Shakti

Overview

Etymology

The word Śakti is derived from the Sanskrit root śak- ("to be able," "to have a certain capacity or power to do anything.") śak derives from the proto-Indo-European root ḱek- ("to achieve, accomplish, be able, capable.") In Vedic literature, śakti is closely related to śacī, which is also derived from the same root śak, and is used often in instrumental plural and meant "energy", "function" or "power".

According to the Monier-Williams dictionary, Shakti (Śakti) is the sanskrit feminine word-meaning "energy, ability, strength, effort, power, might, capability". Relatedly, Shakta (Sanskrit: शक्त, Śakta), is used for people and traditions associated with Shakti worship. Shakta became popular from the ninth-century onwards, before that the term Kula or Kaula, which referred to clans of female ancestry, besides to the menstrual and sexual fluids of females was used to describe the believers in Shakti.

Prologue

New learners of Hinduism often get confounded by its fluid discourses on the divine. The numerous Hindu deities can make one regard it as polytheistic, such categorization, however, is rather simplistic or misguided. Hindus have since the earliest times viewed the divine as being both one and many, with the two views considered mutually nonexclusive. From around 200 BCE, devotional movements in Hinduism started to group the numerous gods under a sovereign deity, two such common groupings were under Vishnu or Shiva, with the followers known as vaishnava and shaiva respectively. The followers of any of the Hindu goddesses honoured as the supreme goddess became shakta. Starting around 500 CE, Hindu Tantric religious cults developed among the shaiva sects, in the subsequent centuries Tantra developed amongst the sects of Vishnu, Goddesses, Buddha, and other obscure religious traditions. Goddesses and their associated traditions became prominent from the Tantric age.

The idea of God being female may appear radical, but goddesses form the foundation of the ancient Indian religious traditions.

Hinduism has been cited by scholars of Religion as having the most extensive living Goddess traditions amongst all the extant religions. The concept of Shakti, as the supreme cosmic power that projects and sustains all existence, forms the basis of Hindu ideations of female deities. Much has been written to describe, define, and delineate Shakti, which, is primarily identified with the feminine and with the numerous Hindu goddesses, seen as tangible expressions-visible personifications of the intangible Shakti—a notion arrived at after centuries of deliberation.

In studying Indian religions and their associated philosophies, one finds terms in combination with Shakti, such as; adya Shakti (primal energy), cit Shakti (energy of consciousness), para Shakti (supreme energy) etc.—all of which, by their association with Shakti indicate that the respective concept is feminine. Though Shakti has broad implications, it mostly denotes "power or energy, which is feminine", and is also a name by which goddesses are referred. The term Shakti also covers maternal religious experiences and spiritual histories transmitted generationally by Hindu female elders.

Origins and development

Archaeological excavations have been studied to trace the origins and development of goddess worship cultures. One of the earliest representation of a mother goddess dates back to the Upper Paleolithic period in Europe 20,000 years ago.

Though goddess worship cults prevailed since antiquity in India, they gained popularity in the post Gupta era (6th century CE), much of it attributed to their esoteric practices. Apart from the Indian sculptures, the Vedas, the Puranas, and the Tantras constitute the major literary sources detailing the development of goddess culture in Hinduism.

Pre-Vedic goddess worship

The origins of Shakti concept are prevedic. Sites related to the worship of the mother goddess or Shakti were found in Paleolithic context at the Son River valley, where a triangular stone known as the Baghor stone, estimated to have been created around 9,000–8,000 BCE was found. The excavation team, which included Kenoyer, considered it highly probable that the stone was associated with Shakti or the female principle. The representation of Shakti by a stone is an early example of yantra.

Scholars assume that goddess worship prevailed in the Indus Valley Civilisation (3300–1300 BCE) as many terracotta female figurines with smoke-blacked headgear, suggesting their use in rituals had been found in almost all the houses of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Numerous artefacts that appear to portray female deities were also found. This development however is not assumed to be the earliest precursor of goddess worship in India; it has evolved over a long period of time before.

In the Vedic era

The Veda Samhitas are the oldest scriptures that mention Hindu goddesses. The Rigveda and the Atharvaveda are the main sources about various goddesses from the Vedic period (c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE). Ushas, the goddess of dawn was the most praised. Though male deities such as Indra and Agni have been more popular in the Vedic era, female deities were represented as personifications of important aspects like: Earth (Prithvi), Mother of Gods (Aditi), Night (Ratri), and Speech (Vāc/Vāk). The Vedic male deities were conceived of as personifications of powerful natural forces (Vayu-air, Agni-fire), who had as their core a nucleic of various powers, shaktis, or, as it was then termed Śacīs.

Śacī is the typical vedic term to denote a deities 'divine powers', and was used in Rigveda mostly in connection with Indra.

Most of the goddesses in the Vedic era were presented as wives of gods. They had no special powers nor an individual name either, rather, they took their respective husband's name with feminine suffixes, as with Indrani, the wife of Indra. Though the vedic goddesses had no power, one Rigvedic hymn (10.159) addressed Indrani as Śacī Poulomī and presented her as the "deification" of Indra's power. The term Śacī here meant "the rendering of powerful or mighty help, assistance, aid, especially of the 'deeds of Indra'." The Rig vedic Śacī was a conscious intelligent faculty, rather than a blind physical force, and was thought to be inherently constituted in the male deity. The subsequent usage of the word Gnā lit women in the Rigveda to represent divine female partners, who were distinctly separate principles of 'female energy' and acted in unison with the male gods, is seen as a major step in the conception of Śakti being the divine power that exists independent of a deity and something not inherently present within it.

Eventually, in the Hindu texts, the idea of Shakti being the divine feminine energy became more pronounced as the wives, the gnās, the divine females accompanying the gods, began to personify the powers of their husbands. Despite arriving at this stage, it was only later, after a lot of philosophical speculation and understanding the connecting factor underlying the universe, that the idea of Shakti being the feminine unity that pervades all existence was developed.

