Sunday, November 1, 2015

Quantam shift of portrayal, Gaint stride in Thought

During the recent Durga Puja/Nav Ratri festivals, I had the opportunity to follow/see the idols of Durga Devi/Shakti/Ambe Mata and the plethora of relevant names of the depicted Female form of Strength and Courage celebrated pan-India, where the Devi vanquish the Asura. It was a feast for sight to see horde of people thronging to various makeshift Pandals (temporary place of placing the idol for worship) or Temples (permanent shrines), where the occasion of Puja was going on. The gaiety was contagious, where the deity armed with her weaponry was annihilating the Evil Asura (Mahis-asura), mostly with her trident (the trinity supreme power of Bhrama, Vishnu and Shiva). Perhaps the translation of the image can be simplified into plain everyday thinking, where in Hindu world, Woman is equal to Nature and Man to Culture. A message where it states that Nature need to regulate Culture. The idea for portraying the idol in a stance waging a fight, is perhaps to depict the Womanhood as equally, or more powerful, in the cycle of life, a ramification planned for posterity. Among all these stereo typical portrayal of the Idol bedecked with weapons and dressings, with the same stance of waging war and the Asura mortally wounded, I noticed an idol at a place called Ruabandha in Bhilai at Chattisgarh (India) where the idol was not at war ! Yes, not at war. The Asura was not lacerated, but the Asura was handing over the weapon with a kneel submission and the Idol of Shakti was Blessing. What a change in the thought ! Is it the quantum leap of thinking that we all are pursuing for humanness... The Purusha (Male) and Prakrti (Female) as an entity being one without the war...This thought of co-existence of surrendering, blessings and understanding with dignity to all is the essence of Life. This, me thinks, is what our society must emulate in vision, action and spirit. Let there be such prudent change spew into the fabric of our thinking for rejoicing the beauty of being human species.

2 comments:

  1. I liked this the most. Beautifully put by you. Read somewhere that even Vatican is trying to grow out of the black & white shades of Good & Evil as in God & Devil. Meanwhile, Ravana is not purely black, he is worshiped at certain places.

    You write fantastic.

    Kudos!

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