Arthur M. Sackler Gallery from March 29, 1999 through September 6, 1999.
Devi: The Great Goddess was on view at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery from March 29, 1999 through September 6, 1999. The web site looks at the six aspects of the Indian goddess Devi and offers additional information on the contemporary and historical worship of Devi, activities for children and families, and a list of resources on South Asian arts and cultures.
This exhibition is made possible by generous grants from Enron/Enron Oil & Gas International, the Rockefeller Foundation, The Starr Foundation, Hughes Network Systems, and the ILA Foundation, Chicago. Related programs are made possible by Victoria P. and Roger W. Sant, the Smithsonian Educational Outreach Fund, and the Hazen Polsky Foundation.
who is devi
The Great Goddess, known in India as Devi (literally “goddess”), has many guises. She is “Ma” the gentle and approachable mother. As Jaganmata, or Mother of the universe, she assumes cosmic proportions, destroying evil and addressing herself to the creation and dissolution of the worlds. She is worshiped by thousands of names that often reflect local customs and legends. She is one and she is many. She is celebrated in songs and poems.
Devi is all-important in Hinduism, but there are also forms of female divinity in Buddhism and Jainism. Today millions of Hindu men and women conduct regular pujas to Devi through one of her many manifestations. For some she is their primary deity while for others she is part of a greater pantheon. All Hindu goddesses may be viewed as different manifestations of Devi. In some forms she is benign and gentle, while in other forms she is dynamic and ferocious, but in all forms she is helpful to her devotees.

Lakshmi Poster
Contemporary chromolithograph of Lakshmi.
Photo by Neil Greentree

Dancing Bhadrakali Adored by the Gods.
Folio 45 from the Tantric Devi series. India, Punjab Hills, Basohli, ca. 1660-70. Opaque watercolor, gold, silver, and beetle-wing cases on paper (border restored). Lent by a private collection on loan to Museum Rietberg, Zurich.

Parvati.
India, state of Tamil Nadu, Chola period, ca 1100. Bronze. Lent by a private collection.
Manifestations of Devi
Manifestations of Devi are celebrated and worshiped throughout India. While there are gods and goddesses universally worshiped in India, nearly every Hindu community has its own specific deity to whom they specially relate. Usually that deity is a goddess as it is always a female deity who protects a village or town and it inhabitants.
The traditional Western formulation of the Hindu trinity in which Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the preserver and Shiva is the destroyer, observes the Hindu world on the Judeo-Christian model. Brahma is of lesser significance as he cannot act until Vishnu gives him authority to do so. The three dynamic deities are Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi, each of whom encompasses all three divine functions of creation, preservation, and destruction.

Mohra of Devi
India, state of Himachal Pradesh, 8th or 9th century. Brass. Lent by a private collection.

Goddess on a Swing
India, state of Madhya Pradesh, Bastar district, 19th-20th century. Brass. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Purchase S1990.6
aspects of devi

Markama.
India, state of Orissa, Rayagada district, spring 1997.
Photo by Cornelia Mallebrein.
There are many approaches to looking at Devi: chronological, religious, or by function. Here we have chosen to observe Devi through her six main functions, beginning with her most forceful and dynamic form and moving toward less potent forms.
Devi is first seen as cosmic force, where she destroys demonic forces that threaten world equilibrium, and creates, annihilates, and recreates the universe. Next, in her gentle, radiant dayini form, she is the gracious donor of boons, wealth, fortune, and success. As heroine and beloved, Devi comes down to earth and provides inspiring models for earthly women.
Devi is then seen as a local protector of villages, towns, and individual tribal peoples, where she is concerned only with local affairs. In her fifth aspect, Devi appears as semi-divine force, manifesting herself through fertility spirits, and other supernatural forms. Finally, she is also represented in woman saints, who are born on earth but endowed with deep spirituality and other-worldly powers.
Cosmic Force

