Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, in the Graduate Program in Classics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. I will then provide an analysis of translations of ancient Sanskrit texts to explore the nature of the complex Hindu goddess Kali.
Literature Review 2.1. Introduction
Sources and Themes
- The Palaeolithic Age: Venus Figurines
- A Neolithic Civilization: Çatal Hüyük
- The Aegean in Prehistory
The rituals surrounding the goddess and her son/lover were connected to the cycle of the seasons and fertility. Two myths in particular clearly depict the suppression of the goddess and the rise of the male god.
Conclusion
The woman you call the child's mother is not the parent, just a nurse for the seed. Yet she is one of the most important deities, worshiped by men and women as a mother, as a creator and as a destroyer.
Hesiod’s Theogony
Marquardt also focuses on this and discusses that "the unpredictability of Hekate's affections is a recurring theme in the hymn".230. He argues that Hecate was not Hesiod's personal deity, but rather a literary tool. 245 Von Rudloff states that the Theogony is essentially a change in genealogy, with the Hekate passage appearing at a key moment in the poem. However, the passage in Theogony is the only instance where Hecate is associated with the plight of people, culture, order, and the realms of sky and sea.
The Homeric Hymn to Demeter
After this, Hekate does not appear again until the end of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, when mother and daughter are finally reconciled. Mylonas, however, denies this theory on the grounds that 'the solemnity of the occasion is reflected in the posture of both figures. Perhaps the male author of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter attempted to limit Hekate's universal power, as suggested in the Theogony, thus transforming her into a marginal figure, a companion rather than a goddess in her own right, and the deity of a woman.
The Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius
In the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius she is the daughter of King Aeetes, son of Helios. She is portrayed as a serious practitioner of witchcraft and magic, learned in the properties of herbs and drugs. She does not live on the edge between two worlds as in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter.
Conclusion
Theogony in which she is so largely involved in the affairs of the polis, and in interacting with so many types of men. Her bond with Medea, depicted in Euripides' Medea, and enshrined in the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, is the long-accepted standard. Her chthonic functions are emphasized, as well as her function as goddess of the crossroads, as can be discerned from her name in the Roman pantheon: Trivia, tri, derived from the Latin for three, and via meaning road.
The Aeneid by Vergil
- Book 4
- Book 6
However, it is known that Hekate was widely worshiped in the Roman world as goddess of the crossroads. I see many of the characteristics they share with Hekate as consistent with the prehistoric mother. In Book 6, she is an enigmatic, cave-dwelling, chthonic goddess who has bestowed the secrets of the Underworld on her chosen prophetesses.
Seneca’s Medea
Hekate is invoked in line 7, no doubt to emphasize Medea's allegiance to the goddess, which will be emphasized later in the action of the play. Add a spur to my poison, Hekate, and to my gifts preserve the seed of the flames. It can be said that Seneca's version of Medea, in the vein of the others, shows the disastrous consequences of a woman left to her own devices.
Metamorphoses (‘The Golden Ass’) by Lucius Apuleius
The metamorphoses do not explicitly mention Hekate, except once at the end of the novel, reminding them of the stereotypical characteristics of witches that became synonymous with her in the Roman world. Pamphilë turns into an owl, an animal of evil omens and a creature of the night. The goddess in Metamorphoses mentions that her real name is Isis, the ancient Egyptian goddess of the Nile, fertility, motherhood and magic.
Conclusion
Shown as physically repulsive, morally corrupt and downright perverted, she is the opposite of the ideal Roman matron, who obeys patriarchal demands. It is clear from the Roman material that Hekate was completely transformed into a ferocious night wanderer from the Underworld. She is the patroness of witches, considered evil by the patriarchy, who practice their black arts in a frenzy at night.
Hekate in the Greek Magical Papyri
328 A magical formula for the name of the person against or for whom the spell is cast. This must be offered to Selene, the moon goddess, on the 13th or 14th of the month, on a roof. Fotis is prevented from doing this and instead brings back hair of the same color from goat skin.
Kali in Hinduism 5.1. Introduction
The Devi-Māhātmya
Being the uncultivated, raw aspect of the great goddess, Kali seems to act autonomously on the battlefield itself. These above features emphasize that Kali is the chthonic aspect of the great goddess, linked to death and destruction. Another epithet of the Devi is Bhadrakali, 'the auspicious black one'360 as she defeats the army of the Asuras (3.8).
