Durgas Secret Reading Notes

A failed marriage

Offerings to Shiva and Vishnu include food, flowers, leaves, lamps, and incense. The aim is to invoke God. Only invoking the mind without domesticating nature is the trait of Shiva, the withdrawn hermit. Only domesticating nature without invoking the mind is the trait of Brahma who manifests as Daksha, the controlling priest. This tension between the mind and nature is a key theme of the Puranas. Domestication of the goddess (nature) must be mirrored with the awakening of God (mind). From the southern tip of India comes a very interesting tale that challenges the idea of domestication in order to establish culture. A young girl Kanyakumari, meaning one who is a virgin invokes Shiva and expresses her desire to be his wife. Shiva agrees but the Devas are not pleased with this news. As long as Kanyakumari is not married and has no children she has the power to kill demons. Her power unused in marriage and motherhood will also prevent the sea from overwhelming the land, so they go out of their way to disrupt this wedding. They tell Kanyakumari that to ensure the marriage is a happy one she has to marry at sunrise the following day but Shiva lives far away in the north on Mount Kailash. He must be asked to set forth immediately and travel through the night. Shiva agrees to travel fast, eager to meet his bride while Kanyakumari spends the night preparing the wedding feast, adorning herself with cosmetics and jewelry in the middle of the night. The Devas take the form of roosters and start to crow in the middle of the night. Shiva thinks the sun is about to rise and that he will not make it to the wedding on time, so he turns around disappointed. When the Sun really does rise there is no sign of Shiva. A heartbroken Kanyakumari breaks all the pots containing the wedding feast. The pulses and grains turn into the colourful sand that one would find near the southern tip of India. She washes away her cosmetics in the sea, that is why the sea is multi-coloured there she stands on the southern tip killing demons preventing the sea from overwhelming the land and like a divine beacon, enabling fishermen to battle tempestuous seas and come home safe to their wives! This story displays an ambiguous relationship with domestication.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to Joshua the Biology major

Image
My name is Joshua Cohlmia and I was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Being raised here made it an easy choice to continue my education at the University of Oklahoma. My major is Biology/Pre-Dental. The most interesting part of my major is that I've taken lots of difficult science classes but have never once learned about teeth. It's weird taking all these classes that don't apply directly yo my job in the future. The most interesting class I took last semester was molecular biology. Having a pandemic while taking these science classes has been awesome (for class not in everyday life) because a lot of teachers have been using Covid-19 as an example and I've gotten to learn so much about it. Last semester I finally reached my goal of achieving a 4.0 which I had never done before. My favorite movie is Die Hard because it ties my two favorite things together, Christmas and action. My favorite book is the Harry Potter series because it was the first series of book...
Read more

Week 3 Story

Image
Twins are Born (Raven and Haven)  Raven and Haven were born and are the children of the gods and leaders of the Netherlands Rama and Tama. Raven, unlike Haven was growing at an extraordinary rate. The larger Raven grew the more people feared her. By the time Raven had reached her full stature she was the largest person in the Netherlands. While Raven was growing Haven was staying small his brain kept evolving more intelligence. Soon he was so smart he could predict the future and knew what others actions would be. At the time of their birth Netherlands and Sauhini were at war and Sauhini had heard about these twins and we’re scared of the potential they obtained for Netherlands. One day Raven and Haven were strolling through the forest together in search of food and Haven had a 6th sense they were being hunted. Haven knew hunters were in the area and could predict their next moves. Haven alerting Raven of what’s coming made it easy for Raven to fight off the hunters. After they esc...
Read more