Dancing Devi
India, state of Rajasthan, Bikaner, ca. 1725.
Opaque and transparent watercolor, ink, and silver on paper.
Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fletcher Fund, 1996.
As cosmic force Devi creates, annihilates, and recreates the universe. Of awesome appearance, she destroys demonic forces that threaten world equilibrium wielding weapons in multiple arms that testify to her ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. This category includes her form as Durga, slayer of the buffalo demon; black Kali; the emaciated Chamunda; and Devi herself.
Durga
Durga, the great Warrior Goddess, represents the lethal energy of divine anger when turned against evil. It is Durga’s story which is told in the three great legends in Devi Mahatmya. The world was under attack by Mahisha, the most evil demon in the world, who took many different forms, including that of a buffalo. The male gods, fearing total annihilation endowed Durga with their powers. Riding a lion into battle, Durga slew the buffalo by cutting off its head and then she destroyed the spirit of the demon as it emerged from the buffalo’s severed neck. It is through this act that order was established in the world.
Durga’s victory and power are celebrated every fall throughout India in the Durga Puja. Durga is among the most widely represented visual forms of Devi across the Indian subcontinent. She is seen in stone, bronze, wood, clay, and paint; her image is reintegrated in the contemporary world in oil on canvas and with powdered pigment in fiberglass.

Devi Slaying the Buffalo
Ambika Mata Temple at Jagat, Rajasthan, 10th century.
Photo by Neil Greentree.

At the Hub of Things.
Lent by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution.
Kali
Kali may be said to represent the darker side of Devi’s power. Her emergence is chronicled in the third story of the Devi Mahatmya. Confronted by the insolent remarks of the demon generals, Chanda and Munda, a fiery burst of energy emerges from Devi’s forehead and takes the dark skeletal form of goddess Kali. Kali overpowers and beheads two demon generals, Chanda and Munda, and when she carries their heads to Devi she is named Chamunda. She is often portrayed as emaciated, black, and with a necklace of skulls. (The story continues in which Devi, Kali and a group of matrikas, or mothers, destroy the demon brothers Shumbha and Nishumbha. In the final battle against Shumbha, Devi absorbs Kali and the matrikas and stands alone for the final battle.)
During a fierce battle in which the Great Goddess demonstrates her omnipotence by defeating powerful demons who terrify even the gods, she encounters the fierce Raktabija. Every drop of blood he sheds turns into another demon as it touches the earth. A unique strategy has to be devised to contain him. Devi asks Kali to step in and contain the demon. With her huge mouth and enormous tongue she ferociously laps up Raktabija’s blood, thus preventing the uprising of further demons.

Chamunda
Nepal, 14th century.
Copper, gemstones, traces of pigment, and gilt.
Lent by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, General Acquisitions Fund.

Kali Drinks the Blood of Raktabija
Folio from a Devi Mahatmya.
India, Punjab Hills, Guler, ca. 1780.
Opaque watercolor on paper.
Lent by Mr. and Mrs. John Gilmore Ford.
Creation

Vishnu Reclining on his Serpent who floats on the cosmic waters.
7th Century, Balaju, Nepal.
ACSAA Color Slide Project, University of Michigan.
Photo by Barbara Wagner.
The first story of the Devi Mahatmya shows Devi in her universal form as shakti (literally energy or power). This is the most abstract way of defining or naming the Great Goddess. Here Devi is central to the creation myth; she is the power that induces the god Vishnu’s deep slumber on the waters of the cosmic ocean prior to the creation of the world which is a continuous cycle of creation, destruction and recreation. Vishnu lies on his serpent that is coiled in the form of a couch. Two demons arise from Vishnu’s sleeping body and set out to slay Brahma who is preparing to create the next cycle of the universe. Brahma sings to the Great Goddess, asking her to withdraw from Vishnu so he can waken and slay the demons. Devi agrees to withdraw and Vishnu wakes and kills the demons. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored to the world. This is the first story told in the Devi Mahatmya. However, this tale has rarely inspired artistic creations, perhaps because Devi’s role is one of quiet withdrawal rather than dynamic action.
Dayini

