Shakti

According to the Monier-Williams dictionary, the term Shakti (Śakti) is the sanskrit feminine word-meaning "energy, ability, strength, effort, power, might, capability"—thereby implying "capacity for" doing something, or "power over" anything.^[1][8] Shakti is also considered a feminine noun of the linguistic term Sanskrit.^[9] Though the term Shakti has broad implications, it mostly denotes "power or energy, which is feminine", and is also a name by which goddesses are referred to.^[8][10]

Much has been written in an effort to describe, define and delineate the principle of Shakti, which is held as the "most complex" goddess related theological concept.^[9] Shakti is primarily identified with the feminine and with the numerous Hindu goddesses, who are seen as "tangible" expressions-visible personifications of the intangible Shakti. Such an ideation for Shakti took place over many centuries.^[8] The concept of Shakti also includes the maternal spiritual histories and experiences transmitted generationally from a maternal elder.^[11]

Metaphysically, Shakti refers to "energetic principle" of the Ultimate reality—which is ideated as "primordial power".^[8] Shakti is believed to constitute such important factors as: "cit (consciousness, intelligence), ananda (joy, bliss), iccha (will), jnana (knowledge), and kriya (action)".^[9] In the study of Indian religions and their associated philosophies, one finds terms that combine Shakti with other concepts, giving rise to various expressions, such as; "adya Shakti (primal energy, primordial force), cit Shakti or vacya Shakti (the energy of consciousness), vacaka Shakti (manifested consciousness), and para Shakti (supreme energy, cause of all)"—all of which, by their association with Shakti, indicate that the respective concept is essentially feminine.^[9]

In classical Indian thought, Shakti is characterized as the divine principle in human, the creatrix of spiritual intuition and comprehension.^[12] Relatedly the term Shakta (Sanskrit: शक्त, Śakta) is used for people and customs associated with Shakti worship.^[13] The term 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 Shakti believers.^[13]

Archaeological excavations have revealed that practices of Mother goddess worship existed all over the world in ancient times. One of the earliest representation of mother goddess dates back to the Upper paleolithic period in Europe 20,000 years ago.^[14] Though goddess worship cults prevailed since antiquity in India, they gained popularity in the post Gupta era (6th century CE), mostly due to their esoteric practices.^[14] Apart from the Indian sculptures, the Vedas to the Tantras via the Puranas, constitute the major literary sources that trace the development of the goddess belief system.^[14]

The origins of Shakti concepts are prevedic.^[15] 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.^[16] The excavation team, which included Kenoyer, considered it highly probable that the stone was associated with Shakti or the female principle.^[17] The representation of Shakti in a stone is considered an early example of yantra.^[18]

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.^[19] Numerous artefacts that appear to portray female deities were also found.^[20] 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.^[20]

The Veda Samhitas are the oldest scriptures that specify the Hindu goddesses. The Rigveda and the Atharvaveda are the main sources of knowledge about various goddesses from the Vedic period.^[20] 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).^[20]

The Devīsūkta in the Rigveda, addressed to the goddess Vāc, became the progenitor of goddess theology that evolved later.^[20] Here (10.125.6), Vāc states: "I bend the bow for Rudra that his arrow may strike and slay the hater of devotion. I rouse and order battle for the people, and I have penetrated Earth and Heaven".^[20] This hymn presented the goddess as an all powerful pervasive being, who is both "immanent and transcendent", and is bestower of power to both gods and humans.^[20] Prominent characteristics of Vāc were later incorporated into the identity of Saraswati, who was a minor river goddess in the Vedas, but later became the goddess of knowledge and the "Mother of the Vedas".^[20]

Most of the goddesses in the Vedic era were presented as wives of the gods.^[20] 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.^[20] Though the 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 meant "the rendering of powerful or mighty help, assistance, aid, especially of the 'deeds of Indra'."^[20] This use of the term Śacī is seen as a major step in the later conception of Śakti as the divine power which is separate from a deity and something not inherently present within it.^[20]

In later Hindu texts, the idea of Shakti as divine feminine energy became more pronounced as wives of the gods began to personify the powers of their husbands.^[20] 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 as being the feminine unity pervading all existence was developed.^[21]

