Guest guest Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 [from Henny] >>> P.S. your perception of the black dog struck me as meaningful, Kalia, because last Saturday I saw a beautiful (if somewhat disconcerting) black murti representing our Lady Kali, accompanied by a black dog. Just thought I'd tell you, I have no idea what the black dog means. >>> The form of Lord Shiva as a scary-looking wandering mendicant, called Bhairava ("the Horrible One") is often shown accompanied by a black (or white) dog. Sometimes he's even riding on the dog's back! This form has a variable number of arms and attributes, but he almost always carries a trident, and a begging bowl made from the skull of Lord Brahma's fifth head. (It's a long story...) Bhairava's Shakti is called Bhairavi, and she has similar attributes. So if the murthi you saw had trident, begging bowl, and a dog, it was probably Bhairavi. Kali more usually has a sword, and a necklace of skulls (or freshly cut heads). If she's dancing in the burning grounds, sometimes there's a jackal nearby. Jackals are scavengers of the dead, and look sort of like dogs. (Compare the Egyptian deity Anubis, with a jackal's head, who was the god of funeral preparations and guide of the soul through the Underworld.) I used to work near an Indian import store, and saw that they had a trishul (Shiva's trident) for sale. A friend asked me to pick it up for her. I walked out of the store into the usual busy Noo Yawk lunchtime street traffic, with my package. A large trident wrapped in a paper bag still looks like a trident! A very tattered homeless woman passed me, put down her shopping bag of worldly possessions, grabbed my trishul and began dancing around me. "You'll look like quite the little devil with this thing," she cackled. Then she stuck it back into my paper bag, lifted her possessions, and disappeared into the crowd. When my friend called to ask if I got her the trident, I replied, "Yes. And it was blessed for you by Bhairavi herself!" -- Len/ Kalipadma Discover Get on-the-go sports scores, stock quotes, news and more. Check it out! http://discover./mobile.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 I'll have to go back, Len/Kalipadma, and take a look at the murti again. I remember that apart from the black dog, she had one foot on a bizarre kind of animal (certainly not Lord Shiva), looking a bit like a cross between a dog and an big lizard or something. Any ideas about that? What you say about Bhairavi reminds me also of Hekate, who was also accompanied by black dogs and had a connection with death and crossroads. Very interesting. And I would have liked to see Bhairavi dancing... with love, Henny , Len Rosenberg <kalipadma108> wrote: > [from Henny] > > >>> P.S. your perception of the black dog struck me as > meaningful, Kalia, > because last Saturday I saw a beautiful (if somewhat > disconcerting) > black murti representing our Lady Kali, accompanied by > a black dog. > Just thought I'd tell you, I have no idea what the > black dog means. >>> > > > The form of Lord Shiva as a scary-looking wandering > mendicant, called Bhairava ("the Horrible One") is > often shown accompanied by a black (or white) dog. > Sometimes he's even riding on the dog's back! This > form has a variable number of arms and attributes, but > he almost always carries a trident, and a begging bowl > made from the skull of Lord Brahma's fifth head. > (It's a long story...) > > Bhairava's Shakti is called Bhairavi, and she has > similar attributes. So if the murthi you saw had > trident, begging bowl, and a dog, it was probably > Bhairavi. > > Kali more usually has a sword, and a necklace of > skulls (or freshly cut heads). If she's dancing in > the burning grounds, sometimes there's a jackal > nearby. Jackals are scavengers of the dead, and look > sort of like dogs. (Compare the Egyptian deity > Anubis, with a jackal's head, who was the god of > funeral preparations and guide of the soul through the > Underworld.) > > I used to work near an Indian import store, and saw > that they had a trishul (Shiva's trident) for sale. A > friend asked me to pick it up for her. I walked out > of the store into the usual busy Noo Yawk lunchtime > street traffic, with my package. A large trident > wrapped in a paper bag still looks like a trident! A > very tattered homeless woman passed me, put down her > shopping bag of worldly possessions, grabbed my > trishul and began dancing around me. "You'll look > like quite the little devil with this thing," she > cackled. Then she stuck it back into my paper bag, > lifted her possessions, and disappeared into the > crowd. > > When my friend called to ask if I got her the trident, > I replied, "Yes. And it was blessed for you by > Bhairavi herself!" > > -- Len/ Kalipadma > > > > > > Discover > Get on-the-go sports scores, stock quotes, news and more. Check it out! > http://discover./mobile.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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