Parvati
India, state of Tamil Nadu, Chola period, ca 1100. Bronze.
Lent by a private collection.
As dayini, gracious donor of boons, she blesses devotees with wealth, fortune, and success. She is a gentle, radiant figure who attends to the daily needs of those who adore her. The first appearance of female divinities was in the guise of dayini, the gentle and beneficent fulfiller of the desires of devotees, a role which remains one of enduring strength and attraction. Dayinis take many and varied guises within the Hindu religion, and they also penetrate the Buddhist and Jain faiths which arose around the fifth century B.C. Here we see Devi as Lakshmi, Sarasvati, the river goddess Ganga, Vasudhara, the Buddhist goddess Tara, and the Jain goddess Ambika.
Lakshmi

Lakshmi Poster
Contemporary chromolithograph of Lakshmi.
Photo by Neil Greentree.
Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is worshiped by householders for the health and welfare of their families; business men and women offer her prayers to ensure the success of their endeavors. She is frequently shown standing in her lotus throne and holding lotus buds, which are symbols of beauty and fertility. Lakshmi, a goddess in her own right, is also the wife of the Vishnu and as Vishnu has nine reincarnations, so does Lakshmi. The two most popular forms of Vishnu and Lakshmi’s reincarnations are Rama and Sita (whose story is told in the Ramayana) and Krishna and Radha. Sita and Radha also appear as another aspect of Devi, that of Heroine and Beloved.
Sarasvati
Sarasvati, goddess of learning and music, emerged as early as 1300 B.C. as Vach. Vach was considered both speech itself and the goddess of speech. Later, when transformed into the goddess of learning and music, she acquired her name and a swan as her vehicle. Hindus consider her to be the consort of the god Brahma.
Buddhist and Jains, whose faith places emphasis on knowledge as the means to liberation, also worship Sarasvati. She is commonly depicted seated on a lotus holding a stringed instrument, the Vina. Devotees, particularly children starting school, and students of all ages, worship Sarasvati as the source of knowledge. As the goddess of music she is particularly sacred to those who sing or play musical instruments.

Jain goddess Sarasvati.
By Jagadeva (act. 12th century). India, state of Gujarat, 1153. White marble.
Lent by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Anna Bing Arnold.

Sarasvati.
India, sate of Karnataka, Mysore. ca. 1830-40. Opaque watercolor on paper.
Lent by the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Parvati
Parvati is the consort of the god Shiva. She is constantly beside Shiva, watching him as he dances the dance of bliss, admiring him in his deeds of annihilation, joining him in games of dice or playing with their two sons, the elephant headed Ganesha and the warrior Skanda. Shiva and Parvati, whose love is deep and abiding, represent the paradigmatic divine family. Shiva and Parvati are often united in a single form known as Ardhanari (literally half woman) to represent the concept that the divine is both male and female.

Pavarti and Ganesha.
India, Jaipur, ca. 1820.
Opaque watercolor on paper.
Lent by Mr. and Mrs. John Gilmore Ford.

Parvati.
India, state of Tamil Nadu, Chola period, ca 1100. Bronze.
Lent by a private collection.
Ganga and Vasudhara
The concept of water as potent energy in liquid form appears in the sacred Vedic texts that date back to 1300 B.C. By the start of the current era, the rivers Ganges and Yamuna were personified and invoked as life-giving waters. The celestial Ganges came to earth (starting in the Himalayas and flowing into the plains below) so that the cremated ashes of ancestors could be immersed in her waters thus enabling them to attain salvation.
Like her Hindu counterpart, Lakshmi, Vasudhara is the Buddhist goddess of wealth, good fortune and abundance and is one of the most popular household deities of Nepal. Devotees appeal to her for earthly riches and for fertility of the field and womb. This six-armed goddess holds four precious, life-sustaining symbols: a book of knowledge, a sheaf of grain, an auspicious water-filled vessel, and a cluster of jewels.

River Goddess Ganga on Her Fish Mount
India, Punjab Hills, Mandi, ca. 1815.
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper.
Lent by the San Diego Museum of Art: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection.

