Śiva, the Embodiment of All Polarities
In Hinduism, the Supreme Reality (Brahman) manifests itself in both male and female form. Every god has a goddess counterpart, also called consort, and numerous Hindus worship the Great Goddess exclusively. Within Hinduism, goddesses play a major role in the religious tradition. Indeed, the word “goddess” in Hinduism is Shakti, which also means “power” or “energy”. The Hindu Goddesses contribute greatly to the power that Hindu Gods have. The divine feminine is an equal counterpart to the divine masculine, and hence manifests herself as the Trimūrti herself. Therefore, each female Goddess has a cosmic function of creation. The most important goddesses in Hinduism are: Sītā, the consort of Rāma, Sarasvatī,
…show more content…
Her name comes from the term kala, which means both time and black and hence shows her role as a black-skinned goddess who has the power of time. With this power of time, Kālī devours everyone. At the end of each cosmic cycle she eats the entire universe and therefore destroys ignorance. She devours the illusions that obstruct liberation. Her action on a first look may seem horrible but in reality she ensures the stability of the cosmos. By devouring demons and releasing people from the state of ignorance, she avoids the cosmos to be unbalanced. Kālī is often depicted as an independent goddess but she can also be portrayed as the consort of Śiva. In one myth Kinsley recounts: “Śiva challenges her to a dance contest and defeats her when she is unable (or unwilling) to match his energetic tāndava dance”(Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses, p. 119) In contrast with Pārvatī who tends to calm Śiva, Kali tends to excite Śiva to become more dangerous. In the attached image, Kali is naked, black-skinned, untied hair and ornamented with emblems of death. With one of her arm she has a weapon, while with another of her arm she is a head. She is also sticking her tongue out. All of these elements symbolize the fact that Kalī is a goddess who kills and devours demons. She is represented as a social and political
The goddesses Played a vital role in Greek society for they were responsible for many aspects of Greek. life, i.e., a life of a child. birth, harvest, etc. Accompanying the 6 major goddesses (Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Hestia, Demeter and Artemis) we have the lesser divinities such as the Muses, the Graces, the Fates, etc. The second level of women used in Greek mythology is that of the human.
The Goddess, whether Gentle Lady-Mother or thundering and Powerful Seductress has never really been broadly attached specifically to an animal form as much as the God was."
In Greek mythology many of the people worship and adore the Gods and Goddess especially the beautiful Goddess Demeter. Demeter went threw a lot in her back round of life and is the reasons that we have seasons. Although Goddess Demeter is best known for being the Greek Goddess of vegetation and fruit she is also known for natures control of life and her heroic act of sharing agriculture.
Hindus have a sense of interconnectedness that pervades throughout everything in the universe: all plants, animals, people, and the cosmos. Brahman is the sacred force that holds everything together is. It is the ultimate reality that is unseen in the karmic cycle of birth and death, called samsara, which Hindus believe we...
The artist wanted to draw you in by giving you a place to look at imminently upon looking at her and after looking at her your eyes is drawn down to her genitalia. This leads me to believe that she was created to represent fertility in woman, because certain exaggerated parts of her body and very detailed female reproductive organs.
Throughout Hindu sacred texts, women seem to fill a diverse and conflicting position. From texts such as The Ramayana to The Birth of Kali, women are portrayed in many different lights; one shown to be the perfect woman, calm, devoted, loving, while the other is nothing but destructive, crazy, and bloodthirsty. Although there are different perspectives, one theme seems to frequently occur, women need men to take care of them and to put them in their place. My goal in this paper is to compare the feminine divine of the Hindu religion and to better understand the notion of Stridharma in ancient India’s patriarchal society. Coming from a feminist society, I believe that it is important to study the way that the feminine divine are portrayed throughout
...s burning herself” (Wecker). The symbol is also associated with the Islamic word “Khasma” which means five- a number identified with fighting off the evil eye. As one can see the stories and opinions of these three important women may be disputed and theories challenged. However, regardless of the circumstances, some similarities still remain.
