto thi s appr oach, goddesses ar e consor t of mal e gods. Goddess Dur ga i s the cor e goddess w hi l e other goddesses ar e herex pansi on r epr esenti ng the Ener gy (Shak ti ) of the mal e gods w i thoutw hi ch i t i s i mpossi bl e for any mal e god to destr oy or k i l l the demons. Thi s f i f th appr oach al so cov er s mi l l i ons of l ocal goddesses w or shi ppedacr oss Indi an tow ns and v i l l ages, w i th each of them w or shi pped as themani festati on of the supr eme goddess Dur ga. Thr ee pr i nci pal for ms ofGoddesses, di str i buted accor di ng to thei r gunas ar e Maha-Sar asw ati .,Maha-Lak shmi and Maha-Kal i ,



Femal e Hi ndu Hol y Tr i ni ty


The Supreme Goddess DURGA Most v i v i d descr i pti on of goddesses can be found i n Devi Mahatmya,w hi ch i s der i v ed f r om Markandeya PuraanIn thi s book , Goddess i sconceptual i zed, ador ed and cel ebr ated as the supr eme di v i ni ty . Goddess Dur ga i s commonl y r efer r ed as Chandi Mata, the f i er cestgoddess r esponsi bl e to destr oy al l the ev i l Asur as(Demons). GoddessDur ga i s al so w or shi pped as Jagaddhatri, meani ng uphol der of thew or l d and Annapurna, meani ng gi v er of food. Book ‘Dev i Kav acha’,der i v ati on of the Mahatmya concei v es Dev i as Navdurga (N i nefor ms). These ni ne for ms ar e 1. Shailputri, daughter of the mountains; 2. Brahmacharini, dwelling in Brahman; 3 . Cha n dra g ha n t a , who has the moon for her bell; 4 . K ushm a n da , the fertility goddess; 5 . S k a n da m a t a , mother of the war god Skanda; 6 . K a t y a y a n i , the daughter of Rishi Katyayana; 7 . K a la ra t ri , the dark night of dissolution; 8 . M a ha g a uri , the light of knowledge; and 9 . S iddhida t ri , the bestower of success. Oldest of all stories regarding the first appearance of goddess is thestory of Demon �Mahisasur�. M a hisa sur wa s a n ev il buf f a lo-dem on who con q uered a ll t he t hree worlds a n d t rea t ed a ll dem i-g ods a n d hum a n a s sla v es. The reason behind his victory was the boonfrom lord brahma according to which he is invincible against any male,maybe it�s a beast , humans or even demi-gods



Mahi shasur , the Mi notaur Afr ai d of the ty r anny of Mahi sasur , demi gods appr oached Br ahma andbegged for hel p. Br ahma adv i sed them to cr eate a femal e w ar r i or tov anqui sh Mahi sasur . A ll the demi gods merged their creative anddestructive powers and from these combined energies, finally abeautiful goddess was created who was named as Devi Durga.


Goddess Dur ga emer ges f r om the Ener gy of Gods Dev i dur ga w as then gi f ted v ar i ous w eapons by al l demi gods and w assent for a mi ssi on to destr oy mahi sasur . As soon as Mahi sqsur sawFemi ni ne Dev i dur ga, he under stood the tr ap of demi gods but st i l lf i ghted w i th her . Ri shi Mar k andey a, descr i be Dev i Dur ga batl l e w i th the demonMahi sasur ar my and sl ay i ng of mahi sasur i n 7 00 v er ses. These Versesbecame the foundation of all devotees and are chanted religiouslyduring the nine day long festival of Durga Puja.


After a long battle, Buffalo demon ‘Mahisasur’ was finally slayedand henceforth, goddess durga was given the epithet ‘MahishasurMardini', meaning slayer of Mahish. This incident is most widelyshown in art and symbolic depiction of goddess ‘Durga’ during thenine day Navratri festival.Thi s i nci dent of v anqui shi ng buf fal o demon teaches us to r emov e ourow n ani mal i nsti nct to get r i d of i nner demons or be r eady to suf fer orget k i l l ed by the goddesses.


Goddess Dur ga sl ay i ng Mahi shasur

Above image perfectly reflects the slaying of male ego by femininedivinity to keep the creation balanced and prevents the destructionof this world. Mur der , Rape, dev el opment and f i r i ng of nucl ear bomb, Attack of onecountr y on another l i k e Ir aq on Kuw ai t , Amer i ca on Ir aq, and Pak i stan


on Kashmi r ar e al l ex ampl e of ev i l ani mal i nsti ncts and mal e ego. So,goddess durga urges us to stray away from the path of destructivepath and Divert your mind into spiritual development and progress.




In thi s moder n Er a, w omen’s ar e gi v en equal oppor tuni ti es and ar etr eated as same as thei r mal e counter par ts i n many dev el opi ngeconomi es. Many hands of Goddess can easily represent themultitasking capabilities of woman. Tr adi ti onal Goddess Moder n Goddess

Abov e i mage w as just for addi ng humor . By mul ti task i ng, I actual l ymeant w or k i ng at of f i ce and at the same ti me Cook i ng food, c l eani nghouse, tak i ng car e of baby , etc. So, the men of today shoul d for get thei r Ego and shoul d ack now l edge andr espect the w omen’s ar ound us just l i k e w e do for the goddesses i ntempl es. Onl y then the cases of w oman i nequal i ty , cr i mes l i k e r ape,


mol estati on etc can come to an end. Indi a i s a l and of goddesses and these goddesses pl ay s an i mpor tant r ol ei n br i ngi ng al l the Indi ans together i n r el i gi ous festi v al s l i k enav r atr i . Such r el i gi ous festi v al s gi v e the peopl e an oppor tuni ty tocel ebr ate i n thei r hecti c l i f e so as to feel r el i ef f r om w or l dl yattachments and mundane l i fe. These goddesses shoul d be w or shi ppedw i th gr eat r ev er ence and dev oti on because they ar e the cr eator ,pr eser v er and destr oy er of the w or l d, the confer r er of w eal th, heal th,spi r i tual pr ogr ess and pr osper i ty So, before I end let us pray to Goddess Durga to destroy our innerevil desires, purify our soul and re-establish the status of womenaccorded millennium ago in ancient India or as mentioned inancient spiritual scriptures.


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This article is downloaded from If you ... - Sarin Mall.pdf · believes god to be a equal proportion of male and female aspects of divinity, commonly known as Shiva (Purush ... Hinduism