Hinduism Goddess Essay

Are cults of the Great Goddess Mahadevi 

simply Bhakti with a feminine face?

Deborah Irvine 

University of Queensland 2018

Are cults of the Great Goddess Mahadevi simply bhakti with a feminine face? In responding to the question, I will firstly examine bhakti with reference to Eck (1998), Brown (2002) Heers (2002) and Lorenzen (2004). Secondly, I will examine the term Mahadevi with references to key sacred texts, the Devi-Mahatmya (Agrawala 1963; Coburn 1991) and The Devi Gita (C.M. Brown 2002) as part of the Devi-Bhagavata-Purana which ultimately spawned what can be called “the cult of the Great Goddess” (Coburn 1991, p. 90). Understanding Mahadevi, as the Great Goddess requires an exploration of historical, theological, hermeneutic, geographical, cultural and gender contexts (Coburn 1991, 1998, pp. 31-48; Erndl 2004, pp. 140-161; Kinsley 1986, 1998; Hawley & Wulff 1998). Thirdly, in examining cults of the Great Goddess, “varied media of religious life,” traditions, rituals as well as texts need to be examined (Coburn 1991, p. 93). Throughout this essay I will delineate specific feminine attributes of Mahadevi, particularly those considered Sakti, with specific reference to Durga, Kali and to Tantra to demonstrate that cults of the Great Goddess Mahadevi are not simply bhakti with a feminine face, but are independently, uniquely, and powerfully feminine in their own right.

Firstly, bhakti is defined as “devotion, honor, worship, grace, relational love shared by both the God or Goddess and the devotee” (Eck 1998, p. 48, Glossary). Brown (2002, p. 130) defines bhakti as, “loving surrender to and taking refuge in a personal deity. This supreme devotion is characterized as both detached in its awareness and as ecstatic in its passionate rendering of loving service to the deity.” Whilst the deity being worshipped is either a God Deva, or Goddess Devi, bhakti in and of itself is gender neutral, neither masculine or feminine. However, Hawley (1998, p. 8) posits that “goddesses tend to possess their devotees to the point of total identification, which is much rarer for gods.” Hawley (1998, p. 8) further delineates that certain bhakti symbols and rituals are gender specific to the goddesses such as pots as vessels of puja for beneficence of her fertility and fructification. 

Bhakti encompasses multiple forms or practices, private and public, by both males and females, such as recitation of texts, mantras, pujas as the sacred rites of worship and honor (often to images for darsan for the bestowing of sight, grace, blessing, merit and goodfortune by the goddess) upacara offerings, pilgrimages to sacred sites, and festivals (Eck 1998, pp. 45-49; Michaels 2004, p. 255; Olsen 2007, p. 126). Bhakti cults, traced back to early centuries BCE, always “found expression in accordance with the period, place, and personality of the worshipper and worshipped,” (Heers 2002, p. 304; Rodrigues 2017, p. 248). Visnu, Siva, Devi or Sakta and nirguna bhakti cults, as the four predominant cults “based on the specific god, or set of gods, chosen for worship,” existed side by side through to the present day (Lorenzen 2004, p. 185; Olsen 2007, p. 126).

The specific name Mahadevi, translated as the Great Goddess, emerges for the first time around the sixth century CE in the Devi-Mahatmya (glorification or greatness of the goddess) as part of the Markandeya-Purana (Agrawala 1963, p. xii; Coburn 1991, p. 1; Erndl 2004, p. 147). Mahadevi in the Devi-Mahatmya is also known by several names such as Candika, Ambika (Mother), Sadha and Svaha (the internal one), Durga from earlier texts, Kali and Pavarti and each personification embodies, preserves and delivers unique attributes and beneficence to her devotees (Coburn 1991, pp. 18-24). Kinsley (1986, p. 133) cites the Lalita-sahasranama for over one thousand and eight names and varied epithets of Mahadevi such as Jagatikanda as root of the world, Nirupama who has no equal, Visvagarbha whose womb contains the universe, setting her apart as a distinctly supreme, feminine face for her devotees.