Vasudhara, Goddess of Abundance
Nepal, 1082.
Gilt copper inlaid with precious and semiprecious stones, traces of vermillion.
Lent by Susanne K. Bennet, courtesy Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution LTS1996.5.3
Tara and Ambika
One of the most popular goddess among Buddhists is Tara who is adored for protection from evil and to overcome obstacles. Her name is derived from the verb tara, meaning “to cross,” for she enables the devotee to cross the ocean of existence. Supplicants chiefly approach Tara for protection, but also make requests for material benefits.
Goddesses were first introduced into the Jain faith as attendant deities of the twenty-four liberators known as Jinas. Of these Ambika (Mother Dear), is associated with the mango tree and its fruit and is always portrayed with one or both of her sons. She is worshiped on behalf of mothers and infants.

Tara the Savioress
Nepal, 14th century.
Gilt copper alloy, semiprecious stones, gold, and pigment.
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Louis V. Bell Fund, 1966.

Ambika
India, state of Bihar or West Bengal, Pala period, 9th century.
Bronze.
Lent by Dr. Siddharth Bhansali
Heroine

Radha and Krishna Dressed in Each Other’s Clothes (Lilahava).
India, Punjab Hills, Kangra, 18th century.
Opaque watercolor on paper.
Lent by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Don and Corky Whitaker.
As heroine and beloved, Devi comes down to earth and her exemplary life provides an inspiring model for women. Devotees admire and adore these manifestations of Devi because of the greatness of their personal sacrifice and commitment to moral obligation; their portrayal of courage, and outspokenness; or their disregard of social norms in the face of overwhelming love.
Sita
Sita, heroine of the Ramayana epic, faithfully followed her husband Prince Rama (an incarnation of the god Vishnu) into exile. She has been lauded through the ages as the ideal wife. Abducted by the demon king Ravana and imprisoned for months in his palace before she is finally freed by Rama, she must prove her purity by entering blazing flames from which Agni, god of fire, delivers her intact to Rama. Sita is upheld as the model of wifely love and adherence to duty.

The Sage’s Wife Clothes Sita
India, Punjab Hills, Kangra, ca. 1780.
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper.
Lent by the San Diego Museum of Art: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection

Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana in the Forest.
India, Punjab Hills, Kangra, ca. 1790.
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper.
Lent by the San Diego Museum of Art: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection.
Draupadi
Draupadi, heroine of the Mahabharata epic, is bold and forthright even in adversity. Her husband Yudhisthira succumbing to his weakness for gambling, stakes and loses all (in a rigged game), including his wife. Draupadi challenges the assembly and demands to know how it is possible for one who has staked and lost his own self to retain the right to wager her.
Duryodhana, the winner of the bet, insists that Draupadi is indeed his to do with as he pleases and orders that she be disrobed. Furious at this insult to her honor, Draupadi loosens her coifed hair and vows that she will not knot it again until she has washed it in Duryodhana’s blood. As she is disrobed, the more her sari is pulled away the longer it becomes. It is this event which turns Draupadi from a contented, but strong willed wife into a vengeful goddess.

The Disrobing of Draupadi
Attributed to Nainsukh (1710-1778).
India, Punjab Hills, Basohli, ca. 1765.
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper.
Lent by the Howard Hodgkin Collection, London.

Draupadi and Ashvatthaman
India, Punjab Hills, Basohli, 1720-30.
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper.
Lent by a private collection.
Radha
The third influential heroine and beloved is Radha, a cowherdess whose story is narrated in the twelfth-century poem, Gita Govinda (Love Song of the Dark Lord). Having once experienced the ecstasy of divine love with Krishna (an incarnation of Vishnu), Radha is separated from Krishna and yearns with single-minded intensity for reunion. In the Gita Govinda Radha is human and Krishna divine, and the poem is interpreted metaphorically in terms of the longing of the human soul for the divine. The final reunion symbolizes the bliss of salvation. By the sixteenth century, Radha was transformed into a goddess, and is honored as the heavenly queen of Krishna’s celestial world.

Lotus-Clad Radha and Krishna
India, Punjab Hills, Basohli, ca. 1730.
Opaque watercolor on paper.
Lent by the Gursharan and Elvira Sidhu Collection.

