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The cult of the Great Mother Goddess, Mother Earth, is still widespread in non-Aryan circles of the Indian population. Each South Indian village is characterised by a specific set of so-called amma or "mothers" whose cult forms the basis of the religious practice of the village community. Often one of the "mothers" appears as the eldest of the sisters, while the younger ones are worshipped as local deities who manifest certain supernatural powers or exercise control over limited spheres. The priests of these goddesses, unlike the priests who perform the cult of Parvati in its other aspects in the large temples, are not Brahmans but belong to the lower castes, which indicates the pre-Aryan or at any rate non-Aryan nature of the cult of these goddesses. The cult of the Mother Goddess is also popular in the north. Sculptural images of "mothers" appear in India in the Middle Ages. Gradually the deities of this kind, and first of all the Mother Goddesses, find their way into Brahmanic Hinduism and are most firmly rooted in the Tantric literature. However, the sacred texts connected with the veneration of these 'goddesses and Parvati in the role of the Great Mother are considered 'agamiche', i.e. non-Vedic, and are opposed to the Vedic, 'nigamic' texts. In Brahmanical circles, attitudes towards the concept of the Great Mother remain fluctuating to this day. It is difficult to say exactly what aspects of the complex image of Parvati are an elaboration of her original character
as the merciful Mother-Goddess, and which ones belong to mythological characters who stood outside this conception. Parvati has her intimidating hypostasis: Ambika, created from the most powerful properties of all the gods; by her the hitherto invulnerable buffalo demon Mahishasura was destroyed. Another form of Parvati is Chamunda, who slayed the demons Shum-bhu and Nishumbha. Another of her forms is Kali, on the occasion of her slaying demons dancing for joy until the earth trembled and the gods in fear of themselves have nominated his intercessor Shiva. He lay down at Kali's feet, and she continued her dance on his body until she stood still, horrified at what she had done. In these guises, the goddess is depicted riding a monstrous lion and clutching an incredible number of different weapons in her many hands. These aspects of her divine essence require bloody sacrifices. The sacrifice is usually a goat, but legends also tell of human sacrifice. It is difficult to reconcile these ferocious images with the meek, benevolent elements of the Parvati complex. From the myths of Parvati we also learn that through austere asceticism she got Shiva, the deity of male productive power, as her consort. Having his hand, she always remained faithful to him, but has not always been as true to the ideal of a homely wife, caring for her two sons and leading the family farm, although it is in this light she is sometimes depicted in paintings and legends. Not unlike some European Griselda, she embodies the character of a capricious and stubborn wife who is always ready to respond with an angry outburst to any real or imagined display of neglect on the part of her husband or to make him jealous of one of the other ladies of his heart; the latter include Sandhya, the goddess of twilight, and the celestial river Ganga (Ganges) dwelling in Shiva's hair; he lured her there at the moment when Ganga was descending from heaven to earth, threatening to devastate the whole world. The last stage in the development of the mythology of Parvati was Griselda, the heroine of a medieval European legend whose plot was used by Chaucer, Bocaccio, Petrarch and some other Renaissance writers. A commoner who became the wife of Walter, Marquis of Saluzzo, Griselda endured with unparalleled meekness the ordeal to which her husband subjected her. Her identification by believers with the all-powerful feminine, revered as the basic and dominant element in the universe. In this phase of the development of her image, the name Devi (goddess) becomes the most common,
This is a cult that is part of a significant branch of Hinduism known as Tantrism, the name of its sacred texts (tantra), and the name of its sacred texts (tantra). This cult is part of a significant branch within Hinduism known as Tantrism, after the name of its sacred texts (tantra). The central figures in Tantrism are Shiva and Devi. However, each of the gods has its own Shakti, without which it has no power in itself. As it is said in one medieval ode in honour of Devi, "Soundaryalahari" ("Stream of beauty"), which is highly revered by believers, "only being in unity with Shakti Shiva shows his power as a master; without her he does not have strength even to move". In other words, in the latter case Shiva appears only as an unrealized potency. The feminine in the cult of Shakti strongly predominates over the masculine. The predominant role of the feminine is especially evident in the assertion that any of the gods possesses supernatural powers only by the grace of Devi. If Devi were to close her eyes for even a single moment, immediately the entire cosmos would disappear along with the gods. But she is kept from that by her maternal care, which sustains the existence of this world and all the helpless beings in it, totally dependent on the will of the goddess. When finally, at the end of the cycle, the universal decay begins, everything disappears except for Shiva, who is rescued by Devi, driven by a sense of conjugal devotion. Shaktist texts actively assert the primacy of Devi as the original of the universe over all the gods. Much information about her is contained in the Soundaryalahari. Her feet rest on the head of the scriptures (shruti) like a tiara. She is consciousness and all the five elements of the material world: ether, air, fire, water and earth.
MYTHOLOGIES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD Ed. by Samuel Noah Kramer