In the Veda Brahmanas, all the different Gnās (wives of gods) were merged under a singular goddess Vāc, regarded as the most typical gnā. The Devīsūkta in the Rigveda, addressed to the goddess Vāc, became the progenitor of goddess theology that evolved later. Here, (10.125), the Rishis conceived Vāc as "the active power of Brahman proceeding from him"; Verses 1 and 2 presented her as the "Supreme Female Energy" sustaining and stimulating actions of the Vedic gods; in verses 3 and 8, she is considered "Speech" in the feminine form; Verse 4 states, she is the "one great sustaining principle" of all life on earth; verses 5 to 8 assert her as the "subtle ubiquitous principle of energy" that pervades all.

During the classical period

The complete identification of goddess with Shakti was not fully realised until the classical period of Hinduism (c. 200 BCE to 1200 CE). This period saw the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, including the Bhagavad Gita. These were largely complemented by Puranas, a body of literature built upon the ideas of Upanishads, but primarily made up of myth and legend proclaiming supremacy of a particular deity and equating their nirguna (unmanifest) state with Brahman. Most Puranas were dedicated to male deities, particularly Vishnu and Shiva, later Shakta puranas were allotted to goddess. Shakti worship that receded in the Vedic period became prominent from late classical period (ca. 600 CE) onward during which she was personified as Devi (Goddess).

Most of the Puranas presented the goddesses as consorts of the gods. The Kurma Purana (1.1.30) portrays the goddess Śrī or Lakshmi as a being lower to her husband, the god Vishnu, who "takes possession" of her when she appears at the churning of milk. Nevertheless, the Kurma Purana (1.1.34) likewise describes Lakshmi as the impetus of Vishnu, who says she is "that great Śakti (potency) of my form". An inseparable bond between the goddess and her consort was formed when she was projected as the embodiment of three important principles — "śakti (energy), prakṛti (primordial or primary matter) and māyā (illusion)", thus establishing a relationship between "female divinity and creative power". In the puranic era, though the goddess was viewed as the source behind manifest creation, she was, nonetheless, a personification of her consort's energy and was referred to as prakṛti, still subordinated to her consort's will. While there was an individual goddess named śakti, the term essentially referred to a quality held by both male and female deities. An apparent identification between feminine divinity and cosmic energy was not yet vouched.

Development of metaphysical Shakti

The perception of divine feminine was radically altered by two texts: the earlier Devi Mahatmya and the later Devi Bhagavata Purana. The Devi Mahatmya, initially part of the Markandeya Purana, is the most prominent goddess-centric text to clarify the concept of an all-encompassing goddess or the Mahadevi (great goddess). Allegorically, through the mythical warring deeds of the goddess, it was asserted, rather by a deduction, than by plain words that she's the "ultimate reality". When the asuras (demons) endangered the existence of the devas (gods), the gods created an all-powerful goddess from their combined anger (Devi Mahatmya 2.9–12) by channelling their essential powers, which took the form of a feminine being who is assented as the Mahadevi, the supreme goddess wholly independent of the gods and deemed the embodiment of śakti with additional powers of her own. Here, when the goddess finishes her work, she doesn't return to her source, the gods, but instead vanishes.

The Vedantic-Upanishadic perception of the goddess to be either the wife of, or the Para-Brahman, was always accompanied by a morphic vision of her form as the macranthropic feminine encapsulating all existence. In deliberations over her form in relation to male divinities, the Devi Mahatmya is filled with duality-nonduality tension, the Kalika Purana provides an erotic duality-in-unity framework. Eventually, Saundarya Lahari, considered the text where the goddess truly came into her own, presents a monistic vision of her as "an eternal ground of supraconscious being"; thus provisioning a cosmic anthromorphic view of the ultimate reality. Existence is held whatever the goddess as the eternal form sees acceptable to her, thus establishing her power of sat and asat—being and non-being.

The Devi Mahatmya nevertheless bolstered the concept of the Mahadevi or the great goddess—an amalgamate of manifold powers—with numerous epithets. Besides the term Devi, the most general name for the goddess is Chandi or Caṇḍikā (meaning "violent and impetuous one"), this being the first mention of the term in a Sanskrit text and one probably conceived for this distinct incarnation represented in an aggressive and often unorthodox mode, with an affinity for drink and approval of blood offerings. She, as Chandika, is declared to exist eternally, and is lauded for being the foundation of the universe as well as for maintaining and protecting this world. The traditional creator-god, Brahma, extols her as "thou who containest the world," thus suggesting a panentheistic imagery for her being as the eternal world-soul that resides in everything, and is the queen of the universe.

Shakti and the Devi-Bhagavata Purana

The largest and possibly the most exhaustive Shakta purana, seen as "justification or vindication of the Goddess tradition, as well as an elaboration of it" is the Devi Bhagavata Purana. Compiled some five to ten centuries after the Devi Mahatmya, the Devi Bhagavata Purana presents a Shakta reply to the various androcentric puranic ideals. The Devi Gita, which forms skandha (book) 7, chapters 30–40 of the Devi Bhagavata Purana, is modeled after the Bhagavad Gita, but with a Shakta outlook. The Devi Bhagavata Purana is metaphysically more coherent than the earlier Devi Mahatmya and includes a rendition of the later, with a retelling of the many pauranic myths. The Devi Bhagavata Purana (3.30.28) constantly extols the goddess as the "Eternal" and "Ever Constant Primordial Force", who is also "the power behind all other deities". A noteworthy fact about the goddess of the Devi Bhagavata Purana is that she is invariably presented as a being "independent of any male authority and control". It is rather the gods who are completely subdued to the will of Devi, and are entirely dependent on her.

