Durga, Kali and the two demons

Legend has it that two demons were vanquished by The Goddess Durga and her other manifestation, Kali as described in the ancient Upanishad scriptures called the Devi Puranas. Durga Puja celebrates the triumph over one of the demons – Mahisashura; Kali Puja – victory over the other – Raktabija.

According to scripture, Mahisasura’s father, Rambha, a demon king, had fallen madly in love with Mahishi, an Asura who could transform into a buffalo at will, at times maintaining hybrid form. He took her as his wife – and while with child, she was abducted by an ex-lover from her abode. The two fought; Rambha was killed.

Devastated, a grieving Mahishi leapt on to Rambha’s funeral pyre – an act which moved Lord Yama, God of Death. He halted the migration of Rambha’s soul, and redirected it into Mahishi’s womb. Out of the cremation fire emerged twins: Mahishasura, the son conceived of Rambha and Mahishi; and Raktabija, the reincarnated Rambha.

Mahishasura was a great soldier and his penances garnered him a boon from Lord Brahma, the creator in the Hindu pantheon. Arrogance would be his undoing: he asked to be impervious from death by either man or god, for surely he had nothing to fear from a mere woman.

Raktabija had also gained a special power: wherever his blood would fall, his seed would sprout, and he would be duplicated.

The demon army led by these twins were terrorizing the known worlds. So, the Devas(Demi-Gods) appealed to the holy trinity Brahma, the Creator, Vishnu, the Preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer to eliminate the threat. Together, they created the ten armed Goddess, Durga. They, along with the Devas armed and empowered her. In turn, she manifested their combined power.

Unprotected from being killed by a female and underestimating the female he faced in battle, Mahishasura proposed marriage to Durga when he met her on the battlefield. He, being ego personified left her enraged at his arrogance. In killing him, Durga demonstrates that we must conquer our ego on the path to enlightenment.

Similarly, Raktabij represents desire for which there is no end to satisfaction – one drop of blood begetting another demon, one craving satiated giving rise to another one. Durga, assuming the form of Kali, cut the head off of Raktabij and drank all of his blood, so not even a single drop would fall: her solution being to eliminate all desire before it has a chance to sprout.

What is knowledge?

"Nothing is as pure as knowledge in this world. Knowledge is higher than all rituals. All activities find fulfilment only in knowledge." - Bhagwad Gita..

One of the most famous questions of the Upanishads is: "What is that, knowing which, everything else is known?" (Mundaka Upanishad 1.1.3). The technical term for the study of knowledge, its characteristics and its limitations is "epistemology". In ancient India, nyaya - one of the six classical schools of philosophy - dealt primarily with epistemology (and so did many of the Upanishads).

The harmonious existence of different systems of knowledge was the framework of the three epistemologies given in the Upanishads. Knowledge is said to be at three levels or three realms. The first is called adhibhuta - the knowledge that belongs to the material world, or what we call "facts". A large part of modern science and factual based knowledge will come under this heading.

The second is called adhidaiva - the knowledge that belongs to the non-material sphere, such as emotions, ideas, and beliefs, or what we call "values". The emotional response to a work of art or an abstract idea conceived by the mind - all these are parts of adhidaiva.

The third realm is called adhyatma - the knowledge that belongs to the self, such as personal experiences and insights. Inner awareness and consciousness come under this heading.

This framework can be extended not just to our reading but also to various activities we undertake in our daily lives. Some activities are merely at the level of adhibhuta, like taking care of the body or managing finances. Activities like prayer or engagement with an art form will be at the level of adhidaiva. And those activities that involve contemplation and meditation are at the level of adhyatma.

While adhibhuta works in the realm of matter (and is realised by experimentation and logic), adhidaiva works in the realm of human psyche (and is realised by faith and imagination), and adhyatma works in the realm of the self (and is realised by experience and wisdom). All these three realms are essential for living a complete human life. And each realm gives us a fresh layer of meaning.

The philosophy of Hinduism in ancient times with the existence of these three epistemologies, rarely saw clashes between religion and science, art and science, religion and morals, art and ethics. They realised that truths can be at different levels, applicable to different realms.

