Guest guest Posted February 24, 2004 Report Share Posted February 24, 2004 , "prainbow61" <paulie- rainbow@u...> wrote: > Namaste, > It also reminded me of Durga, > because, although this Goddess figure is not holding any weapons, >Her > torso seems to be dressed in leather armor and Durga sometimes is > pictured riding on the back of a lion. (Usually a tiger, I know, but > sometimes a lion) And that puts the female figure above and almost > one with the feline figure. I cannot say which Goddess is being > depicted in this sculpture, but I really like it. Durga's vehicle is Lion. Pictures which show Her with tiger are not correct. Not correct in the sense that none of the scriptures that I came across which deal with Her woship describe Her as seated on tiger. Lord Shiva specifically tells that She is seated to be meditated as being seated on a Lion or on the head of the demon Mahisha. The Kali-Vilasa tantra gives mantras for Her vehicle, Lion- Simha mantra(Simha= Lion, in sanskrit) and her asana Mahisha- Mahisha mantra. Lion form is also associated with gods. Ex:Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva. Narasimha(Lion head and human body) for Vishnu and Sarabheshvara for Shiva. Rgds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 24, 2004 Report Share Posted February 24, 2004 Paulie, I'm really curious as to whom that lion-woman statue you purchased represents. Satish, my own limited readings about Durga indicate that she has several vehicles. I have a poster portraying the Nine Durgas, and she has different names with different <vahanas>. Shailaputri rides a bull Brahmacharini walks without a vehicle Chandraghanta rides a tiger Kushmanda rides a tiger Skandamata rides a lion Katyayani rides a lion Kalaratri rides a donkey Mahagauri rides a bull Siddhidatri sits on a lotus I have seen the word <simha> translated (imprecisly, I'm sure!) as "large cat," thus incorprating both the Asian lion of the western deserts, and the tiger of the eastern Bengali forests. The bull is undoubtedly borrowed from Durga's consort, Shiva. Don't know where the donkey comes from, but Kalaratri is an odd-looking tribal form of Durga, with black skin and a large Afro hair-do (she looks like Tina Turner!). I went many years ago to the Ganesha Temple in Flushing, New York, to offer my obeisances during Durga Navaratri. While kneeling before her <murthi>, I became aware that all the other divinities had statues of vehicles facing them -- Ganesha had his rat, Vishnu had his eagle, Skanda had his peacock, Shiva had his bull. The image of Durga did NOT have a vehicle facing her (it would have obstructed traffic in the Temple), but **I** was kneeling before Durga, and my name is Leonard, which means "like a lion." The hair stood up on the back of my neck, a chill ran up and down my spine, tears came to my eyes, and I assumed the "lion pose" of Hatha Yoga while I swallowed the lump in my throat and whispered "Durga... simha... aham..." (my fractured Sanskrit for "I am Durga's lion"). May I be worthy of being Durga's vehicle. So I personally prefer the lion, but I'd hardly be able to tell Durga devotees that the tiger is WRONG! -- Len/ Kalipadma On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 22:03:43 -0000 "Satish Arigela" <satisharigela writes: > > Durga's vehicle is Lion. Pictures which show Her with tiger are > not correct. Not correct in the sense that none of the scriptures > that I came across which deal with Her woship describe Her as seated > > on tiger. Lord Shiva specifically tells that She is seated to be > meditated as being seated on a Lion or on the head of the demon > Mahisha. > > The Kali-Vilasa tantra gives mantras for Her vehicle, Lion- Simha > mantra(Simha= Lion, in sanskrit) and her asana Mahisha- Mahisha > mantra. > > Lion form is also associated with gods. Ex:Lord Vishnu and Lord > Shiva. Narasimha(Lion head and human body) for Vishnu and > Sarabheshvara for Shiva. > > Rgds > ______________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 27, 2004 Report Share Posted February 27, 2004 , kalipadma@j... wrote: > Satish, my own limited readings about Durga indicate that she has >several > vehicles. I have a poster portraying the Nine Durgas, and she has > different names with different <vahanas>. Namaste, Pictures and photos are not reliable sources of knowledge. Am aware of the poster you talk about. Different names have differeent vahanas. But the name Durga has Simha-Lion as vahana. Sanskrit words for Lion are Simha,Kesari and Haryaksha. Sanskrit words for Tiger are Vyaghra and Shardula. I never came across a work or a stotra which praised Her as Shardula Vahana. She is praised as Simha vahana, or Haryaksha Vahana(in Lalita Trishati). Ex: I can ask an artist to paint Durga on dinosaur and it may become famous after a few decades. However it will have no scriptural sanction. Consider: All(most) old sculptures of Durga on temples show her as riding Lion. Sculptures showing Her riding tiger are either rare or non existent. >Are the pigeons cooked and eaten as <prasad> at the Kamakhya Temple? >(Sounds like a bad idea, if they're infected.) This is India. Not China. :-) >I recall reading that Lord Shiva once lost his temper when too many >of >his devotees were asking for boons, and he turned them all into >pigeons. >Ever since then, Shiva temples have purportedly attracted flocks of >pigeons around them. Such stories are for kids and meant for fun. Rgds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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