The Purãṇas
- Linga Purãṇa
- Agni Purãṇa
In the Linga Purãṇa, Shiva is placed on a cremation ground as an infant in order to divert Kali. I see the fiery appearance of Kali in the Kali mantra of the Agni Purãṇa as being associated with the burning ground. This is probably one reason why she is called both a daughter and a mother in the mantra of the Agni Purãṇa.
Mantras and Devotional Songs to Kali
- Tantric mantras to Kali
- The Adyakali Mantra
- The Karpuradi-strota
This mantra is found in the Mahanirvana Tantra,405 the most authoritative and oldest tantric text,406 which largely worships the feminine creative force. The heart of the devotee is where this burning takes place and it is in the heart that Kali resides. He is brought before the idol of the goddess and makes offerings of incense, fruits and flowers.
Kali seated in iintercourse with
K Rampra
I drink no ordinary wine, but wine of eternal bliss, as I repeat the name of my mother Kali;. Shiva himself chants her name when the poison in his throat hurts, from which he was born in the Linga Purãna. Kites represent souls and she is responsible for ending life and sending souls to the afterlife.
Kali and Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda had just lost his father and sought advice from Sri Ramakrishna on behalf of his starving family. I need not explain to you what Kali worship is, as I have never taught it to anyone.”453 In a poem entitled “To a Friend,” he calls Kali the “all-powerful, all-destroyer” and “the kindest mother.” 454 In another poem entitled 'And Let the Shyama Dance There',455 he portrays the goddess as a terrifying, terrible form of the ultimate mother, again calling her the 'all-destroyer' and the 'dreaded Kali'. , who scares everyone because she stinks of blood, is wreathed in skulls, laughs thunderously, is naked and looks more like the demons the mother kills than the mother herself. It is a scene of sorrow and darkness, and in this context Kali flourishes and dances madly because she is misery, terror and death.
Conclusion
In relation to Kali's dominant role in Tantra, her dark, unusual personality, and her associations with pollution, marginality, death and ominous qualities, she is labeled by Kinsley as an 'antimodel' for women meaning that her role is 'approved social values, customs do not violate. , norms or paradigms.'462 Kinsley compares her to Sita, the approved model for Hindu women, whom Hindu women have been socialized for generations to view as an ideal to emulate in their own lives. Kali represents what can happen when natural forces and energies exist in a pure form, outside the control of a ruling, restrictive patriarchal structure.468 I have also shown that in her relationship with Shiva she is wild and uncontrolled, and although she sometimes tamed by him, she provokes Shiva himself into dangerous behavior, as shown in the myth of the dance contest between Kali and Shiva. However, I have also shown, as Kinsley points out, that images of this myth very rarely depict a tamed, submissive Kali, as she is usually shown dancing on Shiva's prone body or standing over him during sexual intercourse.469 Kinsley also notes that although 'in the myth of the dance competition Shiva is said to have tamed Kali, it seems clear that he never finally subdues her.'470 He argues that the representation of Kali in art and literature shows her liberating potential as 'antimodel ' tone, because 'Kali insults, undermines and mocks the status quo, especially as it defines proper behavior for women.'471 It is therefore that Kali a.
Comparison
Women in the Greco-Roman world
Your wife must be four years past puberty and marry you in the fifth. In the classical period, women were stereotyped as emotional, irrational, cunning, immoral, always sexually charged and close to nature, while men were associated with order, culture, honor and wild taming. In the Greco-Roman world, women were separate and dominated by men within their patriarchal system.
Women in Hinduism
This is evident in the Sanskrit text, dated to the early Common Era, called The Law of Manu, which is a set of moral judgments by which a Hindu man should live his life. Sita, in the epic the Ramayana,491 is subjected to humiliation, humiliation and obedience at the hands of her husband, and it is these qualities that are admired. Her fidelity to her husband is proved when she dives into the flames and is not burned (6. 107).
Hekate and Kali in their respective cultural, religious and social systems
- Appearance and dual natures
- Dark qualities: associations with witchcraft, the moon, the dead, and blood sacrifices
- Links with the primitive mother goddess
I have emphasized the relationship of Hekate and the Horse to the moon and the power of the lunar cycles on life processes. However, these dark features remind one of the primitive goddess who embraced death and rebirth. The power and necessity of the masculine principle in Tantra is not denied, and Kali is thought to have an egalitarian relationship with Shiva.
Conclusion of Comparison
Final Conclusion
She is the champion of the oppressed, especially women who suffer from emotional or mental problems. The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State in the Light of the Researches of Lewis H. The Discovery of the Greek Bronze Age. The Portrait of the Goddess in the Devi-mdhdtmya,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion.
