History of Hindu God's and Goddesses
started by Marathi_Manus 5 mnths agoReplies
The thin waistline and the Yagnopaveetam.
Modern Indian women (who are regularly eating Pizza, Utappam, malai kofta, ras-malai, etc. and employing servants to do house chors) are bulky around the waist.
Saraswati was fortunate that there were no DKheads when she was prominent! Stalin would have drooled when he looked at her chest and Periyarists would have gone after her yagnopaveetam! Just imagine Stalin as Bhasmasur and Saraswati as Bola Shankar running for his life!
Drooling is another thing and wanting a devi like woman is another.
I have as much respect for Saraswati as you do. Without Devis like her and Gayatri Hinduism is barren.
Here is a clip on students of music reciting her praise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAB7Q1pvcpw
Regards.
She is rewerd as mother and I dont think that any body can have such thoughts for mother.
the word "mata" has many meanings depending on the situation.Mata can mean the female caretaker,mata also means the "janani".I think you urself are influenced by some simplistic convinience oriented theory.
Hindu faith (I dont like Hinduism word becuase there is no sunch thing as Hinduism), is very hard for other people to understand, why hindus worship a god who has elephant head or why our goddess sit on a tiger, other people just dont see any sense in this. But hindu faith is not about crores of devi and devta, its a way of life, some worship sun, some worship fire, some water some worship a nirakar bramha much like muslims and christains.
A bare-chested devi with an excellent erotic disposition??!! What's wrong with this picture? I suppose the body shapes and clothing (optional?) depended upon the guy who was sculpting the statues.
Forget about all these deities that were created according to certain people's whims and fancies.
Familiarize yourself with the teachings of Sidharta--he was real. There is no casteism in Buddhism. Buddhism does not entail large number of deities.
http://www.suite101.com/course.cfm/19042/seminar
http://mettajon.tripod.com/resources.html
--Budhism is a failure.
Caste System..is your preception not mine.
The real outcome of mass conversions of people into Buddhism is the recreation of rituals and belief systems (some that go against the Vedantic basis that Buddhist philosophy has) to the extent that modern Buddhists are much more superstitious than their Hindu counterparts. Just look at the Tibetan Buddhist death rituals! If educated Westerners are fascinated by Buddhism it is because of the solid base that Veantic thinking imparted in Buddhism.
Hinduism is a more complex religion than Buddhism. Just look at how China treats Tibet and how the US treated Cambodia! If Indians have become cowards, it is not due to Hinduism. Buddhism had its stint on Indian soil and you should look there for answers. Dalai Lama's response to Chinese brutality is to show the other cheek. Ashoka's empire crumbled after he embraced Buddhism.
Just as Arjuna asked his acharya to stop fighting and to go home and recite the upanishads, he would be saying the same to Buddhists.
Don't under-estimate Hinduism.
After thinking it through, I guess I know why statues don't have dress.
As a part of 'shodasha pooja' (16 ritualistic steps for a formal Hindu worship), dress/vastra is offered to goddess (god also). So depending upon the region, people made the idols wear dresses & ornaments.
Regarding pictures, they were rare in middle ages & ancient times. A recognized form of worship was either at home using idols or in a temple. So it's hard to believe from 21st century if the idols were not covered with dress during formal poojas.
-T
please do not malign my understanding of "Sanskritobhava words" by writing something like this.
Vastra--means a uniform piece of any element used for covering our bodies.Mostly it is either cotton or silk or deer skin or etc etc.Hence colloquially we can say that Vastra = cloth.
Althought I say that Stitiched clothes are far superior to unstitched clothes therey by making the later less functional.
For you quick referince..please visit
http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?script=HK&tinput=vastra&country_ID=&trans=Translate&direction=AU
Thanks for your response.
But I would like to disagree with you on certain points.
The shodasha pooja is not in question here.I am talking about the dispositions of our devi's and devatas.And if people always have had the freedom to make murtis in whatsoever disposition of thier like then why can't we do have murtis dressed up in salwar kameezz etc.But I think the reason is simply simple.
Under vedic prescription a cloth should be one handedly weaven and once done it should be washed and in accordance a certain vidhi should be performed before one accepts that piece of cloth.Stitched clothes on the other hand requires much washing and man handling thus making it impure.