Apotropaic Magic

Apotropaic magic is a ritual observance that is intended to turn away evil. It can be as elaborate as the use of magical ceremonies or spells, or as simple as the vaguely superstitious carrying or wearing of a "good luck" token or "charm" (perhaps on a charm bracelet), crossing one's fingers or knocking on wood.
"Apotropaic" is an adjective that means "intended to ward off evil" or "averting or deflecting evil" and commonly refers to objects such as amulets or other symbols. The word is of Greek origin: apotrope literally means "turning away" or averting (as in "averting the evil eye"). 

Apotropaic symbols


The Gorgon


The Gorgon, flanked by lionesses and showing her belt clasp of serpents, as depicted at the pediment of the 7th century B.C. temple on display at the Archaeological Museum of Corfu, Greece

The Gorgon, flanked by lionesses and showing her belt clasp of serpents, as depicted at the pediment of the seventh century B.C. temple on display at the Archaeological Museum of Corfu

Among the Ancient Greeks the most widely-used image intended to avert evil was that of the Gorgon, the head of which now may be called the Gorgoneion, which features wild eyes, fangs, and protruding tongue. The full figure of the Gorgon holds the apex of the oldest remaining Greek temple where she is flanked by two lionesses. The Gorgon head was mounted on the aegis and shield of Athena.

** does it remind us of Kali 


Sheela na Gigs

The doorways and windows of buildings were felt to be particularly vulnerable to evil. On churches and castles, gargoyles or other grotesque faces and figures such as Sheela na Gigs and Hunky Punks would be carved to frighten away witches and other malign influences. Those other openings, fireplaces or chimneys, may also have been carved. Rather than figural carvings, these seem to have been simple geometric or letter carvings. Where a wooden post was used to support a chimney opening, this was often an easier subject for amateur carving. 


Phalli

In ancient Greece, phalli were believed to have apotropaic qualities. Often stone reliefs would be placed above doorways, but there were also many three-dimensional renditions erected across the Greek world. Most notable of these were the urban monuments found on the island of Delos. Grotesque, satyr-like beaded faces, sometimes with the pointed cap of the workman, appeared often over the doors of ovens and kilns, to protect the work from fire and mishap. A similar use of phallic representations to ward off the evil eye remains popular in modern Bhutan and is associated with the 500 year old Buddhist tradition of Drupka Kinley, and is paralleled by other south Asian uses of the lingam symbol.

Lajja Gauri from Naganatha Temple, Bijapur District, Karnataka, India

This is a stone sculpture from Naganatha Temple, Bijapur District, Karnataka, India, c. 650 CE, now in the Badami Museum.


Bijapur District, Karnataka, India

This is Devi as the Creatress, as Mother of the Universe, as the Life-Giving Force of Nature, in a bold, uncompromising display of the Divine Feminine Principle. The late scholar David Kinsley, who wrote several popular studies of the Goddess in India, noted that Lajja Gauri's headlessness is meant to focus Her devotee's attention away from Her individual personalities, and upon Her cosmogonic function as the Source of Everything That Is. He wrote in 1986:

"Some very ancient ... examples have been discovered in India of nude goddesses squatting or with their thighs spread ... The arresting iconographic feature of these images is their sexual organs, which are openly displayed. These figures often have their arms raised above their bodies and are headless or faceless. Most likely, the headlessness of the figures [is intended to] focus attention on their physiology, [placing the] emphasis on sexual vigor, life, and nourishment."

Without a doubt, the most comprehensive monograph to date on Lajja Gauri is Bolon's Forms of the Goddess Lajja Gauri in Indian Art, published in 1992 by Penn State University Press. Bolon judges that the sculpture of the goddess above is probably the finest Lajja Gauri sculpture still in existence. Here is her lyrical description of the idol:

The modeling of the female figure is supple and sensitive. The suggestion of soft, sagging stomach flesh, like the slackening of a woman's abdomen after childbirth, is masterly. The breasts are firm with folds of flesh beneath them. The arms and shoulders are delicate and feminine. The legs, in uttanapad, are spread more naturally than in other [Lajja Gauri] images with the knees up, the feet are flexed with soles up, and the toes are tensed. The nude body is ornamented with necklace, channavira [body-encompassing jewelry that hangs from the neck, crosses between the breasts, passes around the waist and up the back], girdle, bracelets, and armlets that are like a vine tendril wrapping around the arms and actually ending in a leaf. Tassels of the anklets also seem plantlike. There is a cloth woven through the thighs.