“For thousands of years people have associated objects in the sky, the Earth, and aspects of their physical world with the gods and goddesses of their culture” (Windows Team, 2000, Mythology). The Hindu culture is no different with the association of several gods and goddesses acknowledged through their traditional worship. Worshipping the many gods and goddesses makes Hinduism difficult to comprehend the many elements of the tradition. The worship of many gods and goddesses is rooted in henotheism. “Belief in one god without denying the existence of others” (Yahooligans! Reference, 2000). This way of worship is what makes Hinduism complex and hard to understand.
Durga is a warrior queen who slays demons in the battle to keep the cosmos at balance. Durga is universally beautiful. She rides on a lion into battle and holds many weapons with her many hands attached to her many arms. David Kinsley, author of Hindu Goddesses, describes Durga as "The great battle queen with many arms, each which wields a weapon. She rides a fierce lion and is described as irresistible in battle." This is very different from the description of Kali, as said by the above author, "The goddess Kali is almost always described as having a terrible, frightening appearance. She is always black or dark, is usually naked, and has long disheveled hair." Kali likes to accent her naturally scary beauty by wearing severed heads, arms and dead children as jewelry. Blood seems to be her favorite cosmetic.
Hindu’s believe that just as the traditional Christian God did, that all their Gods have taken a physical form to live here on Earth. There are many Gods and Goddess throughout Hinduism so I will focus on the three main ones. The most important of these Gods is Brahman. He is considered to be the one true God and the creator of everything. He is formless, limitless, and eternal, and is believed to be a real entity that encompasses everything, seen and unseen, in the universe (Srinivasan). The second member of the Hindu trinity is Vishnu. This God is the preserver, and he maintains the order and harmony to the universe, which is periodically created by Brahman and destroyed by Shiva (Srinivasan). He is worshipped in many forms and is an important, yet somewhat mysterious God. The third God of the trinity is Shiva who is the God in charge of destroying the universe to prepare for its renewal. Followers believe that any negative energy in the vicinity can be ridden by just the utterance of this God’s name. Devotion to specific Gods on based on the individual’s own life and growing up or needs they may need addressed. Although, even when only devotion of one God is given, the others are always acknowledged. Hindus believe that the Gods all exist in unseen worlds and that temple worship, rituals, sacraments, and personal devotions create a closeness to them (Nine Beliefs of
Though it may be true that Saraswati is one of the least discussed of the Hindu gods, that does not mean she is less important. Yes the other gods are more flashy or intimidating, but she is more humble. She is one with the earth and she stays under the radar. Sometimes those who are less popular are the ones people need to be connected to the most. She sits on her lotus flower dressed in white and playing her flute to welcome anyone who is in need. She knows material things do not last, and therefore she offers people things such as wisdom, courage, and talent. These are the things they can hold onto for the rest of their lives. As a result, people worship her because they know she truly cares, and that she wants people to be the best that they can be.
Hindu mythology has interesting theories on how the Earth was created and the reincarnation of people, Hinduism is very different to many other mythologies and has some unique key features that make it stand out from the rest. History tells that there are over 330 million gods in Hindu mythology. There are six main gods in Hinduism. Hindu’s have an interesting belief of what happens to them after death, the afterlife Hindus believe in must be met by accomplishing a goal. Hinduism is a unique belief in many gods, the life cycle and reincarnation of its people.
In Hinduism there is one ultimate God, Brahman, who lives within each individual. Hinduism is a belief system that is followed to help one find Atman, which is your personal part of Brahman inside of you. There are 330 million God/Goddesses that people can choose...
In the Hindu religion there are three main gods, apart of the triumvirate, and those are: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The god Shiva is important in this triumvirate because he is the destroyer of the world. Shiva is the destroyer, but he also has many other complex roles and many of those roles tend to contradict each other. The god Shiva has many names and is the god of various aspects of life including yoga and dance. Shiva has gained a large following in the Hindu religion and those that follow him are called Shaivas.
In Hinduism some of the things I found most fascinating is that the idea of God in Hindu is compounded and how they worship. There is one Supreme God and his form is unlimited. The Supreme God’s qualities and forms are represented by the numerous deities that stem from him. The deities God can form can be either male or female, allowing Hindus to pray to a god or goddess.