Radha and Krishna Entwined
India, state of West Bengal, 20th century.
Bronze.
Lent by Leo S. Figiel, M.D.
Local Protector
As local protector of villages and towns and individual tribal peoples, Devi encompasses local goddesses as well as local variations on the Great Goddess whose aspect as cosmic force have already been noted. The Indian countryside is dotted with numerous wayside shrines that are often located at the threshold of villages. Except for those dedicated to local heroes these shrines are invariably “mata” or mother goddess shrines. Sometimes a “mata” shrine encloses nothing more than an earthen water pot with molded clay protrusions that symbolize the nourishing breasts of the goddess.
At other times, a rock smeared with saffron and vermillion speaks of her presence. On occasion, a simply modeled stone image serves to invoke the deity. These goddesses, who are concerned only with local affairs, are all-important in the villages and tribal areas. They give an immediacy to worship that cannot be provided by the great male gods, Vishnu and Shiva, who are usually enshrined in temples in the major towns.

Seven sisters on a pedestal
India, state of Madhya Pradesh, Bastar district, 19th century.
Bronze.
Lent by Leo S. Figiel, M.D.

Durga beneath a Sunburst Medallion.
India, state of Himachal Pradesh, Kullu. 16th century.
Bronze.
Lent by Leo S. Figiel, M.D.

A household shrine of the goddess Renuka.
A decorated stone with a silver crown represents the goddess.
India, state of Maharashtra, Nanded district, Mahur, 1992.
Photo by Cornelia Mallebrein.
Tribal
The fluctuating imagery of local goddesses is dramatically exemplified in the tribal region of Bastar in central India, where bronze casters create images from personal dream visions of the deities. With such an individual approach, only the craftsman and the commissioning patron know a deity’s precise identity. A favored Bastar mode for representing goddesses is to model them seated upon a swing or within wheeled chariots.
Sculptures often represent different aspects of tribal life. The bronze, on the left, is from the Kondh tribe. The woman bears distinctive tattoo marks on cheeks, chin, and forehead, as well as multiple piercings of the earlobes. As a preparation for marriage, Kondh girls are tattooed at the age of ten, while even earlier, holes are pierced along the outer ear and earlobes to receive the earrings their bridegroom will one day give them.
Sculptors who make images for the traditional temples work according to textual prescriptions following strict guidelines for the physical proportions of deities, their adornment, and other iconographic details. Folk artisans are unfettered by any such regulations. Their work, believed to be inspired directly by the deities who appear in their dream visions, renders each piece unique.

Durga with Her Family.
India, state of West Bengal or Orissa, 17th-18th century.
Bronze.
Lent by Leo S. Figiel. M.D.

Woman with parasol and pot.
India, state of West Bengal or Orissa, 17th-18th century.
Bronze.
Lent by Leo S. Figiel. M.D.

Elongated goddess.
India, state of Madhya Pradesh, Bastar district, 19th or 20th century.
Bronze.
Lent by Leo S. Figiel, M.D.
Bhuta
A different type of visual representation and its accompanying belief is evident in the unique Bhuta cult practiced along India’s southwestern coastal strip. The term “bhuta” refers to a group of divine spirits or supernatural beings who are generally benign but are also capable of causing misery unless they receive periodic propitiation and worship. Local people refer to bhutas with awe and veneration.
Close to four hundred individual bhutas are recognized of which a large number are female, referred to as Mothers. The goddess Chikka (literally, small one), a petite, demure figure is reportedly today’s favorite bhuta. She is often ornamented with her hair drawn to one side as a ponytail, and her strikingly stylized facial features gives her an air of austere grandeur. A bowl of sacred ash, known as vibhuti, often rests in her upraised hand.

Female bhuta.
India, state of Karnataka, coastal south Kanara, ca. 1800.
Wood with traces of pigment.
Lent by Dr. Siddharth Bhansali.