The Upanishads did not feature goddesses notably. However, the ideas devised during this era became significant in later conceptions of Shakti.^[21] The theory of Shakti advocated in Shakta Upanishads was predicated on the upanishadic idea of Brahman, a gender-neutral Absolute, considered God, whose nature is all-encompassing.^[21] The all-pervasive nature of Brahman gave rise to the belief that both human and divine, are in essence similar. This led to the concept of a connecting factor between the absolute and human — called Atman. At this time, unsurprisingly there was no emphasis on the divine feminine, as Brahman is considered neither male or female.^[21] The early Upanishads postulated a transcendental absolute — it cannot be depicted or understood, but be known only through Jñāna (insight, intuition).^[21] The later Upanishads however presented the idea of Saguna Brahman (manifest absolute), thus giving it an accessible form. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad portrayed Brahman as "manifest Lord or Īśvara", thereby enabling a "theistic relationship" between a deity and devotee.^[21]

The complete identification of the goddess with Shakti was not fully realised until the classical period of Hinduism (c. 200 BCE to 1200 CE).^[21] This period saw the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, including the Bhagavad Gita. The epics were largely complemented by Puranas, a body of literature built upon the ideas of Upanishads, but primarily made up of myth and legend which proclaim the supremacy of a particular deity and equate their nirguna (unmanifest) form with Brahman. Most of the Puranas were dedicated to male deities, particularly Vishnu and Shiva, however the later Shakta puranas were allotted to the goddess.^[21] Shakti worship that receded in the Vedic period became prominent from the classical period onward during which she was personified as Devi—a goddess.^[15]

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.^[21] Nevertheless, the Kurma Purana (1.1.34) likewise describes Lakshmi as the impetus of Vishnu, who calls her "that great Śakti (potency) of my form".^[21] An inseparable bond between the goddess and her consort was formed when she was projected as an embodiment of three important principles — "śakti (energy), prakṛti (primordial or primary matter) and māyā (illusion)", thus founding a relationship between "female divinity and creative power".^[22] In the puranic era, though the goddess was considered the source behind manifest creation, she was, nonetheless, a personification of her consort's energy and was referred to as prakṛti, who is still subordinated to her consort's will. While there was an individual goddess named śakti, the term referred to a quality held by both male and female deities. An apparent identity between feminine divinity and cosmic energy was not yet vouched.^[22]

The perception of divine feminine was radically altered by two texts: the earlier Devi Mahatmya and the later Devi Bhagavata Purana.^[22] 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).^[22] 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".^[22] 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 gets assented as the Mahadevi, the supreme goddess fully independent of the gods and considered the embodiment of śakti with additional powers of her own. Here when she finishes her work, she doesn't return to her source, the gods, but instead vanishes.^[22]

The Devi Mahatmya bolstered the concept of the Mahadevi or the great goddess (an amalgamate of manifold powers) with numerous epithets.^[22] Besides the term Devi, the most general name of the goddess is Chandi or Caṇḍikā, meaning "violent and impetuous one"; this was the first instance of the use of this term in a Sanskrit text and was probably conceived for this distinct incarnation, represented in an aggressive and often unorthodox mode, with an affinity for drink and approval of blood offerings.^[22]

The idea of independence and not confirming to widely held notions of goddesses has been an intriguing trait in the character of Devi in the Devi Mahatmya. The goddess here, primarily identified as Durga, is not dependent on a male consort and she successfully handles male roles herself. In battles, she fights without a male ally, and when needed aide, creates female peers from herself like Kali.^[22] Also, the ideation of the goddess as a personification of Shakti varies, instead of providing power to a male consort like other puranic era goddesses, here she takes powers from the gods–who all "surrender their potency to her" at the time of her manifestation.^[22]

