These two images essentially represents the same. It is believed that the one where Kali is copulating with Shiva came first in history, which was later modified in to a socially acceptableimage of her stepping on her husband ! From what i have read, the first image is the one worshipped by tantric hindus while the latter one is worshipped by vedic hindus.
A careful examination makes one wonder whether these changes, this taming of the female spirit of Kali started with the Aryan invasion of India... some literature seems to agree..
Painters and artists of latter days try their very best to cover her nakedness with the skirt of hands and garland of male heads...
yet...Kali seems to crawl out of the carpet we shooed her beneath...with all her nakedness, her desires, her wrath , she comes out to question this superficial culture we have build ...
the society of the do - gooder is suddenly looking for its roots..
everything that we have been trying to hide, everything that we have been suppressing comes out and there is no escape...
Although, strangely, "sarva mangala mangalye sarvartha sadige thrayambike devi narayani namasthuthe" was one of the very first prayers that i learnt as a child, and the only one i remember, i dint know much about the She- goddess of India and how her free spirit was curbed by the norms of our society.
I grew up, very close to a durga temple, and my play school was right in the temple compound..and i played hide and seek in the temple...Yet, i had no clue bout the brutal rape of durga ,by our culture...
I used to like this small temple better than the other big temple near my house.Some how, i liked the fact that this small temple had durga and she is a female, who wud understand me better and of course, also the fact that i knew the pujaris of this temple and they let me play there !
later on... i started questioning the concept of GOD and in teenage rebellion, stopped going to temples, much to mothers dismay..But i did occasionally visit this durga temple... some how, the lady in there dint seem like god..and come on, i literally grew up there!
The last time i went to the temple, it dint feel like my old play house anymore..they had renovated the temple and premises and it looked like a new - age temple.I dint go in..
If the ol' lady was still in there, she would understand... I thought...
God is still an enigma to me .You can call me a curious agnostic whatever.But i have come to believe that looking at gods , in terms of human history is one of the most entertaining and rewarding experiences.
Male gods have never been my cup of tea, except of Hanuman ,who is my hero!
It is the female goddesses who captured my imagination like no other...
She is at once, the good and the bad, she takes life and gives life, completing the circle..
Also, the shift from a matriarchal society to one that is predominantly patriarchal ,can be clearly seen in the changes in the stories, worship and folklore ,concerning the she-goddess..
Like in the pictures above, A 'woman on top' image of a goddess is not something our patriarchal society could digest and in time, it was changed.It is believed that this change came after the Aryan invasion of India.The society that existed here before that, most probably was matriarchal in nature and worshipped a wild ,untamed goddesses who was representative of the wilderness around them.Decades after decades, saw the taming of the devi, who came to be known in a multitude of names and shapes.Kali came to be known as the most ferocious, most wild form of the devi, which every avatar of her could become.The she- goddess, is given a more motherly, more benevolent mask by the educated civilised society..for we need a goddess who goes by our ethics, our morals !
Its funny, how these moral values can come pouring down the sky one fine morning..
Yet, Kali could not be erased from our minds and our customs... She still exists, as a questioning reminder of our past.
we can observe the inner conflicts of a society here, not letting go of what we are, yet pretending to be something else...
and the many fold manifestations of this inner conflict can be seen in the dark secrets of the Indian society ,that surfaces now and then, in the form of child prostitutes, suicides, murders, violence,rape...
Village goddesses all across the nation, are forms of Devi, and once a year ,Kali takes form and the village celebrates with her, glorifying sex, death, decay, and everything that is considered the bad and ugly....
I personally feel that this concept is amazing.This dual nature.The god and the devil as one , inside all of us. Modern stories , for the lack of a devil in our society, puts kali in that place, many a times. But Kali is not the devil.She is the ultimate divine being in this Universe! She is the goddess to whom the gods run to when they are in trouble.She is the consort of Shiva.It is she who makes this hermit alive, makes him aware of the materialistic world, and hence, spins the wheel of time.It is these confusions, these conflicts between tid-bits of culture that we have acquired from everywhere possible , that makes Kali endearing ,exciting and interesting.
The collective feminine divinity has many manifestations, and its no surprise that one of them, is the mother earth, whose freedom, power, resources, desires, fertility and life it self has been robbed of her...but beware! when she takes the form of Kali, revenge will be hers...
When she regains her fertility from our blood, fruits of love will seed the earth once again...
If you r wondering ,why i am writing bout Kali all of a sudden, i think it is justified... The reason is that i found a book called, the 'book of kali' by Seema Mohanty recently and really enjoyed reading it.It is very well written and i feel it is written like a woman, for a woman, about a woman ! i need to read a lot more to understand the implications of this female divinity and her change through time , but this book has helped clear some doubts and sprout seeds for contemplation..
from the book...
"Devi, the Goddess, embodies nature.Nature is wild and free until culture come along, disciplines and domesticates her with laws,ethics and values.The forest becomes a field as culture decides what must be in and what must be out."
