Devi Through the Ages

Goddess worship in India goes back to prehistoric India. Archaeological remains from the cities of the Indus civilization (1600-1900 B.C.) include large numbers of crudely fashioned female clay figurines, generally called mother goddesses.

Starting around 1300 B.C. a group of nomadic peoples who called themselves Aryas, or Noble Ones, became dominant in northern India. Their sacred literature was composed in Sanskrit and known as the Vedas. The Vedas reflected a world view that was overwhelmingly masculine. While gods became predominant as the Aryans settled in north India, archaeological excavations show that peasants in numerous villages continued to worship the mother goddess.

[DEFINITION: The Vedas are a collection of ancient texts believed to be revealed through the vision of seers.]

By the start of the Current Era, three major deities had come to dominate the Hindu religious scene: two male gods, Vishnu and Shiva, and Devi, the Great Goddess. At this time, the goddesses of India slowly emerged from their hibernation and made their presence felt in a significant, if subdued, role as dayini (givers). Finely fashioned terra-cotta plaques that featured a female deity were made by skilled artisans, probably for use in the home shrines of wealth and sophisticated townspeople.

[IMAGE: Goddess or yakshi. India, state of West Bengal, Chandraketugarh, ca. 100. Gray terra-cotta. Lent by a private collection. This elegant terra-cotta image of a goddess or semidivine yakshi, created to be a free-standing image on its own plinth, is an engaging figure with naturally shaped breasts, a pinched waist, and broad hips whose girth is emphasized by a wide hip belt made of three strands of beads. Her elaborate jewelry includes rows of heavy bracelets, anklets, body chains, and earrings with huge curved pendants. Her diaphanous lower garment swings out at her ankles and an outer cloth that reaches to her knees is decorated with rows of ornamented tassels. A fan-shaped headdress and the fabric band that decorates her hair complete her accessories. This terra-cotta sculpture was probably created from a mold but the detailed carving of drapery folds and tassels clearly show that they were added after firing. Clay images such as this, while less expensive to produce than those carved from stone, nevertheless reflect a prosperous urban society.]

[IMAGE: Nagini. India, state of Bihar, ca. 100. Gray terra-cotta. Lent by the collection of Anupam and Rajika Puri. One of the most striking of a group of early terra-cotta images, this sensuous yet disturbing figure has two serpents wrapped around her body. Her long hair, wound with a braided jeweled fabric, is arranged in a magnificent bun at the back, while her girdle consists of a string of large medallions decorated with a flora design and joined by rounded spacer beads. Despite its diminutive size, the image conveys a striking impression of strength and immensity. The two serpents that casually wind themselves around the body of this superb, although partly damaged, terra-cotta figure suggest her affiliation with semidivine serpent beings, the nagas and naginis. The exact identity of this serpent-related deity is difficult to establish. She seems to be an early prototype of a snake goddess and might be a protective deity invoked for protection again snakes as also against evil and poisons of other kinds.]

During the Gupta period (320-647), the goddess, as object of worship, was affirmed in the Devi Mahatmya, a fifth-sixth century Sanskrit text. Through the dynamic narration of three stories about her great feats, the Devi Mahatmya assumes Devi's supremacy as the creator of the universe and the one who pervades and sustains creation. Copies of the Devi Mahatmya illustrating Devi's adventures in detail became increasingly popular into the 19th century.

During most of India's history, a monarchical system of government prevailed. Much evidence exists to suggest that regardless of a monarch's main deity, it was the Great Goddess to whom he turned when he sought victory in battle; it was she who was worshiped prior to embarking on war. This is attested to in the two great Indian epics: the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The sixteenth century led to a resurgent belief that Hindu rulers required the protection of female deities, and from this time onward many Hindu kings chose a particular goddess to appear on coins, seals and other official documents.

[DEFINITION: Mahabharata: "Great Stories of the Bharatas" is the Hindu epic that narrates the great war between two rival clans: the five Pandava brothers and the hundred Kauravas.]

[DEFINITION: Ramayana: An epic composed around the middle of the first millennium B.C., the Ramayana is story of Vishnu descending to earth in the form of Rama, a heroic prince, who rids the world of the ten-headed demon king Ravana. Rama's wife, Sita, is revered as the model wife.]

[IMAGE: Sita in the Hermitage of Valmiki. India, Punjab Hills, Kangra, ca. 1800-25. Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper. Lent by a private collection. Rescued from the demon Ravana's fortress at Lanka, and having proven her fidelity to Rama by emerging unscathed from a test by fire, Sita returns to Ayodhya with her husband, Rama. Back in their northern capital innuendos are cast upon Sita's fidelity and the morality of Rama's acceptance of her Rama forthwith instructs his brother Lakshmana to take the pregnant Sita into the forest. At the hermitage of the revered sage Valmiki, Sita gives birth to her twin sons, Lava and Kusha. These events, depicted in this painting, refer to the last episode of the Ramayana. In the extreme lower left of the painting, Sita enters the hilly landscape following an entourage led by the sage Valmiki. As Sita arrives at the hermitage, her slightly protruding belly reminds us of the condition in which she left Ayodhya. Her subsequent life at the hermitage is presented in several scenes that are distributed throughout the composition and are separated by the rounded contours of reed huts. Sita is seen on three more occasions. At the upper right corner she touches the feet of Valmiki's wife and asks for sanctuary; immediately below she sits in a hut as an acolyte brings her food; and finally, well after the birth of her twins, she is seen playing with one child as the other jumps into the arms of the silver-haired Valmiki.]

[IMAGE: Draupadi and Kunti with the Pandavas. India, Punjab Hills, Kangra, ca. 1800. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper. Lent by a private collection. This painting from a manuscript of the Mahabharata epic illustrates an early episode in which the five Pandava brothers, disguised as Brahmin ascetics, have won an archery contest by which they secure the lovely Draupadi as bride and bring her to their mother. Several episodes are depicted on this page in a series of vignettes in which the characters appear repeatedly to indicate the passage of time. We see Draupadi, the Pandavas, and their mother, Kunti, eating a meal; then their figures are repeated as they lie down to sleep. Draupadi's brother eavesdrops on their nighttime conversation to ascertain the identity of the ascetics. He then hastens back to report to his father to stop worrying about Draupadi, because the ascetics are indeed princes in disguise. It is quite naturally important that the daughter of a monarch be married to one of royal blood. Draupadi's independence and fearless spirit, evident throughout the period, is a product of her upbringing as a warrior's daughter.]

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.

| PREVIOUS | NEXT |