The Goddess as a Symbol of Feminine Power

[Guest guest]

Invoking the Goddess in us

Deccan Herald

Nov. 30, 2007

Womens Feature Service

 

Anael, from Israel, is amazed at the scene in front of her:

men, women and children bow before a Goddess while a

priest chants prayers. As a teacher who has served in the

Israeli army, she is familiar with women power. But, the

divine as a female? As Anael, on a visit to Kolkata,

witnesses the proceedings of Durga Puja - the grandest

festival in Bengal - she is mesmerised by the life-sized deity

of lotus-eyed, long-haired Durga, astride a lion, her multiple

arms holding different weapons, piercing Mahishasura (a

demon) with her lance. It is a new concept for Anael, though

she points out that Judaism has some revered female figures

such as Sara and Rachel.

 

Dan Brown's bestseller, 'The Da Vinci Code', has

popularised the concept of the 'Sacred Feminine' only

recently [in the West]; but in India, it is a living tradition

dating back many millennia, to the Indus Valley civilisation.

The Rig Veda is the first known Hindu text to acknowledge

the female embodiment of the Divine. Devi or Shakti

worship has continued to be an integral part of Hindu

tradition down the ages.

 

Durga is the slayer of Mahishasura, the demon epitomising

all evils, hence our inner demons: anger, fear, hate, lust; she

is also Supreme Mother Goddess, protecting all those who

seek Her protection. In totality, she embodies Shakti - the

female force, latent in each human being, which manifests

itself variously.

 

Over the years, however, Durga's symbolism for women in

India has been undergoing a change. Increasingly, women

are looking upon her as a symbol of feminine power, rather

than a divine mother, an inspiration to reclaim rights that

society has, over the centuries, deprived them of. Madhu

Kishwar, Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing

Societies and Founder-editor, 'Manushi', points out, " Any

woman who manifests extraordinary strength and is totally

unafraid of men begins to be treated as a manifestation of

Goddess Durga. There are many such mini-Durgas

everywhere. " This imagery of a strong woman invoking her

own 'Shakti' (power) has also been made use of not only in

Bollywood but also in films by intellectuals like Satyajit

Ray and Rituparno Ghosh.

 

And, increasingly, women are turning to this incarnation for

inspiration. At a recent convention on women's

empowerment in Delhi, Girija Vyas, Chairperson, National

Commission for Women, made an interesting comparison -

she likened contemporary Indian women to Durga, and the

various legislations ensuring gender equality to the different

weapons carried by the Goddess.

 

Indians and Hindu women are not the only ones who seem

to resonate to this theme. It is finding cross-cultural

legitimacy, too.

 

Viktoria Lyssenko, academician, Moscow Institute of

Philosophy, says that as a woman she finds the image of

Shakti in Indian religious tradition very encouraging.

Russian Orthodox Christianity also liberally uses the

concept of the " Divine Mother " in Mary. Therefore, her

students, mostly women, find the concept of Shakti easy to

relate to.

 

Ruchira Ganguly-Scrase, an anthropologist and Convener,

Asia Pacific Studies, University of Wollongong, Australia,

has a framed poster in her office depicting a stylised Durga.

" It shows one side of Durga's body where her arms are

empty and on the other she possesses multiple weapons. It is

meant to depict the dualistic nature of womanhood in India -

power and its absence. " It was a poster Ganguly-Scrase

picked up many years ago in Kolkata. " It certainly inspires

me! " she says. And, her students, especially of the " feminist

persuasion " are " immediately struck by it " .

 

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