The Devi Bhagavata Purana repeatedly describes the goddess as being "eternal, the basis of everything and identical with Brahman". Addressed here as "Ādya or Primordial Śakti", she is unambiguously presented as "the source of all goddesses from the highest to the lowest forms", with higher forms presenting prominent aspects of her energy or power. She also conforms with the three traits or the gunas in all life: "sattva (purity, goodness, the illuminating principle), rajas (activity, passion, the energetic principle) and tamas (darkness, inertia, dullness)". Corresponding with sattva, she is Maha-Lakshmi; with rajas, she is Maha-Saraswati; and with tamas, she is Maha-kali. Still, Devi is held as "being beyond all form", and is declared nirguna (not having gunas or unmanifest), thus making her incomprehensible. However, to liberate her devotees, Devi "becomes saguna (with gunas or manifest) in a form that can be known and appreciated".

The nature of the Mahadevi in the Devi Bhagavata Purana comprises the twofold realities of Samkhya philosophy — "prakṛti (material nature), in its unmanifest and manifest forms, and puruṣa (pure consciousness)". Differing from Samkhya and other traditions, specifically Advaita Vedanta, the text presents prakṛti in a more favourable manner as an intrinsic aspect of the goddess' power. Also, Maya is treated with respect instead of disdain and is held a necessary factor in creation. In the shakta cosmogonic worldview, Maya is the source of all natural phenomena and/or human delusion, as well as the liberative milieu through which the goddess, "as Liberatrix", delivers man "from the ignorance of the forms which are of Her making." While in the Bhagavata Purana, Vishnu is the "controller and possessor of māyā", in the Devi Bhagavata Purana, the goddess apart from being the wielder of "the power of māyā, actually is māyā". The text quotes the goddess saying, "What is real can only be born.... Thus ... there does not arise any inconsistency in My being every-thing." In the Devi Bhagavata Purana, the workings of the universe appear way more deeply related with the goddess for Devi recourses to none but herself, whereas Vishnu and Shiva seek the assistance of their respective Shaktis.

Goddesses classifications

The many personified goddesses represent the closest accessible "visible expression of Śakti". The numerous Hindu goddesses are nominally categorized into two groups: "pan-Indian goddesses" and "local goddesses". The goddesses referred to as "pan-Indian" are known widely across India and are chiefly "Brahminical and consequently orthodox", though some of them tend to be unorthodox. These goddesses usually have fully developed mythologies, with assurance from textual sources and are highly found in temples, both large and small, where they are represented anthropomorphically.

While goddesses like Lakshmi, associated with prosperity and luck, and Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge have become known outside India; the most famous Hindu goddess happens to be Kali, who is frequently mistaken to be the "goddess of death and destruction". Despite being associated with death and although having destructive qualities, Kali, represents a greater power epitomizing liberation and protection. Evidently, the personifications of the benign (saumya) aspects of Shakti, like Lakshmi and Saraswati, differ from Kali and Durga, who personify the fierce (raudra) aspects of Shakti.

The Devi Mahatmya consistently reaffirms the ambiguous nature of the Goddess. Two significant names for the goddess are Ambika ('mother dear' or 'good woman'), representing her auspicious and benign side; and Chandika (fierce, cruel, impetuous), representing her fierce and inauspicious side. She is also called mahadevi, mahasuri: 'the great goddess, the great demoness'.

In much of Hindu thought, there is no concept of a singular benignant god or goddess and a distinct evil power. All the deities are facets of the one Brahman, the progenitor of everything, including both positive and negative aspects of life. However may the many goddesses appear on the outside, they are essentially embodiments of Shakti. In this context, the pan-Indian goddesses personify both the positive and negative, or benign and fierce aspects of Shakti.

There are goddesses who personify benign aspects of Shakti - "the power of devotion, wisdom, love or compassion, etc", and then there are goddesses who are described as "essentially fierce", they personify the more active powers of protection and destruction, and need their worshippers to confront their fears to receive the goddess's grace. A significant fact to be remembered here is that the "goddesses are essentially benign and essentially fierce". Those goddesses who are benign are not completely so, as they may have a fierce side to their personalities. Similarly, the fierce goddesses may have a benign aspect to their characters. This dualistic nature of the goddesses emphasize the contradictory nature of divine power or any power or energy. Evidently, the power of fire, needed to sustain life, can and does decimate it. Likewise, the power responsible for creation is the same power that will destroy it regularly, or more accurately dematerialize life, transmuting it into unmanifest state again.

The benign side of Shakti

The infinite facets of the divine feminine's nature is discernible by the many perspectives on her. The goddesses, regarded as essentially benign, award their devotees divine grace; these goddesses include Radha, the lover of Krishna; Sita, the wife of Rama; Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and wisdom; Sri Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, and the goddess of luck and prosperity; and Parvati, the example of ultimate devotee and the wife of Shiva.

The benign goddesses are highly beautiful and enchanting in their looks. They are very amiable and lure the devotee into having a "close and loving relationship with the divine". The essentially-benign goddesses reveal to the devotee their dharma (individual duties, responsibilities) in a benign way and help in their fulfillment by making them prevail over obstacles. Devotees who approach the benign goddesses need not be fearful, as above all, these goddesses provide "the power of love and grace".

The benign goddesses are mostly consorts of several gods, and in this respect, they symbolize the power of each of their husbands as his respective shakti. Each goddess is usually depicted as being smaller than her husband and is commonly shown in a subordinate role, as with Lakshmi, who is often portrayed sitting at the feet of Vishnu. In their roles as wives, the benign goddesses provide loyalty and assistance to their husbands, qualities that set ideal examples for Hindu women in general and often symbolize the supreme devotee.

The fierce side of Shakti

The more aggressive personifications of Shakti are represented by the essentially fierce goddesses such as Kali, Durga and Chandi. The character and imagery of these goddesses reflect the most profound understanding of the nature of cosmic power. The devotee is brought to face "the dark side of divinity" by these fierce goddesses, who appear to shatter all taboos. In numerous instances, the power of the benign goddesses is subtle, while that of the fierce goddesses is brazen and they seemingly delight in displaying their power. Though described as married, they are inherently independent and are undoubtedly powerful on their own accord. When depicted along with their husbands, the goddesses Kali and Tara are normally shown in the dominant position, often being involved in copulatory postures. Kali is the most glaring exemplar of this idealism as she is commonly depicted standing on the prostrated body of Shiva.

