Devdutt pattanaik column | Tales of marriage and murder

The stories of the folk goddesses of India are often lost in innumerable oral versions. Which people do we consider to be authentic? A common thread is some form of sexual violation, followed by cruel violence. We can say that these (almost) are stories of marriage and (almost) murder. Is they to be taken literally or metaphorically?

In Jammu, a woman named Vaishnavi was meditating, when she was attacked by Bhairav, hoping to marry Vishnu. He wanted him to participate in Tantric sex rites. She rejected her proposal, but remained. she ran; he followed. Finally, she turned around, turned into a goddess in her anger, and nodded her. As he was dying, he used to beg for forgiveness and the goddess said that everyone who visited her temple used to go to meet her. His temple has only his head.

In Gujarat, a princess named Bahuchara wondered why her husband never came to bed after her marriage. Instead, he got out at night. He chased him one day, and found him with the help of a cock. He discovered her mascaring as a woman. While feeling that she was quir, she turned into a goddess in her anger, accused her of cheating on her, and cast her. He apologized to him, and he said that men like him would have to serve as transgender priests if they want to get rid of the wheel of rebirth.

Blackfes and worship

In Kerala, a Muslim businessman and magician Ali Mapilla attacked women. Therefore, Goddess Chamundi enchanted her, found her to remove her magical protective talisman and then killed her. Like other stories, Ali begged for apology and said that if he helps the devotees of Chamundi, he can get liberation. A pilgrimage was built next to him, and some certainly the Vyam ritual ceremony – which combines the theater, mime and worship – a mitigation allowed Ali’s soul to enter. The artist has a blackfase (perhaps to point to African roots, probably), wears a fez cap (perhaps to indicate Turkish roots, probably), Ali Chamundi, and is respected by local Muslims and Hindus. .

In the Deccan regions of Vidarbha, Telangana and Karnataka, a woman found that her husband cheated her. He was not a Brahmin, but someone who preferred to eat beef and pork. Furious, he provoked it. Every year, the husband is represented by a male buffalo calf and is introduced. The ritual -performing person is referred to as his son or brother, and is recognized as Potaraju (Buffalo King). He is often painted in black, appears demonic, whipping herself, walking on fire, apologizing to the goddess, and worshiping her.

The most Sanskrit version of this story is Buffalo-Deman Mahisha who is ready for Durga, who rides a lion. He challenged her in a duality and put her with a trident. Buffalo-Killing Devi’s images have been found in India since the Kushan Times 2,000 years ago. His images were later carved on temples and buffalo was equal to the forces of evil and disorder. But among folk temples, Mahisha, Buffalo-Deman is a memory, which is Mahoba, Buffalo-Goddess, son, lover or violation.

Durga Buffalo-Deman killing. Photo Credit: WikiComones

Hidden subaltern feminist history

Sometimes, this is the woman who suffers and dies. In Sanskrit Puranic literature, Shiva’s Brahmin wife, Sati, was influenced by disagreement between her father and her husband, killed herself in a Vedic fire pit. His body broke into pieces, which fell into different parts of India StrengthOr the seats of the goddess of power.

In MahabharataThere is a story of seven sages in the sky that form a great bear constellation in the northern sky, which consists of seven wives. One day, six of these women were accused of being unfaithful. Angry, women left their husbands and became players constellations, Critica constellationThese women, sometimes six, sometimes seven, are worshiped as seven wild women across India who cause abortion and fatal fever in children until they are accepted and the bride is not accepted. Worship is done with a gift of.

Thus, the man who humiliates the goddess, he can be a Bhairava, a queue man, a Muslim, a low-caste man, a demon or sage, even a Brahmin father or husband. In each case, either his consent is not taken or cheated, he is ignored or not incorrectly accused. Through the stories of the Goddess -Goddesses, community class/caste/gender/sexuality express their fear and concerns that could not be openly discussed. They also reveal a hidden subaltern feminist history that refuses most of the elite historians.

Devadatt patanic Authors of 50 books on mythology, art and culture.