The Shakta Approach to Ardhanarishwara

[Guest guest]

"When you make the two one, and when you make the inner as the outer

and the outer as the inner and the above as the below, and when you

make the male and female into a single one, so that the male will not

be male and the female not be female .... then you shall enter the

Kingdom of Heaven."- Jesus of Nazareth, in the Gnostic Gospel of

Thomas, Logion 22

 

"The Ardhanari cult seems to have had its base in Devi, the Feminine

principle, and not Ishvara, the Masculine principle." - Raju

Kalidos, "The Twain-Face of Ardhanari," 1996.

 

ARDHANARISHWARI

 

In both Shakta and Shaiva schools of Hinduism, Ultimate Reality is

conceived as the Divine Unity of Shakti (the Divine Feminine) and

Shiva (the Divine Masculine). They are One, They are All, They are

God.

 

Paradoxically, however, this apparently "Unified Deity" is almost

always considered a manifestation of Shiva, not Shakti. Consider the

name most frequently applied to this "Divine Androgyne" --

Ardhanarishwara, with the masculine -a ending. The etymology breaks

down as (ardha = half) + (nari = woman, female) + (ishwara = Lord,

God, Male Ruler) -- with the resulting meaning, "The God Who Is Half

Woman."

 

As Shaktas, however, we apply the title Ardhanarishwari, using the

feminine ending -i when we change the final element of the Deity's

title to ishwari = Goddess, or Female Ruler. Thus the meaning

becomes, "The Goddess Who is Half Woman."

 

This subtle distinction may seem, at first glance, to be little more

than idle wordplay. But in fact, it is a vital expression of the very

foundation of Shakta faith and theology. Shakta creation myths place

the Goddess at their center, taking the Tantric view that the nature

of the Cosmos (or Macrocosm) is reflected in the human body (or

Microcosm). Since experience shows that it is the Female who gestates

and gives birth to new life, Shaktism finds it absurd to posit that a

Masculine Principle somehow usurps Her role on the Cosmic scale.

 

Indeed, all Shakta scriptures declare (and many non-Shakta Hindu

scriptures suggest) that Devi is ultimately Brahman (the Supreme

Divine), and that Shiva and all other gods and goddesses -- however

mighty and worthy of worship -- are merely Her aspects. In the Shakta

view, then, the Ardhanarishwari illustrates Devi, the Goddess,

producing Her consort Shiva out of Herself, in a perfect balancing of

Her Feminine and Masculine aspects.

 

Skeptics, of course, might argue that this entire analysis misses the

point. After all, the Supreme Divine is neither Female nor Male --

rather, it encompasses and transcends all gender distinctions. And

this is, of course, true at the highest level of abstraction. But

consider the words of the Vishnu Samhita:

 

Without a form, how can God be meditated upon? If [the Divine is]

without form, where will the mind fix itself? When there is nothing

for the mind to attach itself to, it will slip away from meditation

or will glide into a state of slumber. Therefore the wise will

meditate on some form, remembering, however, that the form is a

superimposition and not a reality.

 

In Shaktism, we choose (or, more accurately, are chosen by Her) to

approach the Supreme Divine from the Left Hand side; and those of us

who require a form (and even some of us who don't, viz. the

Srividyas, who prefer yantra worship of the Goddess) invariably

envision a Feminine form. As defined by the late (d. 2001), great

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami:

 

Shaktism is the religion followed by those who worship the Supreme as

the Divine Mother -- Shakti or Devi -- in Her many forms, both gentle

and fierce. ... [it] is one of the four primary sects of

Hinduism. ... In philosophy and practice, Shaktism greatly resembles

Saivism, both faiths promulgating, for example, the same ultimate

goals of advaitic union with Siva and moksha. But Shaktas worship

Shakti as the Supreme Being exclusively, as the dynamic aspect of

Divinity, while Siva is considered solely transcendent and is not

worshiped."

 

Whatever their particular take on the details, Shaivas and Shaktas

generally agree that Ardhanarashwari is, ultimately, all about

balance. And although, in practice, that "balance" has been skewed

decidedly to Shiva's advantage, it should be clearly understood that

the Shakta conception of Ardhanarashwari is not simply a "re-skewing"

of the image Devi's favor. Rather, it is an attempt to restore a true

balance between the two, and thereby to clarify and fully realize the

figure's actual meaning. As for our designation of the figure as a

Goddess form; once again, the explanation is simple: While Shaktas

fully recognize that all religious paths can be legitimate routes to

the Divine Reality, our approach is explicitly through Divine

Feminine -- who is Shakti, who is Shiva, who is Everything.

 

THE ICONOGRAPHY OF ARDHANARISHWARI

 

Within the Shakta tradition, Devi is identified as the source of all

manifestation,

male and female ... it is her body that splits in half. In other

words, she is the

androgynous divine." - Ellen Goldberg, "The Lord Who Is Half Woman,"

2002.

 

The Ardhanarishwari/-a is generally represented in artistic

depictions as being divided along a central vertical axis -- the

right side is Male; the left side is Female. They represent the unity

of many of Hinduism's dualities -- He is Purusha, She is Prakriti; He

is Ida, She is Pingala; He is the Right-Hand Path, She is the Left-

Hand Path, etc.