The divine warrior trope is one of the most common themes in the portrayals of fierce goddesses, usually seen in representations of Durga. Here, the goddesses have protective functions and operate as destroyers of evil, commonly depicted as demon. By the Puranic era, the ontological polarization of the Universe, good/evil, was understood as the visible form of an eternal Daivāsuram conflict between the Asuras and the Devas. In this milieu, goddesses Durga-Kali are engaged in constant confrontation with the asura of the asuras, Mahishasura (buffalo demon). The depiction of a warrior goddess, shows the continuity and retelling of the vedic-brahminic-puranic Indra slaying Vritra episode (shruthi), only now with the characters transformed into Devi and Mahishasura. This development is seen as a testimony to both the remembrance (smriti) and the rediscovery of the essence of the earlier shruti.

Principally, goddesses Durga and Kali incorporate "the power of protection", and will protect anyone who comes to them with a spirit of humility or the attitude of a child. While Durga is seemingly in accord with the ideal of Brahmanical womanhood, being represented with an attractive face and many hands holding different weapons, Kali remains firmly on the outskirts of what is commonly considered as orthodox, on the borders of acceptability. The terrifying iconography of Kali—naked except for a garland of severed heads and a skirt of severed limbs, clasping a sword, holding a severed head, and standing on Shiva in a crematory—has made her a completely misunderstood figure. Accordingly, Kali is the "most grossly misrepresented Hindu goddess." In the West, she is depicted as the goddess of death and destruction, discarding her positive and elusive characteristics for her more dramatic qualities. Nevertheless, the sword of Kali destroys evil and cuts the worldly attachments that produce in man a keen sense of their self-importance.

Shakti embodiment by local goddesses

For the majority of people living in the many Indian villages and towns, more than the Hindu deities, it is the local deities, especially goddesses, who are of greater significance. Though many villages have shrines and festivals for the Brahmanical deities, they are often referred by different names, such as Sundaresvarar for Shiva in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Also, the local people may attribute to the deities various qualities that can be uncommon in mainstream Hinduism. While goddesses such as Durga and Kali are forever engaged in fighting devils and in maintaining the cosmic order, it is the local goddesses who concern themselves with devotees' problems, such as finding jobs and spouses for the petitioners, protecting their caste groups and communicating the whereabouts of lost cattle. Local goddesses symbolize an outlook of Shakti based in the mundane or earthly aspects, and present an easily accessible "power source" for the people living in a particular location.

Local goddesses are generally not seen as local counterparts of pan-Indian goddesses. Though they are often regarded as having no connection with the Brahmanical goddesses or the concept of shakti, there is, still, a fundamental understanding that all goddesses personify divine power, and between all goddesses there is a correspondence. Per scriptures, both local and Brahmanical pan-Indian goddesses are Mahadevi manifestations. The idea that all goddesses emerge from one reality is expounded in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana and the Devi Bhagavata Purana, which states (9.1.58) 'Every female in every Universe is sprung from a part of Śrī Rādhā or part of a part'. The Kurma Purana, in praise of Parvati (1.12.64), emphasizes pan-Indian goddesses themselves have many manifestations; one of the epithets is Ekānekavibhāgasthā, meaning 'stationed in one as well as in many divisions'. Such similitudes are speculated as genesis of the popular phrase 'all the mothers are one'.

An interplay between the pan-Indian and local goddesses commonly occurs in the local areas where efforts can be made to "Brahmanise, Sanskritise or Hinduise" a local goddess. This approach involves shaping her character, similarly, to those of pan-Indian or Brahmanical deities, usually achieved by minimizing evidently local traits, such as approval of blood offerings. Another feature of this process is what has been called 'spousification', wherein an independent goddess is ritually married, either "temporarily, annually or – if fully Hinduised – permanently" to a celebrated god, usually Shiva. Again, conversely, the localisation of some pan-Indian goddesses took place, with them being conferred on with more popular names and forms and folklore that would relate them to a location.

Tantric realization of Shakti

The concept of Shakti as the all-pervasive divine power evolved with a long complex history incorporating various ideas in its philosophical development: from the Vedic belief of the male deities having female partners or aspects which acted as their creative powers; the upanishadic idea of a single powerful supreme divinity (which was not necessarily recognised as female); to the idea of an abstract energy immanent in creation. These different ideas were interconnected to some extent by their speculation about the nature of Sound (Shabda Brahman) and its role in creation. Eventually, it was within Tantra that the idea of Shakti reached its fruition, here the "feminine principle (as Śakti—Śakti in goddess form)" was raised to the level of the Absolute. Shakti is here understood in two ways: as a plural phenomena where the gods (including Śakti) are considered having Śaktis by which they act, and as a singular universal phenomenon where Shakti is the Goddess.

In Devi Mahatmya, the goddess came to be identified with prakriti (materiality)—the feminine principle Hindus believe is the created world through which everything is made manifest. Initially developed in Samkhya philosophy, prakriti was posited against purusha (consciousness), with the two being eternally opposed forces behind the universe. This duality was resolved in the Tantras which view all existence as one whole inseparable from the divine. By identifying purusha with shiva and prakriti with shakti, the Tantras advocate nonduality of the two, asserting shiva and shakti are ultimately One and the same, thereby implying that "the divine essentially is creation"—thus making the goddess immanent in creation. John Woodroffe states: the goddess "does not cease to be the cosmic cause because it evolves as the universe its effect." Shakti is the "creative dynamic energy" that permeates and animates all. In the Brihannila Tantra, the God Shiva says: "O Goddess I am the body (deha) and you are the conscious spirit within the body (dehin)". "Shiva without Shakti is but a corpse, it is said."

Making redundant a classical problem of metaphysics that seeks to know how or why the imperturbable infinite One has become operative, Shakta ontology posits creation as an act of love between Shiva and Shakti, who join to produce the Bindu, the seed of the Universe. States Woodroffe, "the production of the Universe is according to the Śākta an act of love, illustrated by the so-called erotic imagery of the Śāstra. The Self loves itself whether before, or in creation. The thrill of human love, which continues the life of humanity is an infinitesimally small fragment of and faint reflection of the creative act". This sādhanic nature of love makes it possible for one to experience in the union of Śakti and Śākta—that, which is ultimately real, but remains incomprehensible at the level of critical thinking.