The Devi Mahatmya elucidates the goddess so meticulously that it clarifies the changeableness of her character and makes it clear that she cannot be classified readily as she is the embodiment of all facets of energy—being concurrently "creative, preservative and destructive" (Devi Mahatmya 1.56–58).^[23] The goddess is described as "eternal, having as her form the world. By her is all pervaded" (Devi Mahatmya 1.47).^[24] The text explains the all-pervasive Mahadevi as being both devi (goddess) and asuri (demoness), for she represents positive as well as negative aspects of power and energy.^[25] Here, the ultimate reality was completely equated with Devi, who is presented as the power enabling the trimurti—Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma—to engage in the "preservation, dissolution and creation" of the universe respectively (Devi Mahatmya 1.59).^[25] Devi appears at the emergence of cosmic crisis, accordingly her role is assumed to be identical to that of Vishnu, who in his various avatars vows to manifest himself at times of crisis. Similarly, Devi, also vows to manifest whenever her help is needed (Devi Mahatmya 12.36).^[25] Scholars note that Devi Mahatmya exemplifies the notion of 'Brahminical synthesis' as postulated by Thomas J. Hopkins.^[26][27] Thomas B. Coburn explains that in the Devi Mahatmya, the pre-Aryan goddesses were all gradually incorporated into the Aryan/Brahminical fold under the title Devi.^[26] The inclusion of the pre-Aryan goddesses like Kali, Neeli, Sooli, Periyachi, Nagamma, etc., into the canon of Aryan/Brahminical goddesses (Parvati, Saraswathi, Lakshmi etc.) made possible the emergence of a complex Hindu goddess or Devi, who embodies contradictory characteristics. Thus she is held as being the primal matter or prakriti as well as the transcendent spirit or Brahman; the consort of the Vedic gods as well as the divine mother from the pre-Aryan civilizations.^[a][27]

The largest and possibly the most exhaustive Shakta purana, considered as "justification or vindication of the Goddess tradition, as well as an elaboration of it" is the Devi Bhagavata Purana.^[25] 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.^[25] 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".^[25] Of noteworthy is the fact that the goddess of the Devi Bhagavata Purana, 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.^[25]

The Devi Bhagavata Purana repeatedly describes the goddess as being "eternal, the basis of everything and identical with Brahman".^[25] The goddess here, addressed as "Ādya or Primordial Śakti", 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, and conforms with the three traits or the gunas in all life, namely: "sattva (purity, goodness, the illuminating principle), rajas (activity, passion, the energetic principle) and tamas (darkness, inertia, dullness)".^[25] Corresponding with sattva, she is Maha-Lakshmi; with rajas, she is Maha-Saraswati; and with tamas, she is Maha-kali. However, Devi is still characterized as "being beyond all form", and is declared as nirguna (not having gunas or unmanifest), thus making her incomprehensible. But, to liberate her devotees, Devi "becomes saguna (with gunas or manifest) in a form that can be known and appreciated" by humans.^[25]

The intrinsic 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)".^[25] The Devi Bhagavata Purana, differing from Samkhya and other traditions, specifically Advaita Vedanta, presents prakṛti in a more favourable manner as an intrinsic aspect of the goddess' power.^[25] Also, the concept of Maya is treated with respect instead of disdain and is presented as a necessary factor in the creation. The Devi Bhagavata Purana significantly differs in the conception of maya from the Bhagavata Purana, wherein Vishnu is the "controller and possessor of māyā", while in the Devi Bhagavata Purana, the goddess apart from being the wielder of "the power of māyā, actually is māyā".^[28] 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 assistance of their respective Shaktis.^[29]

The many personified goddesses represent the nearest "visible expression of Śakti".^[29] The numerous Hindu goddesses are nominally categorized into two groups: "pan-Indian goddesses" and "local goddesses".^[29] 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.^[29] 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 embodying liberation and protection.^[29] Evidently, the personifications of benign aspects of Shakti, like goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati, differ from goddesses Kali and Durga, who personify the fierce aspects of Shakti.^[29]

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.^[29] 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 considered 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.^[29] 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.^[29]

The infinite facets of the divine feminine's nature is discernible by the many perspectives on her.^[29] 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.^[30]

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".^[31] 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".^[31]

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.^[31]

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.^[31] 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.^[31]

The divine warrior trope is one of the most common themes in portrayals of the fierce goddesses, as is usually represented by the goddess Durga. Here, the goddesses have protective functions and operate as destroyers of evil, which is commonly depicted in the form of a demon. Principally, both 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.^[31] 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.^[31] 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.^[31]