If you closely observe the "samagri" required for any pooja..which is in strict accordance with the vedic/upanishadic prescription then you will come to know the "concept of purity".Hence the saying,..vedas are the ultimate pramanam,one who follows the prescribed rituals excells and achives moksha one day.
I agree that Vedic scriptures have ritualistic rules for cloths (hand woven) etc. However, my point was that common men/women would not have seen a 'murti'/idol without dress in a temple. They invariably see the idol after pooja done in the garbha griha (sanctum sanctorum).
Obviously I don't how the customs were 500 or 1000 years back, but taking a guess based on today's knowledge.
You are talking about current day practices and you are correc to some extent.
But 1000 years back,commoners had no business in certain temples.Sudra's which were craftsmen,farmers,servants,slaves artisians etc..had no business ..it is only the 10th century onwards when the bhakti moments took momentum...commeners were allowed to take "darshan" again i am also not completely sure on how did murti pooja's started happening at our homes.
So my question back to you is: Whom did you have in your mind, as the viewer in the original post for this statement?
"Few centuries back she was bare chested with an excellent erotic disposition"
I was visualizing a regular templegoer who went to see Saraswati's idol.
, Afghanistan
Marathi_Manus posted Re:History of Hindu God--12th century Devi Sarawati--aaha key roop... on 4 mnths ago
she is so beautiul,that i feel so inferior in front of her.hence I preform her pooja.So that she would get impressed by me and then bless me ...
Queen Bee posted Re:History of Hindu God--12th century Devi Sarawati--aaha key roop... on 4 mnths ago>>huh? u want boobs?
typical man who seeing boobs
Marathi_Manus posted Re:History of Hindu God--12th century Devi Sarawati--aaha key roop... on 4 mnths agoPerhaps this is why most religions consider women full of earthly desires hence unable to think rationaly.
Marathi_Manus posted Re:History of Hindu God--12th century Devi Sarawati--aaha key roop... on 4 mnths agoand please do not malign this discussion.I have been reading your replies to other people post's.And you show all possible signs of a perfect female "murkha".
Queen Bee posted Re:History of Hindu God--12th century Devi Sarawati--aaha key roop... on 4 mnths agowtf is this? u r talking like a murkha as usual. so what happened to the suicide. did u see the shrink yet?
What is the symbolic significance of Goddess Saraswati? Each of her hands?
Even Japanese worship her.
TIA.
>>> When these symbols for god (Divinity in male form) or goddess (Divinity in female form) are anthropomorphic, they depict usually 2 hands, and sometimes 4.
Two hands are a natural for humanlike figure, but sometimes the deity is considered chatur-bhuj or omni-dexterous (omnipotent), which symbolically (using four for chatur or catur – dexterous) is drawn with four arms / hands. Same thing is noticed for representing chatur-mukh (omniscient – Brahma for example and Saraswati too) with four heads (faces/ mouths) to depict dexterity in elocution and knowledge in art form.
Thanks VP, Seva and MM. I was going to write a sequel to this, on Goddess Durga and Goddess Saraswati. Had read a lot, wanted to simplify the "symbolism" in an easy to read tabular form. Was surprised myself when I first came to know that Hinduism had reached even Japan.
Seva - the symbolism goes far deeper than "chatur bhuj". Each of the things carried in each hand signify what these Goddesses stand for. Its not much different from worshipping "qualities" in Buddhism.
Here is symbolism for Mother Kaali - http://t-s-.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/04/process-of-seeking-truth-ma-kaali.htm
Regards.
Dear marathi_manus
I do understand your post and I have given my reply as well ("JAKI RAHI BHAWNA JAISE PRABHU MURAT DEKHI TIN TAISEE"). As far as my post related to Hindu Faith I was not targeting you but some else.
Now coming to your point, how people depicted Gods 1000 or may be 3000 thousands years back, well for most of hindu deities, there features, color etc are described in vedic texts, so when you see Maa Durga on a tiger its all written, she bears weapons various things in her 1000 hands thats also written. So allmost all of the artists have a basic idea of how a deity should look like.
What you see now-a-days are mostly based on Raja Ravi Verma's creation.