Beliefs and traditions

Shakti is the universal power, the active energy and executrix of a given Hindu god. Though Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are associated with creation, preservation, and destruction, their tasks are performed by their respective shaktis. In the Hindu pantheon, Shakti is personified as the wife of a particular deity, especially Shiva, for whom Shakti took many forms – "Uma, Durga, the terrifying Kali, and the motherly Parvati". Similarly, corresponding with Vishnu, she is Lakshmi. Likewise, in Hindu custom, the wife of a man is his Shakti. In the Ramayana, Sita, the wife of Rama, was his Shakti; in the Mahabharata, Draupadi was the Shakti of the Pandavas.

The Devi Bhagavata Purana says She is "Supreme, eternal and primordial... But she is imperceptible to the philosophers, gods and saints". Only Bhakti (loving devotion), to the depreciation of all other modes of pleasing, and her grace (anugraha) makes one perceive her. Per Tantra-shastras, whatever we perceive is a combination of the eternally formed (svarupa) and the eternally formless (arupa). Texts portray her as ultimately formless-contemplated intimately through iconic or aniconic forms. Animated and inanimated objects like rivers, stones, trees, mountains are worshipped as embodiments of shakti.

The goddess is believed to be immanent in the world and especially visible in India, where natural sites such as rivers, caves, hills are venerated as sacred and are associated with the goddess as centres of Tantric power, called Shakti pithas ('seats' of her power) or Pithasthans. These are located across the Indian subcontinent, and are believed to be the sacred seats of Shakti. At the altars in these shrines, Shakti is often worshipped in the form of a stone, which is painted red, considered the colour of Shakti, and is decorated with anthropomorphic features like eyes.

Worship in early shakta traditions centred on goddess and her yoni, believed to be the primordial origin of the cosmos. Synchronization of the menstrual cycle of women with the moon's lunar cycle is held important. Menstrual blood (Kula) is revered and is offered in rituals to propitiate the deities. In some cases, Animal sacrifices have replaced menstrual blood offerings, however the female animals are not sacrificed.

In Shakta traditions, Women are considered inherently divine owing to their common feminine nature with the Goddess. Realizing woman as shakti, as a "form of the formless form", an embodiment of existence-consciousness-bliss, through the discipline of yoga signifies a high level of consciousness in man. Swami Vivekananda remarked: "Do you know who is the real "Shakti-worshipper"? It is he who knows that God is the omnipresent force in the universe and sees in women the manifestation of that Force."

Philosophical and psychological perspectives

Shakti and Power: in the Indian and Western philosophical traditions

The debate over Power's existence spans different philosophical traditions, notably Indian and Western. In the Indian philosophical traditions, the concept of shakti (power/energy) is highly debated between the Nyaya and the Mimamsa schools of thought, and is central in the understanding of causality.

Nyaya philosophers argue that causal efficacy is inherent in the very nature of the object (e.g., the capacity to burn is intrinsic to fire), making the postulation of a separate "power" redundant. The Mimamsakas, particularly the Prābhākara school, defend shakti as an independent, real entity (padārtha) that is distinct from the object yet inheres in it. They argue that shakti is the specific link that explains why a cause produces a specific effect, and without shakti, the relationship between cause and effect would be arbitrary. A critical argument against shakti by Naiyāyikas is that if a power is needed to explain an effect, another power would be needed to explain the first power, leading to an endless chain. This infinite regress is countered by concluding that saving the "root" (the fundamental power) prevents the regress from being vicious, thereby validating the existence of power as a foundational element of reality.

Within Western philosophy regarding the ontological status of powers, John Locke posits that powers are real, objective properties inherent in objects. For Locke, we infer these powers from their effects; for instance, fire has the power to melt wax, which is a real property of the fire, not just a mental habit of observing succession. This stands in direct opposition to David Hume, who dismissed "power" as a non-empirical metaphysical construct. Hume argued that we only observe constant conjunction (event A followed by event B) and that positing an intrinsic "power" connecting them is unnecessary.

A comparative study of Indian and Western philosophical thought on power by Amita Chatterjee revealed a convergence between Locke’s empirical realism and the Mimamsa defense of shakti. Both traditions argue that powers are indispensable for a coherent explanation of the material universe. Chatterjee refutes Hume by asserting that rejection of powers leads to an incomplete understanding of causality, as without admitting real powers, the causal structure of the material universe becomes inexplicable. Chatterjee assessed that power is ubiquitous, and the admittance of the existence of power is not a superstition, but is indispensable for explaining the material universe causally.

Shakti and Schopenhauer's Will

Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher known for his metaphysical postulation of the concept of Will. According to Schopenhauer, the word Will — "like a magic spell, discloses to us the inmost being of everything in nature". The Will, states Schopenhauer, "is the inmost nature, the kernel of every particular thing, and also of the whole". It is "the force which germinates and vegetates in the plant, and indeed the force through which the crystal is formed"; it underlies all of the phenomenal existence, and appears in every "blind force" of nature (gravity), as well as in the "preconsidered action of man".

The Will as a thing-in-itself, enters into phenomenal existence—where it manifests itself; but it is considered to be free from all of the characteristics inherent in the phenomenal existence. However, objectively, the Will "determines our experience in all of its phenomenal aspects", thereby making itself eminently comprehendible. Schopenhauer states that when an individual becomes aware of the Will in their self-consciousness, they also become aware of the "consciousness of freedom" present therein. This leads one to believe a priori that they are perfectly free in their actions, but a posteriori, after experience, realize to their astonishment that they are not free and their actions were all subjected to necessity. This startling occurrence, Schopenhauer asserts is due to the fact that man "is not will as a thing-in-itself, but is a phenomenon of will", as such, one's actions are necessitated by principle of sufficient reason. However, man is free in a more basic sense, having "an unshakeable certainty that we are the doers of our deeds", this sense of responsibility reveals one's character, which in concurrence with motives and circumstances determine further actions, leading the individual to play out their designated role.