Female bhuta.
India, state of Karnataka, coastal south Kanara, ca. 1800.
Metal.
Lent by Dr. Siddharth Bhansali.
Semi Divine

Sundari beneath the Mango Tree
India, state of Madhya Pradesh or southern Uttar Pradesh, mid-9th century.
Sandstone.
Lent by Mr. and Mrs. John Gilmore Ford.
As semi-divine and auspicious, Devi manifests through nature and fertility spirits, celestial nymphs, and auspicious women. Women are considered auspicious through their association with fertility which signifies growth, abundance, and prosperity. This association led to a belief that contact with women brings trees, plants, and creepers into blossom. The ashoka tree, popularly associated with the flowering of a woman’s foot, is celebrated repeatedly in Sanskrit poems and dramas.
Nagini

Nagini
India, state of Bihar, ca. 100.
Gray terra-cotta.
Lent by the collection of Anupam and Rajika Puri.
Snake beings, believed to be auspicious, are worshiped throughout India as divinities who provide protection from dangers, including snake bites. Female snake beings, known as nagini, are portrayed as lovely women with a serpent head or backed by serpent coils.
Sundari

Sundari beneath the Mango Tree
India, state of Madhya Pradesh or southern Uttar Pradesh, mid-9th century.
Sandstone.
Lent by Mr. and Mrs. John Gilmore Ford.
According to ancient lore, the sound of a woman’s laughter was all that was needed to induce trees to blossom or to bear fruit. Often images of sundari(beauty) emphasize the association of woman with the bearing and rearing of children. The female figure is an obvious emblem of fertility and thereby of growth, abundance, and prosperity. From this, it was a short step to woman becoming an emblem of the auspicious.
The auspiciousness associated with images of women is believed to be transferred to the monument upon which they are sculpted or painted. A royal palace, a Buddhist stupa, or a Hindu or Jain shrine gains in fortune and prosperity when adorned with the figures of women.
Woman Saints

Yogini with Disciple
India, state of West Bengal, Murshidabad, 18th century.
Opaque watercolor on paper.
Lent by the Victoria and Albert Museum.
India is a land of holy persons (one could call them living saints) who have abandoned home and family to wander the land seeking alms to maintain themselves. Because the ideal role assigned to women is that of wife and mother there are few women saints. Yet those who have made their mark as women saints are accorded honor and even deified. Women are also accepted as yoginis (adepts at yoga), a physical and spiritual discipline from which they are believed to acquire extraordinary powers. Thus, Devi can also be manifested as woman saints, born on earth but endowed with deep spirituality and other-worldly powers.
Karaikkal Ammaiyar

Seated Saint Karaikkal Ammaiyar
India, state of Tamil Nadu, Chola period, 12th century.
Bronze.
Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Edward J. Gallagher, Jr.
Bequest in memory of his father, Edward Joseph Gallagher,
his mother, Ann Hay Gallagher,
and his son, Edward Joseph Gallagher III, 1982.
Prime among women saints from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, is Karaikkal Ammiayar who lived in the 6th century. When the young and beautiful woman, who lived in the town of Karaikkal, beseeched the god Shiva to divest her of the burden of her flesh, asking only that she watch him dance into eternity, a miracle occurred. In place of the young woman stood an emaciated hag, known from henceforth as Mother of Karaikkal (Karaikkal Ammaiyar). From then on, she wrote poetry in praise of Shiva.
Saint Andal

Saint Andal
India, state of Tamil Nadu, Tanjavur, 20th century.
Opaque watercolor and gold on textile mounted on board.
Lent by a private collection.
Saint Andal, a devotee of the god Vishnu, lived in southern India around the year 800. Andal wrote poetry full of longing for Vishnu. Andal, along with Karaikkal Ammaiyar, are two of the few women saints honored as images in temples.
interpreting devi

Procession image of Parvati.
Kapalisvara temple.
Mylapur, Chennai.
March 1995.
Photo by Dick Waghorne.
In this section, we explore how the Goddess has evolved through the centuries and how society interacts with her. Devi Through The Ages discusses the iconographic and symbolic development of the Hindu goddess from prehistoric Indian times to the modern age. Worshiping Devi examines some popular rituals and festivals celebrated in different parts of India. Finally, Devi And Women ponders over why the worship of a powerful, empowered Goddess, does not lead to the automatic empowerment of Hindu women.
Devi through the Ages
The goddess has been worshiped since prehistoric times in India. This section outlines the evolution of Devi through the ages. Each segment reveals that as Hinduism evolved and changed through the centuries, the roles and functions of Hindu goddesses also went through dramatic changes.
Goddess worship in India goes back to prehistoric India. Archaeological remains from the cities of the Indus civilization (2600-1900 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 the male gods became predominant as the Aryans settled in north India, archaeological excavations show that peasants in numerous villages continued to worship the mother goddess.
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 wealthy and sophisticated townspeople.