For the majority of Indians who live in the many villages and towns of India, more than the Hindu deities, the local deities, especially goddesses, are of greater significance.^[31] 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.^[30] Also, the local people may attribute to the deities various qualities that can be uncommon in mainstream Hinduism.^[32] While goddesses such as Durga and Kali are forever engaged in fighting devils and in maintaining the cosmic order; it is 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.^[32] Local goddesses symbolize an outlook of Shakti based in the mundane or earthly aspects and present an easily accessible "power source" for people living in a particular location.^[32]

Local goddesses are generally not considered as local counterparts of pan-Indian goddesses.^[32] Though local goddesses 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.^[32] Per the scriptures, both local goddesses and Brahmanical pan-Indian goddesses are manifestations of the Mahadevi. The conception that all goddesses emerge from one reality is expounded in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana and in 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'.^[32] The Kurma Purana, in praise of Parvati (1.12.64), highlights that pan-Indian goddesses themselves have many manifestations; an epithet used for the goddess is Ekānekavibhāgasthā, meaning 'stationed in one as well as in many divisions'. These similitudes are speculated to be the genesis of the frequently used phrase 'all the mothers are one'.^[32]

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.^[32] 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.^[32] 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.^[32] 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.^[32]

The pan-Indian goddesses are clearly more orthodox and can be regarded as being essentially pure, they are paid respect to when needed and they stay at fringes of local life without necessarily intervening in the daily lives of people.^[32] Local goddesses, on the contrary, concern themselves with devotees' everyday issues, which can most easily be addressed to the nearby goddess, who would then solve the problems no matter how trivial they may be. It can be asserted that local goddesses are of utmost importance in the daily functioning of Hindu life.^[32] The lives of devotees and local deities are inextricably interlaced with each other so much that it seems they are in an intimate relationship.^[32]

• In classical Indian thought, realizing the woman as Shakti, as a "form of the formless form", as an embodiment of being-consciousness-bliss, through methodical discipline of yoga, signifies a high level of consciousness in man.^[33]
• In the Hindu pantheon, Shakti is the spouse of a god, their active energy and executrix. Though Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are associated with creation, preservation, and destruction, their tasks are performed by their respective shaktis.^[34]
• The metaphysics of Shiva-Shakti symbology asserts the presence of centers of consciousness called chakras or lotuses over the length of the spinal cord, along which the Kundalini Shakti that sits at the bottom of the spinal column rises to meet Shiva at the top. This synthesis of Shiva and Shakti is a continuous process of one's transformation into higher self, bringing in greater awareness of being, truth, and realization of the unity of Shiva-Shakti i.e. there can be no Shiva without Shakti and no Shakti without Shiva.^[35]
• The union of Shiva and Shakti evolves Shabda Brahman, the archetypal Word (Vak) or Logos; Shakti being the power behind mantra makes the unmanifest Brahman reveal itself as Shakti in the finite-material, thereby spiritualizing matter and reconciling dualism between body and spirit.^[36]
• Prakriti and Maya are held as the two most important aspects of Shakti. As "a finitizing principle", Prakriti constricts or limits our consciousness by manifesting forms in the formless chit; and through Maya, Shakti creates the dualist notions of "I" and "This", enabling distinctions of subject and object, which serves as middle state in the evolution of our consciousness from primordial unity to reintegrated wholeness.^[37]
• The philosophical conception of Shakti in classical Indian thought has been fundamentally monistic. The central emphasis of the concept of Shakti is not determinism, but evolution, which makes liberation a continuous process of Self-actualization taking into consideration the individuals experiences and profundity for truth.^[38]
• At the annual Hindu festival of Attukal Pongala in India which sees the single highest congregation of women anywhere in the world, teeming in millions, the goddess is worshipped by the offering of pongala (porridge) to rejuvenate her Shakti. The goddess is believed to join the festivities here as one of the millions of women assembled.^[39]

In Puranic Hinduism, Shakti is the "energizing material power" of the Hindu Gods.^[40] "The God and his Shakti together represent the Absolute, the god being nonactivated Eternity, the goddess being activated Time."^[41] Shakti is generally personified as the wife of a specific Hindu god, particularly Shiva, for whom she took forms as Durga, Kali, and Parvati,^[42][43] forming complementary principles.^[44] "As the manifestation of the divine energy corresponding with Vishnu, she is Lakshmi."^[40] In Hindu custom, the wife of a man is considered his Shakti. In the Ramayana, Sita, the wife of Rama was his Shakti; in the Mahabharata, Draupadi was the Shakti of the Pandavas.^[41]