While Schopenhauer noted his philosophy has affinity with classical Indian thought and identified the notion of Brahman as its closest analogue; Heinrich Zimmer identified it with Shakti and wrote:

Was Schopenhauer den 'Willen' nannte, heisst in Indien 'shakti', d.i. 'Kraft'. [sic] (lit. 'What Schopenhauer called 'Will' is called 'shakti' in India, that is to say, power'). According to Zimmer, Shakti is "the central concept of tantric ideology", and represents the essence of the world as divine energy. He noted that emergence of the idea of Shakti, ultimately, "puts an end to a prolonged, ancient struggle for preeminence and sole authority among the separate ways we conceive of the Divine". The many Hindu deities, countering their sectarian rivalries, were reduced to the "elemental concept they always had in common: to their very self, to divine energy". The countless personifications of Divine are held as manifestations of Shakti.

Shakti, Tantra and Jungian psychology

According to David A. Leeming, Shakti may well be regarded as the "spiritual equivalent of the Jungian anima (Latin for psyche or soul) in which the anima is the subconscious inner self of the male – his feminine principle". Relatedly, the animus corresponds with female, and the anima/animus complex can be regarded as the animating power of an individual similar to shakti for a god.

Psychologist Kathryn Madden says the notion of Self in Jungian psychology is analogous to the "Tantric notion of unity achieved through oneness with the divine feminine". In Tantra, the practice of mystical-erotic rituals seek to bring the male and the female principles, represented by Shiva and Shakti that appear seemingly opposite-arrive into unity or a harmonious whole in the "divine feminine" or "unified divine consciousness"—analogous with the analytical psychology idea of coincidentia oppositorum.

In the Hindu tantric view, the Goddess or Shakti (spirit, female principle) is the animating energy underlying the phenomenal existence (male principle, Shiva). Becoming aware of the " 'deep' femininity" or self-realization entails dealing with the powerful sexual energy. The bliss experienced during sexual union is considered "the power of the goddess (Śakti) in a tangible form". The guiding image of a male and a female conjoined in sexual intercourse represents the embodiment of non-dual awareness, and a couple would arrive at unity in the divine feminine by embodying non-dual awareness, enabled by the ritual maithuna, whereby the couple gets "completely dissolved in the unity of the godhead represented on the earthly plane by the energy field created by the synthesis of Shiva and Shakti in the couple." The synthesis of Shiva and Shakti in each of the persons involves rising of the latent Kundalini shakti ("active female energy") from the bottom of the spinal column and fuse with the "passive, male consciousness" (Shiva) at the top culminating in samadhi (contemplative rapture). Thus, the couple, being in sync with the non-dual Shiva-Shakti synergy field, experiences the realization of the "unity, totality, and infinitude" of the self.

This imaginal transformation of the couple also involves transmission of energy currents by which "the goddess Shakti seeks to create an imprint or image in human form," states Madden, "The divine intentionally comes into a human form." This tantric phenomenon is analogous with the notion of Jungian individuation, in which "the self of the psyche seeks us," to percolate higher consciousness. Both Tantrism and Jungian psychology stress upon temenos – body being a sacred container, and emphasize the accessibility of "the numinous and mystical in the physical and phenomenal realm". By clarifying analytical psychology, Tantra thus offers an insight into how the feminine and the inclusion of body can transform spiritual growth.

Psychoanalysis

Shakti has been extensively interpreted in religious-anthropological texts. Hindu mythology features a central role for matriarchal power as seen in the powerful presence of the mother goddess, variously referred to as Devi, Parvati, Durga or Kali. The mother goddess is the embodiment of Shakti and the life-giving, generative power of the universe. Shakti symbolizes the idealized omnipotent mother. In the myth of Ganesha, Parvati alone creates her son from her own body or the earth in the absence of a father. This myth portrays Shakti as a combined parental figure opposing the triadic dynamic of mother-father-child, and represents the triumph of mother-son relationship over husband and wife.

In psychodynamic perspective, Shakti represents an "overwhelming conscious or unconscious feminine primal force or combined parental object". Sigmund Freud called Shakti "libido that cannot be simply repressed." In Indian religious life, Prapatti (surrender) to divine comes from an overwhelming love of God. However, the primacy of the son-mother dynamic over that of lover-lover in Indian culture, may render a male lover of the Goddess reflect an Incest taboo. Psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva in her book Powers of Horror, argues that in resolving an individuals oedipus complex, the mother figure is irrevocably defiled and is subjected to abjection. The maternal body is associated with impurity (blood, excrement, etc.), in contrast to the symbolic paternal consciousness. Kristeva states that art and religious rituals help prevent the erosion of the maternal and paternal boundaries, thereby allowing an individual to not succumb irretrievably into the comforting dyadic relationship with the mother and lose identity. The oedipal crisis is resolved in the case of Ganesha by depicting him as lacking in an ideal masculine body, who, thus unlike his 'phallic' brother Kartikeya, becomes an ascetic, ceases to be a paternal figure and pleases his ascetic father Shiva.

The Indian author Raja Rao explored the metaphysics of gender in his works and presented humans as beings endowed with androgynous sensibilities irrespective of their gender expression. The androgyny in humans, represented by the union of Shiva-Shakti, balances itself during copulation wherein the shakti in a woman seeks the shiva of a man, while at other times the shiva of a woman seeks the shakti in a man, and vice versa.

Rao characterized women as being three types: the ideal Hindu woman, who is an incarnation of shakti; the fallen Hindu woman; and the non-Hindu woman, who is intelligent and sensuous yet flawed in an essential way. All the male protagonists in Rao's works are Brahmins, versed in the Upanishads, and some of them see and worship the same essential spirit, the latent shakti, in their women including mother, wife, sister, whore, and lover; whereas the women worship the latent shiva in their men.

