Devi: The Great Goddess

				Full image and description. Sri Kanyaka Paramesvari temple. Photo by Dick Waghorne.

Modern
As Hinduism has continued to evolve over the centuries, it has willingly accepted the creation of new forms of various deities, including the goddess. In the early years of the twentieth century, the nationalist movement in India picked up the theme of the goddess and transformed her into Mother India. In the 1980s a temple to Mother India was built in the pilgrimage town of Hardwar where the sacred river Ganges finally descends to the plains of India. Today, new formulations or manifestations of Devi tend to be intensely localized and temples to new forms of the goddess continue to be built.