Mother Goddess Figurine
Pakistan, Mohenjodaro, ca. 2,600 – 1,900 B.C.
Terra-cotta.
Courtesy of Mark Kenoyer

Goddess or yakshi
India, state of West Bengal, Chandraketugarh, ca. 100.
Gray terra-cotta.
Lent by a private collection.

Nagini
India, state of Bihar, ca. 100.
Gray terra-cotta.
Lent by the collection of Anupam and Rajika Puri.
Epic
During the Gupta period (320-647), the goddess, as object of worship, was celebrated in the Devi Mahatmya, a fifth-sixth century Sanskrit text. Through the dynamic narration of three stories about her great feats, the Devi Mahatmya proclaims 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 that time onward many Hindu kings chose a particular goddess to appear on coins, seals and other official documents.

Draupadi and Kunti with the Pandavas
India, Punjab Hills, Kangra, ca. 1800.
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper.
Lent by a private collection.

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.
Modern

Sri Kanyaka Paramesvari temple
[Recently restored] in the heart of old Georgetown in Chennai.
December, 1994.
Photo by Dick Waghorne.
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.
Worshiping Devi
The rituals surrounding worship of the goddess vary widely throughout India. Goddesses are venerated as consorts of gods and they are worshiped together or in adjacent temples. But goddesses are also worshiped separately, often within shrines of wood, mud and thatch. The importance of visual images of the Great Goddess is emphasized by the context of worship across the Indian subcontinent. Hindu worship is called puja. Puja is the act of showing reverence to a god or goddess through divine invocations, prayers, songs, and rituals.
An essential part of puja is making a spiritual connection with the divine and most often that is facilitated by darshan, or “seeing” an image of a god or goddess. Darshan, however, is not merely “seeing” but is a dynamic exchange between the devotee and the deity. While the devotee “sees,” Devi also presents herself for darshan and bestows blessings upon worshipers, who by their act of seeing, have made themselves receptive to the transfer of grace. It is this concept of the dynamic interaction between devotee and Devi that lies at the heart of the creation of images of the Great Goddess and her temples.
Throughout history, even in areas where worship of the Great Goddess did not gain primacy, her main forms as a wish-bestower, especially Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, and Sarasvati, goddess of learning, have been important. Devi is worshiped as a mother who always desires the well being of her children. Supplicants may request specific help: that a disease be healed, an examination passed, or a job secured.
While some forms of Devi worship are common throughout India, others are regional. Worship of forms such as Draupadi, heroine of the Mahabharata and Radha, beloved of Krishna, are restricted to specific geographical locations. Temples and festivals for Draupadi are found in south India, while Radha is celebrated in the north.

Mumba Devi temple
Mumbai [Bombay].
Photo by Neil Greentree.

Sanctum of the Black goddess.
Sri Kanyaka Paramesvari temple in the heart of old Georgetown in Chennai.
December, 1994.
Photo by Dick Waghorne.

