Ardhanareshwara and Ardhanareshwari

[Guest guest]

Nora is a master wiseacre. I give her an honorary Phd in wittiness.

[Guest guest]

Namaste Krishna Kumar M:

 

You wrote, in response Nora's recent post, *** I think you missed the

point. ***

 

Respectfully, I would suggest that you might also have missed Nora's

point, the larger (and although playful, rather accurate) tone of her

response.

 

You wrote: *** On Ardhanarishwari/a: Can't understand Ardhanarishwari

idea. Iswaris are by definition "Poorna" nari's. Why just half?

Ardhanarishwara does make sense - an Iswara with "ardha" nari. ***

 

First of all, for those who don't know any Sanskrit, your statement

translates roughly as, "I can't understand the 'Goddess Who Is Half

Woman' idea. Goddesses are by definition 'fully' women. Why just half?

[On the other hand,] the 'God Who Is Half Woman' *does* make sense --

a God with 'half' a woman."

 

The terms Ishwara (Male Ruler; Lord; God) and Ishwari (Female Ruler;

Goddess) both indicate, in this context, Deities. The term "nari"

(woman; female), on the other hand, does not suggest divinity. (Thus

in some -- but far from all -- depictions of Siva Ardhanareshwara, the

non-divine "female" side is one-armed while the divine "Siva" side is

multiple-armed, holding his various identifiers.)

 

As you know, Ardhanareshwara carries layer after layer of symbolic

meaning; but at this most overt level, the meaning is basically that

the One Supreme God contains and resolves all apparent opposites and

contradictions within Himself -- thus, He is vast enough to contain

both what we call Male and what we call Female.

 

Ardhareshwari, the "Goddess Who Is Half Woman" conveys exactly the

same idea, except from a pure-Shakta theological standpoint: She is

the One Supreme Goddess who contains and resolves all apparent

opposites and contracdictions within Herself -- thus She is vast

enough to contain both what we call Male and what we call Female.

 

Where is the problem then? Do you feel that She should be called "The

Goddess Who Is Half Man?" Sure, I can see the logic in it; but the

problem is that there already exists an established iconography for

Ardhanareshwari, who is also called simply Ardhanari ("Half Female").

 

You state: *** I am not sure if giving breasts to Vishnu will make him

a Devi. I beleive to make a Deva or Devi image there are good

iconographic rules to be obeyed. Playing with Photoshop is unlikely to

make a Narayani out of Narayana. ***

 

I understand that you are here responding in kind to Nora's teasing.

But you are quite correct in this respect: "To make a Deva or Devi

image there are good iconographic rules to be obeyed." In the case of

Ardhanareshwari or Ardhanari, the key iconographic indicator is

generally that the "female" half is placed on the right side and the

"male" half on the left; whereas in the case of Ardhanareshwara, the

female side is generally placed on the left.

 

Having said that, I would add that (as you undoubtedly know already)

all of these corresponding Devas and Devis -- Indra, Indrani; Varaha,

Varahi; etc. -- are merely aspects or counterparts of one another, and

all of them in turn are simply aspects of the One Supreme Deity. In

most cases the distinction is simple: the female icons are the devis,

the males are the devas. As Nora pointed out, the theological

difference is really just a matter of the approach; a Saiva is more

likely to approach through the devas, the various aspects of Siva --

whereas a Sakta is more likely to approach through the devis, the

various aspects of Devi.

 

In the case of Ardhanareshwara, however, we are so close to the Bindu,

to the Ultimate Unity of these two that they are already represented

not as separate counterparts, but as a single "divine androgyne," if

you will. To the extent that sectarian differences of approach still

exist at that point (and yes, to some extent they do), the -a versus

-i ending is the only remaining etymological distinction.

 

So I would say Nora answered your question quite correctly. Given a

choice, the Sakta will almost always approach the Ultimate Divine

through its female aspect. Why? Because that's the Sakta system. As

Guruji Amrita once humorously put it:

 

"Can you say that if I follow a certain set of instructions, I'll

attain Brahma Jnana? I'm afraid not. What is Brahma Jnana, after all?

It's creativity; a way to manufacture, to create new things. And is

there any end to creativity? Is it a reachable goal or destination? Of

course it's not. That's why I say moksha is like a carrot dangling in

front of your eyes. It can enhance your creativity and that's about

it. Every religion is a carrot; the cult of Devi is a carrot too -–

but at least it's a loveable carrot. If you are a hare, you'll love it!"

 

So kindly forgive Nora and I; we are simply speaking for the hares! ;-)

 

aim mAtangyai namaH

 

DB

 

 

, "Krishnakumar M."

<krishna_kumar_m wrote:

>

> Namaste!

>

> With my limited knowledge of Sanskrit, Ardhanariswari means "a

female who is half female". Not much meaningful. There is more

meaning if you say "a male who is half female" (Ardha nariswara in

Sanskrit) or "a female who is half male" (not sure if this meaning can

be got with legal Sanskrit constructions using these words - ardha,

nari, iswara or iswari).

>

> BTW, I do not think there is any word called "Indraini", while

Indrani is ok. Varahi, Narayani are all correct.

>

> Also, I am not sure if giving breasts to Vishnu will make him a

Devi. I beleive to make a Deva or Devi image there are good

iconographic rules to be obeyed. Playing with Photoshop is unlikely to

make a Narayani out of Narayana.

>

> Just my 2c worth!

>

> ||om tat sat||

>

> NMadasamy <ashwini_puralasamy wrote:

> , "Krishnakumar M."

> <krishna_kumar_m@> wrote:

> >

> > On Ardhanarishwari/a: Can't understand Ardhanarishwari idea.

> Iswaris are by definition "Poorna" nari's. Why just half?

> Ardhanarishwara does make sense - an Iswara with "ardha" nari.

> >

> > || Namah Shivayai cha Namah Shivaya ||

> >

>

> We are shaktas remember. We like to turn everybody into female. So

> if u have Varaha, we call it Varahi. You call Indra, Indraini for

> us. Narayana becomes Narayani. So Ardhanarishwara, we call

> Ardhanarishwari.

>

> Once we were doing this Goddess of the week series and have run out

> of ideas of who to put. One of our senior said : lets put so and so

> { i forgot the name of the devi]. But I said we do not have the pic

> of Her. He remarked : She look like Visnu, So lets put Visnu there

> and give him the breasts. That will make him look very feminine.