In the Puranas Shakti gains importance. The Markandeya Purana conceives Shakti as "pure consciousness" overseeing creation, preservation, and destruction; and identifies Shakti with nature or prakriti.^[15] It portrays the feminine (shakti) in various roles, such as the feminine lover to experience the "lila" (divine play) of her divine consciousness.^[44]

The Devi Bhagavata Purana presents Brahman as containing both male and female, purusha and prakriti, Shiva and Devi.^[6] The Devi Bhagavata Purana considers the nature of Shakti as being made up of three existential qualities, similar to prakriti in Samkhya: Sattva (calm and balanced), Rajas (passionate and active), and Tamas (lethargic and inactive).^[15]

Scriptural texts such as Devi Bhagavata Purana, Kalika Purana, Markandeya Purana, and Mahabhagavata Purana held Shakti as the supreme over all deities and promoted her worship.^[15]

As the Goddess, or Devi, Shakti is "Universal Power".^[41] Shaktism regards Shakti as the Supreme Brahman.^[45] The Shakta Upanishads and the Shakta Tantras equated Brahman with Shakti, and held them as inseparable.^[15] According to V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar (Professor of Indian history), in Shakta theology: "Brahman is static Shakti and Shakti is dynamic Brahman."^[46] Brahman is "the formless ultimate or Turiya Brahman," which is united with Mula Prakriti, 'nature'; shakti is a synonym for this unity of Turiya Brahman and Mula Prakriti.^[5]

In the details of its philosophy and practice, Shaktism resembles Shaivism. However Shaktas focus most or all worship on Shakti as the dynamic feminine aspect of the Supreme Divine.^[47] According to this tradition, all Hindu goddesses are manifestations of the same goddess, Mahadevi, also referred to as Adi Parashakti, Adi Shakti, and Abhaya Shakti. Vaishnavas consider her to be Lakshmi; whereas Shaivas consider her to be Parvati, Durga, Lalita and Kali; while Shaktas believe her to be Durga, Tripura Sundari, Bhuvaneshvari, and Kali.^[48]

In the Hindu tantric view, Shakti correlates with the Kundalini energy.^[49] Shakti is considered the "creative dynamic energy" that permeates and "animates" all existence.^[50][51] 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)".^[52] "Shiva without Shakti is but a corpse, it is said."^[53][54]

Animated and inanimated objects like rivers, stones, trees, mountains are worshipped as embodiments of shakti.^[53] Women are believed to be inherently divine; coalescence of the menstrual cycle with the moon's lunar cycle is held important.^[53] The 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 female animals are not sacrificed.^[53]

The Shakta pithas, located across the Indian subcontinent, 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.^[55]

From Devi-Mahatmya:

By you this universe is borne,
By you this world is created,
Oh Devi, by you it is protected.^[56]

From Shaktisangama Tantra:

Woman is the creator of the universe,
the universe is her form;
woman is the foundation of the world,
she is the true form of the body.

In woman is the form of all things,
of all that lives and moves in the world.
There is no jewel rarer than woman,
no condition superior to that of a woman.^[57]

In the Smarta Advaita tradition, Shakti is one of the five equal personal forms of God, as in the panchadeva system, advocated by Adi Shankara.^[58] The Smarta tradition, also called Smartism, developed and expanded with the Purana genre of literature. It reflects a synthesis of four philosophical strands: Mimamsa, Advaita, Yoga, and theism. The Smarta tradition rejects theistic sectarianism, and is notable for the domestic worship of five shrines with five deities, all treated as equal—Ganesha, Shiva, Adi Parashakti, Vishnu and Surya. The Smarta tradition contrasted with the older Shrauta tradition, which was based on elaborate rituals and rites. There has been a considerable overlap in the ideas and practices of the Smarta tradition with other denominations within Hinduism, namely Shaivism, Brahmanism, Vaishnavism, and Shaktism.^[59][60][61]

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".^[62] 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".^[62]