Erndl (2004, pp. 147-148 citing Agrawala 1963, p. xii; Kingsley 1978, p. 498) posits that in the Devi-Mahatmya for the first-time local indigenous goddess cults become synthesized and Sanskritized, combining local myths, rituals and three strands of Vedic theology into what can be identified as a unique, specific and supreme feminine being or Great Goddess. Mahadevi now incorporates and is the source of prakrti and the three gunas, maya and brahman; is the source of saktis of Visnu, Brahma and Siva thereby becoming the creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe (Coburn 1998, pp. 32-48). “Devi is beyond being a consort to anyone” (Coburn 1998, p. 32), and not only incorporates all her own feminine qualities both gentle and ferocious, but also all masculine qualities as well. Mahadevi is the holistic, immanent and transcendent, all-encompassing goddess, sum of all devis, devas, the Ultimate Reality or Brahman and the Great Mother or Mother Goddess (Coburn 1998, pp. 32-48; Erndl 2004, p. 152; Vanamali 2006, pp. xxii-xxiv). 

In the twelve-thirteenth chapters of the Devi-Mahatmya, bhakti towards Mahadevi is outlined as ritual recitations of the texts, mantras, pujas, images, sacrifices, and festivals celebrating her, particularly the autumnal Durga Puja and Navaratra (Kinsley 1986, pp. 106-115; Erndl 2004, p. 152; Coburn 1998, p. 32; Foulston & Abbott 2009, pp. 156-170). Durga is specifically honored and worshiped in the ritualized Durgasaptasti text which in present day usage incorporates regional languages and customs and is one of the most popular and well-known texts throughout India today (Kinsley, 1986, p. 95; Erndl 2004, pp. 153-154). 

“Durga’s role as cosmic queen is complemented by her role as personal comforter who intervenes on behalf of her devotees, a personal saviour as well as a great battle queen” is extoled towards the end of the Devi-Mahatmya (Kinsley 1986, pp. 102-103). Bhakti towards Durga by kings and warriors has formed a tradition from the period of the Mahabharata, the Durga-Stora, the Devi-Mahatmya, the Devi-Purana, and particularly in recent centuries, specifically delivering Durga’s battle prowess for success and prosperity to devotees (Kinsley 1986, pp. 107-110; Coburn 1991, pp. 26-27). Bhakti towards Durga also incorporates offering of blood sacrifices as solicitude and beneficence for her specific powers, attributes and gifts towards devotees encompassing fecundity, agricultural fertility, general welfare of the world and cosmic order (Kinsley, 1986, pp. 112-115).

The Devibhagavata-Purana, incorporating The Devi Gita, Spiritual Counsel of the Great Goddess, dated from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries CE (Mackenzie 2002, p. 5), can be seen liturgically, theologically, ritually and devotionally as a crystallization of the veneration and prominence of the feminine face of the Great Goddess, exalted in her cosmic supremacy as Mother and life force of all, supporter and ruler of all worlds and beings (Kinsley 1986, p. 133; Kinsley 1998, p. 3; Mackenzie 2002, p. 3). The Devi Gita extols bhakti but with knowledge as the final goal, bhakti yoga, bhakti sthanas (sacred abodes) and pithas (seats of the Goddess), worshipping the whole of India as the body of the Goddess Bharat Mata, Ganga herself and again classification and instructions on various types of bhakti pujas and image worship so as to enable devotees to receive Mahadevi’s beneficence and gifts of power (Mackenzie 2002, pp. 24-27). 

The Devi Gita introduces internal worship of the goddess Bhuvaneshvari as well as external image worship extoling bhakti by singing specific mantras to receive “rebirth in her Jeweled Island paradise and complete fulfillment” (Mackenzie 2002, pp. 33). Bhuvaneshvari introduces specific feminine qualities and attributes through tantric worship of the goddess as an “allied tradition” of Goddess worship, as do the goddess cults of Kali and the texts of Kalikulap (Flood 1996, p. 184-186). 