Sociological cultural views

Shakti and feminism

Various religious scholars have tried to assess whether the Hindu Goddess represents the ideals of feminism, with the resulting interpretations being largely inconclusive or subjective. The nature and condition of women in a goddess worship culture is complex and multifaceted. The recognition of the divine, as the primordial feminine force Shakti, attests to the autonomous nature of women and their power. Susan Wadley states that the concept of Shakti is fundamental to understand "Hindu women, their status, roles and powers". In Hindu milieu, stri shakti ('the power of women'), connotes the ideas about women and their power. Cynthia Ann Humes argues this notion of power differs from the Western sense as it is "not agency but, rather, potentiality". Rita Sherma contends that Hindu expression of female agency, influenced by perception of divine feminine, differs from Western expression. Phyllis K. Herman points that while Western feminism has associated kitchens with the subordination of women and reject it as a place of power, Hindu feminism regards the kitchen area (rasoī) as sacred. The actions of a woman in the kitchen are likened to a priest in the temple, with their works ensuring the Wellbeing of people and this world.

Some feminists and religious scholars argue that presence of Hindu goddesses has not necessarily benefited the position of women in Indian society, at least outwardly.

Sunder Rajan and Stanley Kurtz reason that patriarchy and hierarchy explains the contradictions between Hindu goddesses and the status of Indian women. Rajan notes that, in one Indian state, there seems to be no correlation between women's literacy and the worship of goddesses. Kathleen Erndl, who found many examples of Hindu women empowered by identification with goddesses, reckoned that Hindu feminists then only need to rescue Shakti from its patriarchal constraints. Though Kali's trampling of Shiva is a favorite of both Indian and Western feminists for its symbolism of female power, autonomy and dominance; Tracy Pintchman insists that there is no correlation between symbols and interpretations, as they are highly subjective. Rajan sees goddesses as shaped by qualities desired in females rather than by strong or exceptional women. Jeffrey Kripal proves that the need for domination and intimacy make up this desire in men. Much of the myths and rituals imply that goddesses dominate, albeit temporarily, when the gods recede against the demons, suggesting female ascendancy when patriarchy breaks down.

Rita Gross notes that in the Indian myths and legends, though men wield power, the authority to do so is bestowed onto them by women, owing to their 'natural moral' constitution. Kurtz observes that women who worship goddesses tend to sympathize more with the males in their lives than with the females or even about themselves. E. H. Rick Jarow states that, "Even if the stage of the world is running through śakti, it is men who are given the leading roles in this play". Brenda Dobia says the Goddess is a living presence who reveals herself across cultural and religious divides. Gross supports this view and believes that the goddess of Indian religions is a "theological resource" with whom one can counter Abrahamic monotheism's long effort to eradicate her. In representations of female divinity, the Hindu Goddess is unparalleled, and has inspired some religious feminists in the West to recover and revive the idea of the divine feminine. Sally Kempton states that Shakti constitutes the true feminine power and advocates for sacred feminism—a spiritual, apolitical form of feminism wherein men and women realize shakti as their "deepest core"—their "interior face"—and tune into her energy, becoming aware of their own full potential.

Shakti and widowhood

The Hindu world view characterized women as "being Shaktis", "personifications of cosmic feminine power or shakti". However, the widows are disparaged. Women are believed to embody the highly potent "sexually voracious shakti", which is sought to be regulated by marriage and reproduction. The widows are viewed as still embodying it, threatening dishonor. Upon marriage, women who control their shakti, have it transmuted into Dharmik shakti (moral power), while those who do not, wreak havoc. To lessen their shakti, and for having failed in the chief "wifely duty" of protecting and preserving the lives of their husbands, the widows are often ill-treated, and accused of being witches and prostitutes. They are proscribed from wider society, wear any ornaments and bright dress, and made to eat only a small amount of 'cooling' foods so as to deplete their shakti. Women with assertive voice, plump body, and autonomy are seen as pakka shakti (strong shakti), and representatives of unrestrained Shakti, considered dangerous.

Despite such norms, several young Hindu widows in Varanasi have taken recourse to "Shakti-goddess" identity to assert themselves and wade through societal constraints. They downplay negativity by associating with the cosmic Hindu mother, and often say, "All children are my children, all women are the Mother-Goddess; my children get only love from me—like the Goddess". Identifying with Goddess enhanced their positive self-regard. In women, relating oneself with goddesses is found to induce deeper connection with shakti and understand it as an internal force rather than an external entity, thereby attain greater self-control. The widows believe shakti is the true strength and fire like power of the Goddess, and women embody it sixteen times more than men. The young widows work hard, and procure enough wealth to keep themselves and dependents in good stead, seen by their detractors as a validation of them being pakka shakti.

The Indian scholar Indira Goswami, widowed at young age, but who later became an award winning writer credited Shakti for her transformation from a powerless being into empowered becoming.

Shakti and female leadership

Among the Hindu denominations, Shakta traditions are more accepting of women as gurus or leaders. Women in these goddess-centric traditions have more religious freedoms and inclusivity compared to others. Shakta holy women are more prevalent, and are common as gurus, especially in tantra, regarded as a "dharma for women!", with Bhairavi Brahmani being a famous example. The female gurus are seen as the Goddess in a personal, interactive mode, primarily that of teacher. As perfect embodiments of shakti, the female gurus self-identity themselves as the goddess, even so by others; and are generally called Mataji (respected Mother), also the most common name of the goddess. While few marry, many matajis who live more independently reject marriage, often at the behest of the goddess. Married women in traditional Indian society have less freedom. Divine possession by the goddess is one of the few acceptable norms to avoid marriage.

The female leaders of new age woman-led spiritual movements, such as the Indian guru Anandmurti Gurumaa, are especially popular among women for whom their female guru is said to embody shakti. Gurumaa established Shakti, a non-governmental organization in India with the mission "to empower the girl child", and has been a forthright activist for girls' education and the abolition of Sex-selective abortion of female fetuses.

