Underground Shrine Queens Stepwell Patan

Author(s): Jaikishandas Sadani
Publisher: B J Institute of Learning & Research

Page 38

6. SAKTI
Śakti is as old as Śiva in the Indian Divine pantheon. She is the venerable consort of Śiva. She is one or abhinna with Śiva. Śakti and Śiva are one. She is the very nature or Prakrti of Siva. She is the Mahā Māyā the creatrix of the entire cosmos. She is the manifestation of the unmanifested aspect of Siva. They are so merged in one another that they become one integral whole, like word and meaning as Kālidāsa chooses to describe.
Right from the most ancient times from the period of Mohenjodaro and Harappa, along with the images of Siva the images of Sakti or the mother goddess have also been found. India has always paid the highest obeisance to god the Mother along with god the Father. Their oneness is aptly expressed in the Ardhanārisvara images referred earlier. The symbolic expression of which can also be observed in the Siva Linga worship. The images of Sakti are depicted with her vāhana the lion. Reference to prayers or the stutis to the Divine mother Sakti is made in Rgveda. In the Vak sūkta the devotion to Sakti has been extolled by the daughter of Sambharin Rsi. The famous Laksmi Sūkta in the Rgveda is also dedicated to the goddess Sakti. The concept of Sakti is further developed in the Aranyakas or the Upanisads. In Kena Upanişad it is the Hemavati Umā or Sakti who gives the sermon on Brahman or Brahmajñāna to Indra, Agni and Väyu and through them to entire mankind. In Svetasvatara Upanisad of Yajurveda, Sakti has been described as Māyā or Prakrti of the Māyin Maheśvara. In the Purāṇas and in the literature that followed there are abundant lores dedicated to Sakti and her various aspects.
In Śrīmad Bhāgavata (10.56) when Krsna does not return to Dwārakā, his father Vasudeva and brother Balarāma offer prayers to goddess Durgā for his safe return. In tantra, Śakti is very important and hundreds of mantras are offerred to her. The devotees who perform tāntrika sādhanā are called sāktas. The impact of Sakti is predominently expressed in Indian sculpture throughout the ages till day. Equally important is Her influence on painting, folk painting and folk sculpture as well. Ample suggestions are given in the making of pratimā or images of the Goddess in Agni Purāņa, Rūpamaņdana (5.35-37), Rūpāvatāra (8.112-113)