Shakti: Power and Femininity in Indian Art

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Exotic India has come through again, this time with a great essay on

the meaning of Shakti in Hindu tradition. Here's the intro; full link

at bottom of post:

 

Long ago, there reigned a mighty king named Ila. Once while hunting,

he came upon a grove where Shiva was making love with Parvati, and --

surprise of surprises -- Shiva had taken the form of a woman to

please her. Everything in the woods, even the trees had become

female, and as he approached even King Ila himself was transformed

into a woman! Shiva laughed out aloud and told him to ask for any

boon except that of masculinity. Thus says the Shaktisangama Tantra:

 

Woman is the creator of the universe,

the universe is her form;

woman is the foundation of the world,

she is the true form of the body.

 

In woman is the form of all things,

of all that lives and moves in the world.

There is no jewel rarer than woman,

no condition superior to that of a woman.

 

No wonder even the most powerful of gods, like Shiva above, crave to

enter the feminine form, hoping to acquire at least some of her

glorious power. According to the Devi-Mahatmya:

 

By you this universe is borne,

By you this world is created,

O Devi, by you it is protected.

 

The earliest term applied to the divine feminine, which still retains

its popular usage, is Shakti. The word Shakti is used in a

bewildering variety of ways ranging from its use as a way of

signifying the ultimate primordial creative power, to expressing the

capacity or power of words to convey meaning. Etymologically it is

derived from the root 'shak,' meaning potency or the potential to

produce, an assertion of Her inherent creative aptitude.

 

All interpretations of the word 'shakti' hold common one parameter,

namely power. Specifically, Shakti means power, force and feminine

energy. She represents the fundamental creative instinct underlying

the cosmos, and is the energizing force of all divinity, of every

being and every thing. Devotees believe the whole universe to be a

manifestation of Shakti, who is also known by her general name Devi,

from the Sanskrit root 'div' which means to shine.

 

This feminine power has been given expression in a multitude of

female figures as also in abstract representations, both in sculpture

and painting.

 

Source: http://www.exoticindia.com/article/shakti/