An anthropological study of women in leadership roles at a temple community dedicated to Shakti in Toronto noted that when women become leaders, they emancipate themselves and others by sacralising their roles and wield power as a means of service unto others. When women work with a sense of detachment and service, their inherent shakti is believed to transform into Dharmik shakti (moral power), which is when their shakti becomes truly potent and overpowering. The working women were found less inclined to accept patriarchal narratives and perform collectively the duties earlier restricted to males. The Hindu perception of divine feminine in women was an influential factor in expression of female agency. While acknowledging the ability of the divine Adiparashakti to act for her devotees, the women also affirmed the ability of "real women" with śakti to act as well. In a more positive work environment, they were able to be reshape and redevelop their personality. Curiously, a significant percentage (22%) of women refused to identify as male or female, and addressed both the male guru and the goddess as Amma (Mother).

Shakti and Hindu nationalism

The idea of Shakti forms an integral part in Hindu discourses of political thought. In the rural areas of Odisha, rituals commemorate symbolic union of a local goddess (Ramachandi) with the region's king. A part of Shakti of the goddess is believed to unite with the royal male principle, thus channelling the power of the goddess in the power of the king, which is reflected in his masculinity. During the British Raj, when native power structures were dismantled, the people worshiped the goddess to overcome the colonial rulers and rejuvenate local masculinity.

The various British and Muslim conquerors of India characterized Hindus as effeminate. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, in an ironic way, intentionally used this notion of feminity to counter the colonizers. In his literary works, he presented Shakti as the saviour of Hindus. In Anandamath, the goddess Kali, as the personification of the Hindu nation, defeats Muslim usurpers by the means of her feminine energy. Here, it was hoped that Shakti would energize Indians to reject oppression, and that the unjust political and social situation of the Hindus would make them mad about it and take action like Kali. The novel also contained the poem Vande Mataram, which characterized India as a goddess (Mother India) and juxtaposed surrender to her with submission to Islam, with the former being a better option for Indians. Sri Aurobindo said Vande Mataram is a mantra revealed to Indians by Chatterjee. Aurobindo insisted that nationalist activity is a religious spiritual exercise, and turned "Śakti into a beautiful, complex, and powerful symbol" for political action. His usage of Shakti imagery and the promotion of Kali worship resulted in violent revolutionary acts against the British colonizers.

Diametrically, Mahatma Gandhi, a contemporary of Aurobindo, also invoked the symbolism of Shakti (divinizing India as Bharat Mata), albeit with an emphasis on the ideal of nonviolence. For Gandhi, feminine power denoted a moral and spiritual force far superior to the force of arms. He advocated Satyagraha, a form of nonviolent resistance, rooted in virtues, such as, Kshama (forgiveness), ahimsa (non-harming), pavitrata (purity), Shanti (tranquility), and daya (compassion); and noted that these qualities are linguistically feminine and everywhere "are met with in greater measure in women." Gandhi once said he wanted to convert women's capacity for "self-sacrifice and suffering into shakti power." He rued that women's marvelous power is lying dormant and his experiment in non-violence would have been instantly successful if he secured women's help.

Shakti and cinema

Feature films portraying the Hindu goddess as the central protagonist are common in the cinema of South India and have come to be known as the "goddess genre" films, a popular subgenre under the category of Hindu mythological films. The goddess genre films are mostly characterized by their narratives of how a devout female and a skeptical male come together into the 'goddess fold' and take on the evildoer, the prime antagonist. This genre is also anecdotally called 'women's genre', as they depict, unlike the patriarchal mainstream Indian films, the predicaments of women from the female point of view and are highly popular among women audiences, majorly rural based lower classes, but increasingly popular among all demographics.

For many Hindus, the goddess genre films offer the experience of watching the goddess on-screen, resonating with their religious belief of darshana, i.e., to see or be seen by the deity. For orthodox Hindus who regularly see the images and idols of their deities in a prayer (puja) room, the experience of seeing them on-screen is not different as they both engage a core aspect of their belief system, namely darshana. The goddess genre materially enacts darshana for the viewer by making the "intangible" transcendent-accessible through the material medium of film. Darshana is also the term used for the six major schools of Hindu philosophy.

Scholars Diana Eck and Robert Fuller note that in Hindu theological view, darshana is a way for "the devotee to literally partake in the power (śakti) of the deity". This notion of darshana deeply embedded in the psyche of Hindus makes the on-screen vision of goddesses an emotional experience. Diane Mines states, "Hindus see vision as a material exchange, a kind of touching." The goddess genre corroborates this notion of touch and vision, or darshana. In a scene from the 1970 film Namma Veetu Deivam (The Deity in our House), regarded to exemplify the goddess genre, the goddess plays a prank on her devotee priest by making herself perceived in human skin to his touch while he puts sindoor (vermillion) on her forehead as part of the daily ritual sanctification of the goddess's stone idol, the moment he realizes this miracle, her human form turns back to stone.

The goddess films by making the intangible-tangible, assert that the abstract concept of a primordial nurturing and protective power is the goddess. These films offer a "psychophysical enculturation" into the Hindu worldview, and their appeal is deeply rooted in the Hindu beliefs and culture. The films narratives entwine the vedic and folklore myths, and showcase the power and glory of the Hindu goddess as the divine mother and the guardian of her devotees. Films such as Aathi Parasakthi (1971) and Melmaruvathoor Adiparasakthi (1985) re-enact the goddess creation myths central to shaktism.

Epilogue

The belief in a goddess has once been a creed of various ancient cultures around the world, but whilst the traditions of goddess worship are extinct in almost all belief systems, the phenomenon of goddess worship is alive and thriving in Hinduism, continuing well into the 21st century. Though goddess worship traditions are prevalent across the Indian subcontinent, they are especially stronger and rich in the regions of Southern India that have remained more or less purely Hindu.

The Hindu goddess traditions have also started to make inroads into the West by their association with Yoga and Indian classical dance, and are becoming more popular with American women. The Parashakthi Temple in the United States is a revered and sacred site of Shakti in the West.