"... The half-open lotus flower, sitting like a ruff on the shoulders, is turned three-quarters toward the viewer. The goddess holds, to either side of her lotus head, a half-open, smaller lotus flower, the stalk of which winds around her hand. The fingers themselves have a tentril-like quality. The fingers of the right hand seem to form a swastika, symbol of fortune and well-being. No doubt, the suggestion of her relation to vegetation is intended. ... This image is a masterpiece of fluid modeling and conscious symbol-making."

Lajja Gauri from the Sangameshwara Temple, Kudavelli, Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh, India

This is a stone sculpture of Lajja Gauri from the Sangameshwara
Temple, Kudavelli, Kurnool District,Andhra Pradesh,
India, c. 650 CE, now in the Alampur Museum.

The modeling of the female figure is supple and sensitive. The suggestion of soft, sagging stomach flesh, like the slackening of a woman's abdomen after childbirth, is masterly. The breasts are firm with folds of flesh beneath them. The arms and shoulders are delicate and feminine. The legs, in uttanapad, are spread naturally with the knees up, the feet are flexed with soles up, and the toes are tensed. The nude body is ornamented with necklace, girdle, bracelets, and armlets that are like a vine tendril wrapping around the arms and actually ending in a leaf. 

Lajja Gauri in Kamakhya Temple, Assam, India

Lajja Gauri in Kamakhya temple, Assam

Sanskrit scholar, Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, identifies this Vedic Goddess as "the female principle of creation or infinity". O'Flaherty's colleague, Carol Radcliffe Bolon, agrees that the "form of the Goddess most widely known today as Lajja Gauri fits the Vedic descriptions of the Mother of the Gods, Aditi," but notes that the unlettered artisans who carved Her images and the devotees who worshipped Her were probably unaware of this formidable pedigree.

In this case, however, ignorance of priestly interpretations was probably not much of a handicap: Lajja's visual message seems abundantly clear. Her frequent juxtaposition with the Shiva linga (an aniconic, phallic form of the Divine Masculine Principle), and Her association with lions and the god Ganesh, suggest beyond a doubt that She was considered a manifestation of the Supreme Devi, specifically Parvati (who is also called Gauri). Her size (always equal to Shiva's), and the prominent display of Her full breasts (suggesting life-giving nurture and sustenance) and yoni (vulva, womb; suggesting generative, creative power) indicate that She probably served as a Feminine counterpart to the Masculine linga. 

Whatever Lajja Gauri's ultimate origins, She is clearly a very auspicious Goddess. Everything about Her suggests life, creativity, and abundance. Her images are almost always associated with springs, waterfalls and other sources of running water -- vivid symbols of life-giving sustenance. Her belly usually protrudes, suggesting fullness and/or pregnancy; in earlier sculptures, Her torso was often portrayed as an actual pot, another ancient symbol of wealth and abundance. Lajja Gauri's head is usually a lotus flower, an extremely powerful, elemental symbol of both material and spiritual well-being. (Interestingly, today's images of the popular Goddess Lakshmi -- patroness of wealth and material fulfillment -- are also rife with water, pots and lotuses.) 

Her images are virtually always prone, laying at or below floor level in her characteristic uttanapad posture, as though rising from the Earth itself, a manifestation of the primordial Yoni from which all life springs. Indeed, Her birth/sexual posture unambiguously denotes fertility and reproductive power. This is Devi as the Creatress, as Mother of the Universe, as the Life-Giving Force of Nature, in a bold, uncompromising display of the Divine Feminine Principle. She is besides the protector of light that illuminates all life and ensures consciousness.

The iconic model of Lajja Gauri takes its source in the Mesopotamian civilization. Her representation was brought by the trade in the civilization of the early Indus. Lajja Gauri-like pre dates the Vedas.

Swastika in Christianity

On the walls of the Christian catacombs in Rome, the symbol of the Swastika appears next to the words “ZOTIKO ZOTIKO” which means “Life of Life”. It can also be found on the window openings of the mysterious Lalibela Rock churches of Ethiopia, and in various other churches around the world.