The peculiarity of bharatiya Devi – Devatas lie in the various ways they can be depicted, represented and interpreted. All of their forms tell us a thousand stories which add profound meanings to our spiritual knowledge. From the Pratipada of Ashwin Shukla Paksh, the whole of Bharat braces itself to celebrate the Shardiya Navratri. During this time, people revere the nine forms of Maa Durga and seek blessings for strength, resilience and a life without misery. But do we know, in Sanatan Hindu Dharma, Maa Durga is also seen as the highest manifestation of Bharatiya Nationality? Our philosophy elucidates in its own unique way the evolution and meaning of our Nationality.
Worshipping of females in Hindu Dharma
In Bharatiya darshan, the female is the utmost representation of the Divine Being. We call it Prakriti in the Sankhya doctrine, Maya in the Vedantic, Radha in the Vaishnavic conception and Shakti in the Shaivite. All represent the attempt of the human mind and spirit to reach and realise the Mystery of the Divine Being. They also represent the various spiritual manifestations of human consciousness. Thus, while Maya is the explanation of our rational experience, Radha and Shakti explains our emotional and volitional experiences respectively. What this implies is that Shakti is the dynamic element of our ethical consciousness. Because, where reason reveals the truth of things and emotion enjoys them, our volition helps to develop and perfect them. Thus, Shakti has many forms and one of these many forms represents our spirit of nationality.
Dharmic conception of Nationality
But what is the dharmic conception of Nationality? In his book The Soul of India, Bipin Chandra Pal delves into this idea of nationality. He says that in Bharat, nationality is conceived as a Being, as a self-conscious intelligence. It is thus, natural to conceive a personality behind this Being. The Hindu addresses this personality as the Mother in his Motherland. The primal form of our Mother is the undifferentiated Prakriti, where she is both Radha and Shakti. In Hindu symbolism, she is seated in the lap of Mahavishnu. It is through Prakriti that the Divine realises himself in his own Being. The Purusha realises His Reason, His Love and His Will through the Prakriti. Thus, the Prakriti is the regulative idea of the universe and all things are made by Her. Here she is the Mother of the unborn universe, the spirit of cosmic evolution, both human and non-human.
Prakriti evolves through multiple phases of her development, when Shakti comes to the play. As described earlier, Shakti is the force behind the evolution of the universe. Shakti manifests herself in the form of Devi Jagaddhatri, Devi Kaali and Devi Durga to symbolise the three epochs of all national evolution.
Evolution of bharatiya Nationality in three phases
From the bosom of bhagwan Mahavishnu, Shakti manifests herself in the earliest jungle-clearing stage, when man is engaged in a life-&-death struggle with both his physical and animal environment. She is the tremendous animal force, fighting and subjugating the malicious brute forces around her, symbolised in the form of Devi Jagaddhatri, riding a lion. The lion here represents the almost complete domination of the animal over man. It has its fore paw upon a vanquished elephant, where the elephant reminds us of the mammoth age of terrestrial history and evolution. Jagaddhatri is nestled in a magnificent mountain landscape where Nature reigns in all her terrific luxuriance, amidst yet more appalling animal life. At this time, the struggle between the brute within man and the brute in his terrified animal surroundings served as the basis for the evolution of man.
The next stage is marked by fierce tribal conflicts. By this time, man has partly vanquished a portion of the earth from the animals and transformed it into a suitable habitat for himself. This is symbolised by Devi Kaali, who rides on no animal. She adorns dipping heads of men whom she has herself killed which is the clearest symbolisation of pure human conflict. She is situated in the midst of bloody desolations of war. She is filled with rage and insensible of the awful wreckage she is causing. It is a condition of perpetual war. However, the Hindu being innately spiritual is still conscious of the fact that there is Goodness and Love in creation. The intent and purpose of evolution, whatever its passing and perceptible phases, is not to murder but to save, not to demolish but to develop in all of humanity, this principle of Love and Goodness. Therefore, we find Kalee standing on Shiva or the Good.
The final stage is revealed in the form of Devi Durga, the ten handed Goddess. Durga represents the perfected type of nationhood. Her ten hands join all the ten points of the compass, symbolising the territorial unity of the nation’s body. In this stage, the prominent conflict is between rival cultural groups and colours, which takes place only in the far more developed and organised societies. Consequently by this time, the reasonable autonomy of the various spheres of existence, including the military, economic, aesthetic, and spiritual, has been firmly established. Like Jagaddhatri, she too rides a lion, which shows that the spirit of the nation is naturally related to the animal kingdom. However, the lion here is a willing slave of the Mother, rendering joyous service unto Her. Thus, the brute force is not eliminated, but has been completely subdued.
Durga – The soul of our national life
But Devi Durga does not stand all by herself. Beside her stands Maa Lakshmi on one side and Maa Saraswati on the other. Maa Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and earthly possessions. She symbolises the spirit of the economic and industrial life of the nation. While Maa Saraswati, is the goddess of knowledge and arts, she symbolises the spirit of the nation’s intellectual and aesthetic life. Furthermore, the economic activities of nations may bring them into perpetual conflicts with their neighbouring nations. Therefore, Lakshmi is always to be duly protected by Kartikeya or the god of war. Thus, Kartikeya represents the military life of the nation. On the other hand, it is believed that the spirit of the highest wisdom must direct and regulate, elevate and spiritualise, the intellectual and artistic life of the nation. Therefore, we find Ganapati who represents this spirit of wisdom, standing next to Maa Saraswati. Thus, Devi Durga in all her magnanimity and dynamic occurrence, has been symbolic of the fully realised national life and consciousness in the dharmic imagination and symbolism of the Hindus. She is the very soul of our national life and unity.
Even till date, Maa Shakti in all her beautiful manifestations is passionately revered across the length and breadth of the country. For us our Devi – Devatas are not just the figures of popular worship but they simply represent the very essence of our national and universal Being. They go beyond the dogmas and symbols of a religion and carry profound spiritual experiences. Tall men of our civilisation have always preached to seek the true meaning of Bharat in the course of her historical evolution as explained and interpreted by our rishis and gurus through their inner spiritual experiences. It needs to be emphasised more so today, that spirituality forms the very core of our civilisational and national existence.