The canonical (Shaiva) iconography usually shows the male side with

His hair matted and piled in the manner of an ascetic. He wears a

leopard skin around His waist, and a garland of freshly severed heads

around His neck. Generally, serpents coil around His arm, neck,

and/or ankle. Ganga is often shown descending from His locks.

 

The left, female side wears a sari or other feminine attire

(invariably rich, and in accordance with the fashion of the period in

which the image was created), and a rich collection of jewelry,

including -- in later portrayals -- a nose ornament, which a more

recent (probably Mughal-era) accessory among Indian women. There are

frequently tracings of henna on Her hands and feet. Parvati's mount,

a lion or tiger, is generally seen behind Her, and Nandi the bull,

Shiva's vehicle, behind Him.

 

RESTORING A LOST BALANCE

 

Unfortunately, in most Ardhanari images, this ideal blance is

iconographically imperfect. In most cases, Shiva is given a distinct

edge -- for example, He is often depicted with the third eye

(trinetra, symbolizing supreme transcendent knowledge) solely on His

side of the forehead, while Shakti wears only the kumkum bindu

(vermillion dot) denoting Her status as His wife and helper. In many

images, Shiva's side has two arms while Shakti has only one,

underlining Her secondary status (recall that Ardhanarishwara is said

to be half-woman, not half-Goddess). In addition to such symbolic

cues, the Indian scholar Raju Kalidos -- who has extensively examined

Devi-focused approaches to Ardhanari -- notes that popular

perceptions are also tainted by mainstream Hinduism's traditional

belief in the inherent inferiority and impurity of "the left."

Canadian specialist Ellen Goldberg explains:

 

"Presented as the left half of her husband, Parvati/Shakti, as the

spouse-goddess, is often subdued and contained in this two-in-one

image by the secondary status assigned to it via the subtle markings

of cultures." - Goldberg (see link below).

 

Kalidos offers evidence that Ardhanari was originally a Goddess

symbol that was "gradually syncretized over time with Shiva. This was

an effective mechanism of acculturation and social fusion, whereby

matrifocal [i.e. Goddess-centered] elements are assimilated into the

mythology of Brahmin gods as wife and consort."

 

In Eastern and Southern India (traditional strongholds of Goddess

worship), first-millennium Shaktas challenged such usurpation of the

Feminine Divine by boldly placing Shakti on the "dominant" right side

of their Ardhanari images, as seen in the accompanying temple

sculpture, c. 800 CE, from Tamil Nadu.

 

In time, however, Shaktas simply began to honor to left -- after all,

if Ardhanari truly represents perfect balance, then neither side can

be inferior to the other. The idea of honoring the left also explains

the approximately contemporary emergence of Tantra's vamachara

or "left-hand path" of worship, denoting a series of secret,

extremely powerful (and rather notorious) ritual approaches to Devi.

However, that is only one approach to Her. For many Shaktas, "the

left" is simply a symbol for the feminine aspect of the Divine they

choose (or again, are chosen) to worship.

 

Today, Shaktas need not seek out the image of a "dominant" Shakti;

the perfect yin/yang equality of a truly balanced Ardhanari offers

the far more beautiful poetry of complete Divine Unity. The modern

poster art depicted at the top of this page is an excellent example

of apparently bias-free iconography, featuring a Shakti and Shiva in

perfect balance -- both sharing the third eye of transcendence; both

with two arms; both accompanied by their respective vahanas, or

mounts.

 

ARDHANARISHWARI AND HATHAYOGA

 

Goldberg observes that restoring the true Shakti-Shiva balance of

Ardhanari enables us, as devotees, to overcome purely human biases

and prejudices that can otherwise limit the image's usefulness as a

meditative tool. As a counterbalance to her scholarly analysis,

Goldberg consulted with her guru, Swami Vinit Muni (1938-1996) and

his disciple Swami Om Shivatva for an "insider" commentary on her

studies. She summarizes their response as follows:

 

"Ardhanarishwara provides a meditational map that assists the

[yogi/ni] in understanding the dynamics of transformation in his/her

own [sadhana]. … When yoga is ultimately realized, there are no

remaining manifestations, no male and no female. This is the great

truth of Ardhanarishwara."

 

When she asked the swamis whether there was any value in a "feminist"

approach to Ardhanari -- for instance, by pursuing the question why

Shiva is so often perceived as dominant -- they told her that it

could be a very useful approach indeed. She explains:

 

"The image of Ardhanarishwara does not merely present a synthesis of

masculine and feminine gender traits, but rather attempts to portray

a fundamental belief in the possibility of personal transcendence,

usually understood as the attainment of nondual consciousness. …

[However,] it can only capture this ideal if and when the ego of

gender -- which at times distorts and privileges the male half of the

image -- has been recognized and [overcome]."

 

Here's to balance, folks.

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe

>From the Shakti Sadhana Homepage:

http://shaktisadhana.50megs.com/shivanshakti2.html