Anael, from Israel, is
amazed at the scene in front of her: men, women and children bow before
a Goddess while a priest chants prayers. As a teacher who has served in
the Israeli army, she is familiar with women power. But, the divine as a
female? As Anael, on a visit to Kolkata, witnesses the proceedings of
Durga Puja - the grandest festival in Bengal - she is mesmerized by the
life-sized deity of lotus-eyed, long-haired Durga, astride a lion, her
multiple arms holding different weapons, piercing Mahishasura (a demon)
with her lance. It is a new concept for Anael, though she points out
that Judaism has some revered female figures such as Sara and Rachel.
Dan Brown's bestseller, 'The Da Vinci Code', has popularized the concept
of the "Sacred Feminine" only recently; but in India, it is a living
tradition dating back many millennia, to the Indus Valley civilization.
The Rig Veda is the first known Hindu text to acknowledge the female
embodiment of the Divine. Devi or Shakti worship has continued to be an
integral part of Hindu tradition down the ages.
Durga is the slayer of Mahishasura, the demon epitomizing all evils,
hence our inner demons: anger, fear, hate, lust; she is also Supreme
Mother Goddess, protecting all those who seek Her protection. In
totality, she embodies Shakti - the female force, latent in each human
being, which manifests itself variously - as the slayer of evil, the
creative force (together with her male complement, Shiva) and tender
mother - in short, roles a woman usually plays. It is she to whom the
male God turns to vanquish evil. So, while Bengalis first pay homage to
her valor in ridding the world of evil, and then welcome her as a
daughter visiting her natal family, they essentially seek her blessing
as the Supreme Mother.
Over the years, however, Durga's symbolism for women in India has been
undergoing a change. Increasingly, women are looking upon her as a
symbol of feminine power, rather than a divine mother, an inspiration to
reclaim rights that society has, over the centuries, deprived them of.
Madhu Kishwar, Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
and Founder-editor, 'Manushi', points out, "Any woman who
manifests extraordinary
strength and is totally unafraid of men begins to be treated as a
manifestation of Goddess Durga. There are many such mini-Durgas
everywhere." Indira Gandhi and Kiran Bedi have been referred to as Durga
at some point of time. This imagery of a strong woman invoking her own 'Shakti'
(power) has also been made use of not only in Bollywood but also in
films by intellectuals like Satyajit Ray and Rituparno Ghosh.
And, increasingly, women are turning to this incarnation for
inspiration. At a recent convention on women's empowerment in Delhi,
Girija Vyas, Chairperson, National Commission for Women, made an
interesting comparison - she likened contemporary Indian women to Durga,
and the various legislations ensuring gender equality to the different
weapons carried by the Goddess.
And Indians and Hindu women are not the only ones who seem to resonate
to this theme. It is finding cross-cultural legitimacy, too. Asra Q.
Nomani, an Indian-born American journalist who takes pride in her Muslim
identity, writes in her book, 'Standing Alone in Mecca', that
while riding a motorbike on a visit to North India she was inspired by
the image of Durga to continue her struggle for women's rights in Islam.
Viktoria Lyssenko, academician, Moscow Institute of Philosophy, says
that as a woman she finds the image of Shakti in Indian religious
tradition very encouraging. Russian Orthodox Christianity also liberally
uses the concept of the "Divine Mother" in Mary. Therefore, her
students, mostly women, find the concept of Shakti easy to relate to.
Many have been encouraged by this aspect of Indian tradition to take up
Indology and travel to India to delve deeper into it.
Ruchira Ganguly-Scrase, an anthropologist and Convener, Asia Pacific
Studies, University of Wollongong, Australia, has a framed poster in her
office depicting a stylized Durga. "It shows one side of Durga's body
where her arms are empty and on the other she possesses multiple
weapons. It is meant to depict the dualistic nature of womanhood in
India - power and its absence." It was a poster Ganguly-Scrase picked up
many years ago in Kolkata. "It certainly inspires me!" she says. And,
her students, colleagues and acquaintances, especially of the "feminist
persuasion" are "immediately struck by it".
But her words also strike a chord: the huge gulf between what is
worshipped and believed in and the reality in India - the deprivation of
millions of Indian women of even basic rights. And it is precisely here
that image can be so powerful. "The concept of Shakti implicit in the
female divinity such as Durga can be a very useful device for mobilizing
women because women can identify with something familiar to them, rather
than some abstract intellectualist feminism," believes Ganguly-Scrase.
As if in fulfillment of her words, miles away in a 'basti'
(shanty settlement) in Kolkata, Parvati Deori, 36, seeks inspiration
from the Goddess in the festive season. Parvati and other women in her 'basti'
have had to face the menace of drunken youth harassing them and their
daughters on every festive occasion. During Durga Puja it gets
particularly worse as the festivities stretch over four consecutive
days.
This year, Parvati decided to take some concrete steps to check the
menace. She mobilized the women of her 'basti', using the image of
Durga, to ward off the drunken youth. These "mini-Durgas" drew up a
simple plan: they armed themselves with simple weapons ranging from
chillie-powder to cricket bats and sticks, and formed five groups of six
each. Each group kept watch every night of the Puja. No 'ashura' (demon)
dared bother them this year.
And in North Kolkata, it is this symbol of Durga, resolute and benign,
that has inspired a group of sex workers to pledge their eyes to the
blind this year. According to the Durbar Mahila Samanvaya Committee, 54
sex workers have pledged their eyes to Durga, emulating the act of Lord
Ram, who had offered to pluck one of his eyes as offering to the
Goddess.
"The great thing about Hindu tradition is that we can personalize the
Divine to suit our needs," says Payal Kumar of Sage Publications India,
who did her Masters in world religions. "The image of Shakti can be used
as a great inspiration for women to fight for their rights as Durga
did."
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Anael, from Israel, is
amazed at the scene in front of her: men, women and children bow before
a Goddess while a priest chants prayers. As a teacher who has served in
the Israeli army, she is familiar with women power. But, the divine as a
female? As Anael, on a visit to Kolkata, witnesses the proceedings of
Durga Puja - the grandest festival in Bengal - she is mesmerized by the
life-sized deity of lotus-eyed, long-haired Durga, astride a lion, her
multiple arms holding different weapons, piercing Mahishasura (a demon)
with her lance. It is a new concept for Anael, though she points out
that Judaism has some revered female figures such as Sara and Rachel.