Festival to the goddess Mariamman
Ootacamund, Nilgiri Hills.
April 1995.
Photo by Dick Waghorne.
Festivals
Festivals in India are timed according to the lunar month with certain days sacred to particular deities. While Devi is worshiped throughout the year, manifestations of the Great Goddess have specific days dedicated to them. There are also many regional variations in festivals. Goddess festivals in rural areas do not follow any fixed calendrical cycles. During festivals it is common for images of the goddess to be dressed and taken out of the temple for public display and processions, thus allowing darshan for the throngs of people who take part.
While celebrated throughout India, in Calcutta the Durga Puja is of enormous significance. During this ten day festival, celebrated in late September or early October, images are created of Durga standing astride the buffalo demon. Made of wood, straw, covered with clay, and then painted in bright colors, Durga is paraded through the streets and at the end of the festival the images are submerged into the Ganges, thus returning Devi to her source. Durga is here worshiped as the warrior goddess, the slayer of the demon. But the timing of her festival to coincide with the harvest also associates her with fertility.
Another popular festival, Divali, is associated with the goddess Lakshmi. She is honored with lighted lamps and fireworks during the north Indian Hindu new year in late autumn. Lakshmi is worshiped by businessmen who understand that without the blessings of the goddess of wealth they will not prosper.
In the countryside where Lakshmi’s primary association is with abundance and fertility, her worship during Divali is seen as important to agricultural success. The lighting of lamps invokes the blessings of the goddess and banishes the demon of misfortune.

Kapalisvara temple
Mylapore, Chennai.
March 1995.
Photo by Dick Waghorne.

Kapalisvara temple
Mylapore, Chennai.
March 1995.
Photo by Dick Waghorne.

Puja in hall of South Indian temple
Photo by Neil Greentree.
Devi and Women
It might seem natural to assume that the presence of so powerful a figure as the Great Goddess must result in the general empowerment of women. However, the secondary status of women in the Indian subcontinent suggests that in practice the adoration of the Great Goddess has had little influence on the position assigned to women (a condition not unique to the subcontinent).
The situation is paradoxical. It is intriguing to note that while Devi is associated with fertility and addressed as “mother,” the focus is on Devi as a nurturer, rather than a child-bearer. For example, Lakshmi is addressed as mother of all but she bore no children, neither did Sarasvati. Parvati, consort of Shiva, is mother of the elephant-headed god Ganesha and the warrior god Skanda, but carried neither in her womb. Thus, Indian goddesses, while worshiped for their powers to grant fertility are not actual role models for Hindu women, whose role in life as a married woman is considered complete only after she has borne children.
While myths surrounding the Great Goddess have not, thus far, been interpreted to serve as empowerment for women, today’s generation of women may indeed reinterpret the messages of Devi. As women increasingly adopt leadership roles, they could well appropriate goddess imagery differently from the past and employ the goddess myth to redefine their place in society.

Yoginis in a Landscape
India, Mughal period, late 17th century.
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper.
Lent by a private collection.

Milk pot festival
Photo by Dick Waghorne.
tantric devi
Between 1660-1670, an unknown master in the Punjab hills of northern India painted a magnificent series of some seventy paintings which visualize Devi in expressive forms of strength and beauty. Only thirty-two of the original group have survived, of which six, with their accompanying verses, are exhibited here. This series is known as the Tantric Devi series because the imagery suggests an affiliation with esoteric rites of tantric worship.

Dancing Bhadrakali Adored by the Gods.
Folio 45 from the Tantric Devi series. India, Punjab Hills, Basohli, ca. 1660-70. Opaque watercolor, gold, silver, and beetle-wing cases on paper (border restored). Lent by a private collection on loan to Museum Rietberg, Zurich.

Bhadrakali, Destroyer of the Universe.
Folio 47 from the Tantric Devi series. India, Punjab Hills, Basohli, ca. 1660-70. Opaque watercolor, gold, silver, and beetle-wing cases on paper (border restored). Lent by the Howard Hodgkin Collection, London.

Bhadrakali within the Rising Sun.
Folio 10 from the Tantric Devi series. India, Punjab Hills, Basohli, ca. 1660-70. Opaque watercolor, gold, silver, and beetle-wing cases on paper. Lent by Dr. Alvin O. Bellak, Philadelphia.

Varahi Seated on a Tiger.
Folio 35 from the Tantric Devi series. India, Punjab Hills, Basohli, ca. 1660-70. Opaque watercolor, gold, and beetle-wing cases on paper.

The Gods Pay Homage to Bhadrakali.
Freer Gallery of Art, Purchase, F1984.42.

The Goddess Worshiped by Rishi Chyavana.
Freer Gallery of Art, Purchase, F 1997.8.