Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [164]
As Indian myth evolves, Brahma gradually recedes from the picture, and is overshadowed by two more active gods in the Hindu trinity—Shiva and Vishnu—along with a powerful mother goddess, Devi.
Devi The great mother goddess of Hindu myth, Devi is thought to be derived from the original Mother Earth goddess probably worshipped in the Indus Valley before the Aryans arrived. Devi, or Mahadevi (“the great goddess”), is the creative force, but also demands sacrifices. Like the male deities, she has many avatars, some of whom became wives and consorts—or Shakti—of the three gods. Many of the countless goddesses of Hinduism are considered aspects of this great goddess.
Durga The goddess Durga, which means “inaccessible” or “unapproachable,” is a dark avatar of the mother goddess Devi. Emerging from the flames shot from the mouths of the male gods Vishnu and Shiva when they are battling a powerful buffalo-demon named Mahisha, Durga is fierce and physically imposing, with yellow-tinged skin and vampirelike teeth. Riding a lion while carrying a club, a noose, a sword, and a trident in her four hands, she seduces the buffalo-demon, captures it with a noose, and beheads it.
As Shiva’s consort, Durga combats evil, rids the world of demons, and destroys ignorance. But in spite of her fearsome, violent, and combative origin and nature, Durga is also a goddess of sleep and creativity, and in that spirit is credited with introducing yoga to mankind.
Durga may not be aware of what she has wrought. A quick Internet search under “yoga” produces about 20 million results! There are probably few health clubs left that don’t offer some form of yoga exercise, making this ancient Hindu form of discipline one of the most widely shared aspects of Hindu tradition in the world today. Essentially an Indian secret until the eighteenth century, yoga may predate the Aryan arrival in the Indus Valley, according to archaeological evidence. In essence, all forms of yoga are disciplines designed to link the physical body and mind with the unconscious soul, stilling the mind to allow a glimpse of enlightenment. The ancient Sanskrit root of “yoga” is the same for the English word “yoke,” as in animals yoked together to work as one. While there are several types of yoga, the one most familiar to Westerners is hatha yoga, the series of breathing techniques and stretching exercises developed as a way to liberate the spirit by channeling energy through the spinal column to the rest of the body. It was originally intended as a preparation for the intensive meditation that is part of raja yoga (“royal yoga”), one of the four main forms of traditional yoga. Other popular derivations of yoga techniques are Transcendental Meditation, a form of yoga using the constant repetition of a divine name (mantra), and bhakti yoga, which involves the dedication of all actions and thoughts to a chosen god. Perhaps the best-known practitioners are members of the Krishna Consciousness movement, who constantly chant the name of Lord Krishna to achieve an ecstatic state.
Ganesha (Ganesh) A short, potbellied man who rides around on the back of a rat (or a mouse, in some traditions) and removes obstacles to success, the elephant-headed Ganesha is the god of wisdom, literature, and good fortune. The child of Shiva and Parvati, Ganesha is told by his mother to guard the door as she bathes. When Ganesha refuses to allow his father, Shiva, to enter the bath, Shiva angrily decapitates Ganesha. To calm his angry wife, Shiva then replaces his son’s head with the first one he finds—that of an elephant.
By invoking Ganesha’s name at the beginning of any activity, a devotee opens the door to material success and spiritual growth.
Ganga Ganga is the water goddess of purification, divinely manifested in the Ganges River. Married to the ocean, Ganga must be careful not to descend to earth too swiftly from the sky—an obvious allusion to the threat of flooding—or she will wash away