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Hindu goddesses personify Nature, its bounty, beauty, wisdom and mystery. In benevolent forms, they nurture life. But in malevolent forms, they destroy everything. They are therefore adored and appeased with offerings of flowers and bridal finery.
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| Lakshmi | Parvati | Kali | |
| Saraswati | Durga | Indrani | |
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Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth, fortune, beauty, bounty, pleasure, prosperity, pleasure, affluence and abundance - all the goods things in life. Hence, gods, demons and humans adore her.
She sits on a lotus, draped in red sari, bedecked in jewels and holds the pot of bounty, overflowing with grain and gold. White elephants, symbol of rain clouds consecrate her with water that brings life to parched land.
As Shreedevi, the goddess makes kings out of men, bestowing them with sovereignty, splendor and royal authority. In this form, she is Vishnu's shakti, the source of his divine power, providing him with the wherewithal to protect the universe.
As Bhudevi, the earth-goddess, she gives all creatures food, clothing and shelter. In this form, she is Vishnu's responsibility. She is earth-cow, Go-mata, whose milk nourishes the cosmos. Vishnu is her cowherd, punishing those who dare harm her.
The goddess was churned out of the ocean of milk. She went to the demons, the asuras but turned away on discovering that power corrupted them. She then went to the gods, the devas, but found them too obsessed with pleasure. As she moved from place to place, looking for one worthy of her affection, she acquired the reputation of being Chanchala, the fickle-one. The gods said she was too demanding while the demons accused her of being capricious. Finally, she chose Vishnu as her eternal consort because he selflessly carried out his duties as upholder of cosmic laws.
Lakshmi, mistress of material abundance (artha) goes wherever there is Vishnu, guardian of righteous conduct (dharma) bringing with them their son, Kama, lord of worldly pleasure.
Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge and the mistress of the arts. Worldly possessions do not interest her; she rules the intellectual and creative realm. Libraries and schools are her temples. She does not adorn herself with gems and jewels. Draped in a white sari, she rides a swan holding a book in one hand and a flute in another.
At the dawn of Life, Brahma was so struck by the beauty of his first creation - Shatarupa, goddess of material existence - that he sprouted five heads to look upon her at all times. He chased her wherever she went, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not possess this mercurial being. To restrain Brahma's lust Shiva, the supreme ascetic, wrenched off one of Brahma's heads. Sobered by the experience, Brahma turned to Saraswati and learnt to rein in his bewitched mind. Saraswati's children, the Vedas, showed Brahma the way out of the labyrinth of sensuality. From that day, the four heads of Brahma began chanting the four Vedas.
Shiva agreed to participate in worldly affairs and so married Sati, daughter of the primal priest-king Daksha. Shiva's unworldly ways annoyed Daksha who refused to invite Shiva . Insulted, Sati rushed into her father's sacrificial hall, leapt into the fire-altar and killed herself. The ceremony, contaminated by Sati's blood, ground to her halt. In his rage, Shiva killed Daksha.
Sati's death broke Shiva's heart. He turned into a recluse and retired into a mountain-cave, where he meditated, bridling his mind, restraining his senses, until the restrained energy transformed him into a pillar of fire.
In fear, the gods approached the mother-goddess Shakti. "Let his energy be released. Let it be transformed into a warrior who will command the celestial armies," they begged. In response, the goddess took the form of Parvati, princess of the mountains, and sought to win Shiva's heart with the help of Kama, god of love. But when Kama shot his love-dart at Shiva, Shiva opened his third-eye, let loose a fiery missile and reduced him to ashes.
Parvati then became a hermitress and mortified her body through austerities that won Shiva's admiration. He accepted her as his consort. They embraced until Shiva shed his seed from which arose Kartikeya, commander of the gods. Inspired by Parvati's beauty, Shiva made music and began to dance. Parvati also cajoled Shiva to reveal the secrets of the cosmos locked in his mind. Many seers were enlightened when they overheard their conversation.
Everyone worships Parvati, the goddess who transformed the austere ascetic into an amorous householder.
The gods could not defeat the buffalo-demon Mahisha. So they turned to Shiva who advised all the devas to release their shaktis (spiritual prowess) locked within their bodies. The shaktis of the gods emerged in female form - Shivani from Shiva, Vaishnavi from Vishnu, Brahmani from Brahma, Aindri from Indra, Kaumari from Kumara. These goddesses fused together in blinding light from which arose a magnificent goddess with many arms.
The gods called this goddess Durga, the invincible one. They armed her with their weapons - Varuna, the sea-god, gave her a rope; Indra, the god-king, gave her a thunderbolt; Vishnu gave her a discus; Kumara gave her a lance; Surya, the sun-god, gave her a bow and arrow; Chandra, the moon-god, gave her an axe; Yama, the god of death, gave her a mace; Brahma gave her a shield; Agni, the fire-god, gave her an axe; Vayu, the wind-god, gave her a conch; Shiva gave her a trident. Thus armed, Durga rode to the top of a mountain on a lion.
Attracted by her beauty, Mahisha came to the mountain and proposed marriage. "I will marry only he who defeats me in battle," said Durga. Mahisha immediately attacked the goddess. She hurled many weapons at the buffalo-demon but each time he rose unscathed. Finally she kicked him. Mahisha, immune to the weapons of the gods, succumbed to the touch of her feet. Durga immediately impaled him with her trident and blew her conch in victory.
All the gods saluted this warrior-goddess and celebrated her triumph.
The gods could not kill the demon Raktabija. Every drop of his blood that touched the ground transformed itself into another Raktabija. Within a few minutes of striking this asura with their weapons, the gods would find the entire battlefield covered with millions of Raktabija clones. In despair, the gods turned to Shiva. As Shiva was lost in meditation, they turned to his consort Parvati.
The goddess immediately set out to do battle with this dreaded demon in the form of Kali. Her eyes were red, her complexion was dark, her features gaunt, her hair unbound, her teeth sharp like fangs. As she rode into the battleground on her lion, Raktabija experienced fear for the first time in his demonic heart. Kali ordered the gods to attack Raktabija. She then spread her tongue to cover the battlefield preventing even a single drop of Raktabija's blood from falling on the group. Thus, she prevented Raktabija from reproducing himself.
Drunk on Raktabija's blood, Kali ran across the cosmos killing anyone who dared cross her path. She adorned herself with the heads, limbs and entrails of her victim. To pacify her, Shiva threw himself under her feet. This stopped the goddess. She calmed down, embraced her husband, shed her ferocious form to became Gauri, radiant mother.
Indrani
was Indra's
wife and consort; in the early Vedic accounts she was merely a female
shadow of him. She is sometimes referred to as the goddess of wrath. She
was the daughter of the demon Puloman, whom Indra
killed. She was always
described as beautiful, but was said to have one thousand eyes. In later
Hindu times, she came to personify jealousy and was regarded as of evil
intent. In southern India, however, she was ranked as one of the nine
astral deities who were the highest of the gods. Her symbolic animal was
either the lion or the elephant.
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