The allied Tantric cults and texts such as the Mahabhagavata-Purana, describe specific bhakti practices in relation to the ten Mahavidayas, of whom Kali is the most commonly worshipped goddess, often affirmed as the most important and also origin of the other Mahavidyas (Kinsley, 1998, p. 68). Kinsley (1998, p. 22) posits that the Mahavidyas also can be seen as versions of Sati, Pavarti, Kali, Durga, and Sataksi all with unique but also group attributes as dominant consorts or independent goddesses, fierce or benign, conferring magical powers (siddhis), and world-maintaining (Kinsley 1998, pp. 36-38). Worship of each goddess is outlined ritualistically, philosophically, mythologically and in relation to Mahadevi herself (Kinsley 1998, p. 3). Whichever goddess the devotee worships, whether seeking “worldly boons or spiritual awareness, set patterns of worship determine how one approaches the deity,” in very individualized practices (Kinsley 1998, p. 3). Key feminine bhakti characteristics include matching a specific goddess to the initiate who becomes for the adept “the Great Goddess” conferring satisfaction of all his or her worldly and spiritual needs” (Kinsley 1998, pp. 3-4).

Cults of Kali as the Great Goddess reify her “occupying a central position in Hindu piety, Tantrism and in Bengali Sakta devotionalism” (Kinsley 1986, p. 122). Kali Puja are predominant in Bengal and she was the central figure in Bengali bhakti literature by Ramprasad Sen (Kinsley 1986, pp. 116-131). Kali’s specifically fierce characteristics and feminine attributes related to blood and menstruation have remained fairly constant throughout her history, mythology, and worship where she “dramatically thrusts upon the observer things that he or she would rather not think about such as dharma, blood and death” (Kinsley 1986, pp. 128-129). Rituals to Kali (samkaras) help devotees refine and purify these otherwise untamable, unpredictable aspects of society and life (Kinsley 1986, p. 129), and it is Kali who, “when confronted boldly in meditation gives the devotee great power and ultimately salvation” (Kinsley 1986, p. 124). 

Ramakrishna was known for his devotion to Kali his “God, his Mother” and her sword, which ignited a “steady flow of undiluted bliss, and I felt the presence of the Divine Mother” (Zaehner 1966, pp. 161-162). The Saiva female saints, able to leave their households, emulated their chosen goddess Kali and were understood and accepted as feminine faces of Mahadevi through the tradition of Sakti worship (Leslie 1991, pp. 194-210; Sharma 2000, pp. 30-32). The Vaisnava female saints remaining in their households internalized their bhakti practices towards goddesses such as Sita in her submissive consort role and the relegation of Sakti to the intercessory power of Laksmi as Visnu’s consort and Radha as Krishna’s consort (Kinsley 1998, p. 6; Leslie 1991, pp. 194-210; Sherma 2000, p. 29; Rajan 2000, p. 270). Cults of the Great Goddess Mahadevi are continuing to evolve in the present era as seen with the popularity of the newly created goddess Santosi Ma, “The Mother of Satisfaction,” whose appeal could not have been possible without many of her feminine characteristics and attributes already being familiar to devotees as “part of a larger and already well-integrated culture of the Goddess” (Hawley 1998, pp. 3-6; Olsen 2007, p. 253).

To conclude, cults of the Great Goddess Mahadevi are not simply bhakti with a feminine face, but are independently, uniquely, and powerfully feminine in their own right as seen throughout history, mythologies, theologies, scriptures and rituals. Mahadevi has been seen as an inclusive, supreme Goddess, often subsuming all other Gods and Goddesses as well as manifesting in multiple names and personifications, both gentle and ferocious, each with unique feminine beneficences for her bhaktas; as Great Mother, Supreme Being, “incorporating the world as we know it, as well as transcending it” (Hawley 1998, p. 6); as Sakti, the supreme energizing force that activates Siva and stands over him as Kali giving life, removing fears of death and unifying the world’s microcosm with the universal macrocosm; as warrior Durga as savior, protector, comforter and cosmic queen; as the Mahavidyas, both consorts and independent role models and givers of siddhis, enlightenment, worldly and cosmic order and satisfaction; as local village deities almost always as goddesses (Hawley 1998, p. 6); as goddesses of the land and of many sacred places and abodes as ubiquitously divinely feminine (Hawley 1998, p. 6); as currently alive as seen in modern-day Durga and Kali Pujas and as evolving as seen in Santosi Ma. Thus, cults of the Great Goddess Mahadevi are not simply bhakti with a feminine face, but are independently, uniquely, and powerfully feminine in their own right.

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