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  • AKHILANDESHWARI- THE GODDESS OF NEVER NOT BROKEN

    On the dark skin, the unruly hair covered her face partially and flew in the wind like smoke. The Shakti’s eyes were oozing wrath today.  Her anger was
    inducing havoc on earth causing destruction. All of sudden, her wrath changed to grievous sob, resulting in a downpour of rain. The land flooded, washing away people, flora and fauna. She sneezed, the air got infected with diseases. Holding a trident in hand, adorned in dark coloured clothes, driven by her unruly emotions, with broken energies, Shakti moved around the earth.  Her moods, manifested on the earth’s condition, for she was a Parvati’s Swaroop (form), known as a Shakti.

    One day, Shakti with her usual wavering mind was strolling beside a river.
    Water splashed behind her. A huge crocodile emerged from water to sun soak on land. Driven by her uncontained reactions, fearsome, she immediately charged her trident, piercing the animal to death. Seated in his heavenly abode, Lord Shiva’s forehead wrinkled. He felt disturbed, witnessing the scene, the state of Earth and more so this form of Parvati’s Shakti. After a thoughtful moment, Shiva made a pair of earrings with a chakkar design on it.  Descending on Earth, the Shankara (earthly name of Shiva) gifted the earrings to the Shakti, seated her on the bank of Cauvery River and proposed.

    “Devi! Please sit in the Sat-Chit-Ananda pose until I return.”

    The chakkars on the earrings trapped her energy and by the mellowing effect of the suprema’s voice, she did as asked for. She sat in this yogic mudra for months. She travelled within, with this practice. Years passed, Shiva looked below at the Shakti. Her raised eyebrows had eased. The creases on her forehead disappeared. The dark-skinned face bore a serene look. The cheeks looked fresh, without the dried tears. The earth was flourishing.  It was time to meet her once again.

    Seated facing each other, like a teacher and disciple, Shiva awakened her from the trance.

    “Devi please open your eyes.”

    After paying her reverence, she looked around the transcended earth. It was matching her inner world. It was flourishing, at peace. In an enlightened voice, she shared,

    “I have acknowledged my fears, my broken energies. Now I neither fear them nor let it control me. I accept them as my own. I also know now, that the concept of the whole and absolute are illusionary. Like the world, even we are in a constant state of flux. Hence instead of resistance, we must be driven with acceptance. This acceptance now compels me to flow. This brokenness is my whole. I am at peace now.”

    Just as she finished speaking, a crocodile appeared in the water. Unlike her
    previous self, driven by fear. This time, the Shakti dived into the water. She
    swam with the flow of water. She saw the bodily movement of the beast,
    matched her motion with it. Hence by doing so, she stood atop it. Like a
    victorious goddess, she rode across the river, balancing herself on it.


    Shiva smiled at the sight.

    “Hail! Akhilandeshwari. The Goddess of never not Broken.”

    Written By Monica Gupta

  • The story of Vinayaki – The Elephant Headed Goddess

    “VINAYAKI!!!!!”

    Vinayaki’s ears extended, her hand stopped mid-air as she was reaching for another modak.

    “It is Mata Parvati’s call. I hear some major trouble in her voice.” Vinayaki sprung up from her relaxed cross-legged posture. Her pot-belly falling on the feet of her vermillion coloured body. She blew a conch held in her left hand to assure Parvati that she was on her way.

    As she reached the spot, she saw Mata Parvati in a perplexed state.

    “What is the matter, Mata? What can be the cause of worry to a Supreme Shakti like you?” inquired Vinayaki, bowing down to pay her reverence.

    Speechless, Parvati’s head turned towards the left, eyes 45 degrees. Just then, standing akimbo, with hands-on her toned hips, Vinayaki saw Shiva appear in his gigantic form. In his outstretched right arm, he held his Trident like a trophy with an impaled Asura Andhak on it, nearly touching the sky. The drooping body was oozing blood drops like rain. Vinayaki let out a burst of satisfactory laughter to warn everyone against laying their lustful eyes on Mata Parvati, anyone doing so
    deserved no other death than this.

    Andhak had misused his blessing of immortality bestowed by Lord Brahma, forgetting Brahma’s words, “Anyone born has to die. If ever he harboured lustful feelings towards a motherly figure, his death will be inevitable.” Having become immortal, Andhak had expanded his empire by inflicting cruelty on asuras and devas as well. And now that as he had tried to abduct Parvati to marry her, he
    rightly deserved a bloody death.

    “Now that the beast is dead, why is Mata Parvati still worried?” Vinayaki thought as she ambled around.

    Squeezing her eyes, she bent a little and immediately stamped on an ant-like creature crawling on the ground. It wasn’t an ant, but a tiny replica of Andhak. Furthermore, to her astonishment, she noticed every drop of Andhak’s blood falling on the ground birthing another Andhak. Vinayaki, swift yet steady, with the weight of her heavy body began stamping on Andhak’s miniatures. Being the goddess of wisdom, she could assess that the situation couldn’t be dealt with alone.

    “Mata! Please call for the other sister Shaktis,” she requested Parvati.

    By now she had also figured out that the only way to stop the birth of more Andhaks was to stop the blood drops from falling on the ground. Swinging down her Parshu, she axed these numerous creatures, crushed them under her feet, and simultaneously rolled, twisted and extended her trunk to quickly suck in the blood drops.

    “No, don’t Vinayaki! What if the blood of this brute infects you?” Parvati tried to stop her.

    “I am the feminine energy of Lord Ganesh. He is a Dev Mata. Birthed by you. These little bad-blood drops cannot harm me. You please don’t worry. Immediately summon the other Shaktis.” In a flash, Indrani emerged as Indra’s Shakti, Vaishavi as Vishnu’s Shakti and Brahmini as Brahma’s Shakti. Watching Vinayaki in her courageous deed, they exchanged a look of pride. Vinayaki, the Vighanharta (remover of obstacles) had yet again wisely resolved the problem. Following her, all the Shaktis swirled like a cyclone around Shiva, and in no time, drank every blood droplet until the Asura ran out of blood. At last, Vinayaki blew aloud the trumpet of victory.

    “Har Har Mahadev!”

    Known by the names of Ganeshani, Gajanani, Ganeshwari, Gajamukhi, and Vigneshwari. Vinayaki is an elephant-headed goddess. Her iconography and mythology are not very clear due to the lack of written scriptures. Though associated with the name of Lord Ganesh, she is not his consort but an independent Shakti herself. The feminine energy of the lord of wisdom. Vinayaki is also seen as a part of the 64 yoginis or the Matrika goddess in various Puranas. Every month, the fourth day after the new moon is observed as ‘Vinayaki Chaturthi’. Since her stories were mostly oral, they were lost over time. Her birth and origin are also unknown. The artist Mahen Chanmugan who focuses on paintings of Lord Ganesh says that “the earliest evidence of a female Ganesh or Vinayaki is a weathered terracotta plaque from Rairh in Rajasthan, which dates back to the first century.” Various other temples in Karnataka, Orissa, Kanyakumari and the East also have sculpture representing the female avatar of Ganesha.

    Written By Monica Gupta