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.^[63] However, objectively, the Will "determines our experience in all of its phenomenal aspects", thereby making itself eminently comprehendible.^[62] 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, their actions are necessitated by principle of sufficient reason.^[64][65] 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 assigned role.^[66][65]

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').^[67] 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".^[68] 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.^[68]

Zimmer reflected that Shakti itself unfolds as phenomenal existence—into which the "divine spiritual energy" enters, as part of a play, becomes divided therein and forms a duality of consciousness whilst unfolding through the many sentient and insensate objects; and realizes itself, above all, in the human consciousness, but becomes bound to it by its own maya, and remains oblivious of its transcendent nature as the "Universal One".^[68]

"Within the several, duller levels of our consciousness of the phenomenal world's many differentiations, Śakti realizes itself above all in the consciousness of the individual human soul, in jıva. But since nothing can exist apart from this divine spiritual energy, the lower worlds of animals and plants—even mountains and rocks—are simply stages of the unfolding of the one single Śakti into which, in play, it divided to form the duality of consciousness. Their lack of spirituality, their insensate nature exist only as opposites to the dimly lit spirituality of human consciousness; bound to this consciousness by its own māyā, the spiritual, that energy, does not know itself as the Universal One." — Heinrich Zimmer^[68]

Though Zimmer's conceptualization of Shakti and Schopenhauer's Will intersect as universal, active forces—both bound to the Upanishadic vision of reality beyond appearances, they primarily differ in theological outlook. Zimmer emphasized Shakti as "the Divine", whereas Schopenhauer stripped the Will of any divinity altogether.^[68] Another significant aspect of divergence is around eros, Schopenhauer considered the pleasurable eros to be the "unadulterated expression" of Will from whose painful grasp freedom is realized only by its suppression in what he regarded as nirvana.^[69] Zimmer viewed the Tantras prevailing over such dualistic formulations by their reduction into oneness—the dual creative polarities, masculine and feminine, represented by Shiva and Shakti, thus:

Everything in the world is Śiva and Śakti: in the sexual union of the spouses, the polar tension of the Divine's duality collapses into oneness; in this union, human consciousness crosses the borders of its isolation and enters a realm beyond polarities, to the point where it dissolves its polar nature—it becomes nir-dvandva. Eroticism in marriage is one means to the experiencing of one's own godlike nature, where the distinction between I and Thou, disappears, where the world falls away, where pain and desire and all the other polar opposites are transcended (aufgehoben).^[69]

An affinity between the Hindu tantric concept of Shakti and Schopenhauer's Will was perceived by Zimmer at a time when European academics disparged the Tantras as a degeneracy and corruption of medieval Indian culture and religion; but Zimmer, whose understanding of Shakti and Tantric thought was profoundly influenced by the works of John Woodroffe, viewed Tantras as reconciling the earlier disparities in Indian religious thought, and as thoroughly informative of Indian art and ritual.^[69]

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.^[41]

Psychologist Kathryn Madden describes the notion of Self in Jungian psychology as being analogous to the "Tantric notion of unity achieved through oneness with the divine feminine".^[70] In classical Hindu thought, the nature of the self was assessed as being androgyne, and sexuality-a creative function of the divine to align, or bring into unity, the male and the female principles with the bipolar nature of the self.^[b] 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-into unity or a harmonious whole in the "unified divine consciousness" or "divine feminine" — a notion analogous with the analytical psychology idea of coincidentia oppositorum.^[72]

In Hindu tantric view, the Goddess or Shakti (spirit, female principle) is the animating energy underlying the phenomenal existence (male principle, Shiva).^[73] The human body is considered a synthesis of the universal forces of Shiva and Shakti, and sexual union-a symbol of liberation when understood as the union of Shiva and Shakti.^[74] In Tantric tradition, Shakti is the female energy that "penetrates" through the male essence (matter Shiva),^[74] and the bliss one experiences during sexual union is considered "the power of the goddess (Śakti) in a tangible form".^[75] The guiding image of a male and a female conjoined in sexual intercourse represent the embodiment of non-dual consciousness, and a couple would arrive at unity in the divine feminine by embodying non-duality, 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."^[72] 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).^[76] Thus, the couple, in being aligned with the non-dual Shiva-Shakti synergy field, experiences the realization of the "unity, totality, and infinitude" of the self.^[c][78]

