Jignasa Journal Of History Of Ideas And Culture Part 02

Author(s): Vibha Upadhyaya and Others
Publisher: University of Rajasthan

Page 87

Encapsulated as Material Artistic Response
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Possibilities of Situating the Feminine in Kramrisch's
'The Female Power The representation of the feminine can be grasped via the understanding that Kramrisch has authored specially as in The Hindu Temple, where she describes at length the feminine as the 'female power.' The equating of the female power to the feminine based on the understanding that both are the prima facie the desired qualities sought beyond the physical functionality, and interred by visual responding as highlights to the female identity, located in particular time and space. Kramrisch's opening lines need to be quoted here:
"Surasundari, which means Celestial Beauty, is but one of the names and types in which the image of Sakti is carved on the walls of the temple. Sakti is energy, the Primordial Power and substance of the world. Māyā,- the visible world, measureable in its forms,-belongs to the Brahman as Sakti ("Vedanta Sutra 1.IV, 1-7). She is herself the "ability to act," her image is placed next to the image of any of the gods. By her activity she attracts and helps the devotee: she is his guide and appeals to all. While every man is not equipped for riding the Sārdüla, he may be led by Sakti and grasp the meanings of her hands (hasta), postures and actions. While the Sārdūla is the 'angel' of active man, the various images of Sakti assist his contemplative and passive nature. The images of Sārdūla (Vyāla), and Sakti are collateral: they alternate on the wall of the temples of Khajuraho and on the capitals of the pillars. The rearing body of the animal and the shape of the woman are seen to sway in similar curves: they are one in nature and form though different in functions and appearance, for Sakti is Väk, the "active
power of Brahman proceeding from him" (R.V.X.125) and the Sārdūla is Vāk." The plan of the temple is likened further by her, to the Sri-yantra where the various positions are held by goddesses or powers or Yoginis, of conjoint energies by whom the work of transcendental power is carried out as Mahā-Sakti, and in this sense Kramisch views the saktis or Yoginis as energies (also working as maids in the form of paricărikā, while the others are called messengers or dūti of the transcendental power) as working as subservient to the great sakti. The eight Regents' of the directions of space, close to the side of each several groups of gods, the 'Celestial Beauties' as Kramrisch would have them across, are placed "embodied in their archetypal forms. *62 They are further seen in the macro cosmic view as branches and aspects of transcendental power, conjointly with the supreme principle as Yoga-māyā, which is suggested as the manifestation of the universe, while the micro cosmic view sees them with reference to the man, where the Yoga-māyā is seen as the power of reintegration. The 'celestial beauties or the Šaktis are seen to belong to the Avarana-Devatās or the surrounding divinities, are large in numbers, with various names and images, such as: apsarā (she is the movement in the atmosphere), nātakā (she is the movement in the body of the man and is shown as a dancer), yaksiņi (as yaksini she is the movement in vegetation), and dig devi. She further seeks visual clues in these to articulate that "If the boughs her tree are like her arms and the curves of the creeper like her own movement, if the tree woman is one idea and composition, the mirror woman is another type or sculpted group of sakti; the former being a reiteration of the underlying theme by two kinds of shape, that of vegetation and that of the woman, their interplay, affinity, and identity as movement, the latter enacting the drama of the reflection seen in the mirror and of the living being. “The reflection of the face seen in the mirror is nothing in itself as separated from the face: so is the