"In kali's presence, the most unappealing aspects of cosmos reclaim their divinity"
"She is neither beautiful nor loving; she is dark,gaunt,and bloodthirsty.Her form takes one by surprise-frightening at first,then confounding.Kali forces a re-examination of all preconceived notions associated with divinity"
"Beneath the mask,beneath the self-denial and self discipline exists a Kali in all of us.
Painters and artists of latter days try their very best to cover her nakedness with the skirt of hands and garland of male heads...
yet...Kali seems to crawl out of the carpet we shooed her beneath...with all her nakedness, her desires, her wrath , she comes out to question this superficial culture we have build ...
the society of the do - gooder is suddenly looking for its roots..
everything that we have been trying to hide, everything that we have been suppressing comes out and there is no escape...
Although, strangely, "sarva mangala mangalye sarvartha sadige thrayambike devi narayani namasthuthe" was one of the very first prayers that i learnt as a child, and the only one i remember, i dint know much about the She- goddess of India and how her free spirit was curbed by the norms of our society.
I grew up, very close to a durga temple, and my play school was right in the temple compound..and i played hide and seek in the temple...Yet, i had no clue bout the brutal rape of durga ,by our culture...
I used to like this small temple better than the other big temple near my house.Some how, i liked the fact that this small temple had durga and she is a female, who wud understand me better and of course, also the fact that i knew the pujaris of this temple and they let me play there !
later on... i started questioning the concept of GOD and in teenage rebellion, stopped going to temples, much to mothers dismay..But i did occasionally visit this durga temple... some how, the lady in there dint seem like god..and come on, i literally grew up there!
The last time i went to the temple, it dint feel like my old play house anymore..they had renovated the temple and premises and it looked like a new - age temple.I dint go in..
If the ol' lady was still in there, she would understand... I thought...
God is still an enigma to me .You can call me a curious agnostic whatever.But i have come to believe that looking at gods , in terms of human history is one of the most entertaining and rewarding experiences.
Male gods have never been my cup of tea, except of Hanuman ,who is my hero!
It is the female goddesses who captured my imagination like no other...
She is at once, the good and the bad, she takes life and gives life, completing the circle..
Also, the shift from a matriarchal society to one that is predominantly patriarchal ,can be clearly seen in the changes in the stories, worship and folklore ,concerning the she-goddess..
Like in the pictures above, A 'woman on top' image of a goddess is not something our patriarchal society could digest and in time, it was changed.It is believed that this change came after the Aryan invasion of India.The society that existed here before that, most probably was matriarchal in nature and worshipped a wild ,untamed goddesses who was representative of the wilderness around them.Decades after decades, saw the taming of the devi, who came to be known in a multitude of names and shapes.Kali came to be known as the most ferocious, most wild form of the devi, which every avatar of her could become.The she- goddess, is given a more motherly, more benevolent mask by the educated civilised society..for we need a goddess who goes by our ethics, our morals !
Its funny, how these moral values can come pouring down the sky one fine morning..
Yet, Kali could not be erased from our minds and our customs... She still exists, as a questioning reminder of our past.
we can observe the inner conflicts of a society here, not letting go of what we are, yet pretending to be something else...
and the many fold manifestations of this inner conflict can be seen in the dark secrets of the Indian society ,that surfaces now and then, in the form of child prostitutes, suicides, murders, violence,rape...
Village goddesses all across the nation, are forms of Devi, and once a year ,Kali takes form and the village celebrates with her, glorifying sex, death, decay, and everything that is considered the bad and ugly....
I personally feel that this concept is amazing.This dual nature.The god and the devil as one , inside all of us. Modern stories , for the lack of a devil in our society, puts kali in that place, many a times. But Kali is not the devil.She is the ultimate divine being in this Universe! She is the goddess to whom the gods run to when they are in trouble.She is the consort of Shiva.It is she who makes this hermit alive, makes him aware of the materialistic world, and hence, spins the wheel of time.It is these confusions, these conflicts between tid-bits of culture that we have acquired from everywhere possible , that makes Kali endearing ,exciting and interesting.
The collective feminine divinity has many manifestations, and its no surprise that one of them, is the mother earth, whose freedom, power, resources, desires, fertility and life it self has been robbed of her...but beware! when she takes the form of Kali, revenge will be hers...
When she regains her fertility from our blood, fruits of love will seed the earth once again...
If you r wondering ,why i am writing bout Kali all of a sudden, i think it is justified... The reason is that i found a book called, the 'book of kali' by Seema Mohanty recently and really enjoyed reading it.It is very well written and i feel it is written like a woman, for a woman, about a woman ! i need to read a lot more to understand the implications of this female divinity and her change through time , but this book has helped clear some doubts and sprout seeds for contemplation..
from the book...
"Devi, the Goddess, embodies nature.Nature is wild and free until culture come along, disciplines and domesticates her with laws,ethics and values.The forest becomes a field as culture decides what must be in and what must be out."
"In kali's presence, the most unappealing aspects of cosmos reclaim their divinity"
"She is neither beautiful nor loving; she is dark,gaunt,and bloodthirsty.Her form takes one by surprise-frightening at first,then confounding.Kali forces a re-examination of all preconceived notions associated with divinity"
"Beneath the mask,beneath the self-denial and self discipline exists a Kali in all of us.
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