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.^[70][12] 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".^[70] Tantric practice by clarifying analytical psychology thus offers insight into how the feminine and the inclusion of body can transform spiritual growth.^[79]

Traditional 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.^[80] The mother goddess is the embodiment of Shakti and is the life-giving, generative power of the universe.^[81][82]

Shakti has been extensively interpreted in religious and anthropological texts.^[81] Sigmund Freud called Shakti "libido that cannot be simply repressed."^[83] In psychodynamics perspective, Shakti represents an "overwhelming conscious or unconscious feminine primal force or combined parental object".^[81] 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.^[84] Psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva in her book Powers of Horror argues that in resolving the oedipus complex, the mother figure is defiled and subjected to abjection. The maternal body gets associated with impurity (blood, excrement, etc.), in contrast to symbolic paternal consciousness. Kristeva states art and religious rituals prevent the erosion of maternal and paternal boundaries so that individuals do not succumb irretrievably into the comforting dyadic relationship with the mother and lose their own identity.^[85] Nevertheless, Ganesha, unlike his 'phallic' brother Kartikeya, is depicted as lacking in an ideal masculine body and becomes an ascetic-ceasing to be a paternal figure, thus pleases his father Shiva, and achieves resolution of any oedipal crisis.^[84]

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 and at times the shiva of a woman seeks the shakti in a man, and vice versa.^[86] Rao portrayed women as being of 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.^[86] 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 all the women around them, including mother, wife, sister, whore, and lover; whereas the women worship the latent shiva in their men.^[86]

The Hindu cosmology and lifeworld characterized women as "being Shaktis", as "personifications of cosmic feminine power or shakti".^[87] However, the Hindu widows of all ages are considered polluting and dangerous as their shakti is no longer channelled into reproduction.^[87] Women are believed to embody the highly potent "sexual-creative shakti", which is sought to be socially regulated by marriage in which a Hindu bride is transferred into the gotra (patri-clan) of her husband's family and her shakti then directed into reproduction of her husband's children. In the case of widows, they are viewed as still embodying the "sexually voracious shakti", which is perceived as a threat capable of bringing dishonor to the family and the community.^[88] As part of an effort to lessen the power they continue to embody, and for having failed in their chief "wifely duty" of protecting and preserving the lives of their husbands, the widows are often ill-treated.^[87] In addition to being seen as responsible for their husbands demise due to their negligence or bad karma, the widows are accused of being witches and prostitutes.^[88] They are proscribed from engaging with the wider society, wear any ornaments and bright dress, and have to eat only 'cooling' food and very little of it in order to deplete their voracious shakti. People find women with assertive voice, plump body and independence, as pakka shakti (strong shakti) and as representative of unbridled Shakti, which they believe is dangerous.^[89]

Despite such social norms, several young Hindu widows in Varanasi have taken recourse to "Shakti-goddess" identity to assert their will and wade through societal constraints.^[90] The widows downplay negativity attributed to their widowhood by aligning themselves with the cosmic Hindu mother, they often say, "All children are my children, all women are the Mother-Goddess; my children get only love from me—like the Goddess".^[89] By identifying themselves with the Goddess, their positive self-regard was enhanced.^[91] A relationship with the Mother-Goddess induces deeper connection with Shakti and enables to view it as an internalized force rather than as an external entity and thereby attain greater self-control.^[92] The women believe shakti is the true strength and fire like power of Mahadevi (the Great Goddess) and that women embody it sixteen times more than men.^[90] The young widows work hard and procure enough wealth to keep themselves and their dependents in good strength, seen as a validation of their strong shakti (pakka shakti).^[89] The Indian scholar Indira Goswami who was widowed at young age, but later became an award winning writer credited Shakti for her transformation from a powerless being into empowered becoming.^[93]

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.^[94][95]

An anthropological study of Women in leadership roles, at a temple community setup dedicated to Shakti worship 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.^[96][97] The women were found less inclined to accept patriarchal narratives and perform collectively their duties that were once restricted to males.^[96][98] The Hindu perception of divine feminine in women is found to influence their expression of female agency; while acknowledging the ability of the divine Adiparashakti to act in the world for her devotees, the women affirm the ability of "real women" with śakti to act as well. In a more positive work environment, the women were able to be reshape and redevelop aspects of their personality and express their own sense of identity.^[99]

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.^[100][101] 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.^[101]

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.^[102] 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.^[103]

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 Hindu viewers makes the on-screen vision of goddesses an emotional experience.^[104] 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 when 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.^[105] The goddess films by making the intangible-tangible, assert that the abstract concept of a primordial nurturing and protective power is the goddess. They offer a "psychophysical enculturation" into the Hindu worldview.^[106] The appeal of goddess films is contended to be deeply rooted in the Hindu beliefs and culture.^[107] Their 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.^[108] Films such as Aathi Parasakthi (1971) and Melmaruvathoor Adiparasakthi (1985), re-enact the goddess creation myths central to shaktism.^[109]

Diane Carson, a professor of film studies points out that in the realm of cinema, women acquiring a voice of their own plays a vital role in their empowerment; the goddess genre is commendable in this aspect. As the goddess of speech (Vāc), she makes herself heard without the presence of any physical female. In Ammoru (1995), the goddess as the overseer, speaks authoritatively from a transcendent and omnipresent vantage. Film theorist Kaja Silverman states this could not be possible with representations of mortal females as they are always located within the male gaze.^[110] While traditionally films show women to be under the purview of male gaze, with the exception of female ghosts in horror genre, a striking factor of the goddess genre is their presentation of the feminine body (albeit a divine one) as being completely outside the scope of male sensory perception.^[111] Mary Ann Doane describes how in traditional cinema, the gaze, is established with passivity ascribed to the female and activity to the male. A woman analyzing a subject intellectually is seen as appropriation of the male gaze, and a threat to cinematic representation of gender roles.^[112] However, in the goddess genre, the power of the goddess is shown to endure through the eyes referred to as "kann malar" (lotus eyes).^[113] The gaze is established as the medium through which the divine feminine wields her authority, she moves the mortal subjects and directs the mind and voice of men by her gaze. In Melmaruvathoor Adiparasakthi (1985), the demure female protagonist changes instantly and stares boldly at her abusive husband cognizing his secrets and foretells his future leaving him frightened. The change in the gaze of a woman from timidity to bold signals the audience about the descent and presence of the goddess within the body of her meek devotee. The male who still castigates ends up loosing his life.^[114]

By their projecting of the metaphorical "conceptual" through the "material" artifact, the goddess films show that the power of the goddess endures through physical facets. A talisman ensures special link between the goddess and her "mortal daughter"—the female devotee.^[115] Having bindi or kumkum (vermillion mark) on forehead at all times is emphasized as tradition, a very strong link between the goddess power (Śakti) and bindi is indicated.^[116] A connection with the goddess is presented as the only path to female empowerment. Despite the projection of such ideals, the well-being of ordinary women did not improve. Interestingly this genre of films were highly successful in the 1970s when feminist activism peaked in India and women began to access higher education and jobs.^[117] The goddess films flourished in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu more than anywhere else. They assecended popularity during the 1960s and 70s when the Dravidian political movement aggressively attacked Hinduism by desecrating the Hindu deities and traditions for alleged subjection of the Dravidian region into Aryan culture.^[118] The goddess genre reified the Hindu beliefs and customs that were under threat and provided a psychological succor to the majority of Hindu masses who remained mere spectators to the iconoclastic political activities.^[118]

The newer imaginings of the divine feminine have turned the goddess figure into "abject" or the "monstrous feminine" confining her within patriarchal power structures.^[119] Devi (1999) shocked the audience by presenting the goddess as being romantically involved with a mortal male, even though traditional Hindu mythology did not have such representations for the divine feminine. The goddess here is shown to transform into a mortal woman by voluntarily giving up her sthri-shakti (a concept championed by feminists as 'woman-power') in order to be with the man. The plot prioritised and celebrated the role of a man-serving, subservient, ideal wife (pativrata) for women, and subsumed even the goddess under the ideals of patriarchy.^[120]

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 the belief systems, the phenomenon of goddess worship is alive and thriving in Hinduism, continuing well into the twenty-first century.^[121]