Some devis have infinite patience while others have a very short temper. But while they behead demons and bring various devtas to order, stories of stree shakti are usually a metaphorical lesson about slaying the demon within.

On International Women's Day, we excerpt from a chapter on devis in a new book by mythologist and Sunday MiD DAY columnist Devdutt Pattanaik. 7 Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art decodes, for the first time, portraits of Hindu gods and goddesses in a manner that is highly accessible to all

Kanyakumari, the virgin goddess

The story goes that Kanyakumari wanted to marry Shiva, the mendicant who lives atop the snow-clad mountains in the north. The hour of the wedding was fixed such that Shiva would have to travel from north to south in one night. However, before he could reach, the gods made a rooster crow. Shiva assumed it was daybreak and that he had missed the auspicious hour of marriage. So, he turned back. The goddess, bedecked in bridal finery, waited and waited for the groom who would never come. All the food that had been cooked for the wedding feast went to waste. In rage she kicked the pots and pans and wiped her face of make-up. That is why the sea and sands on the southern tip of India are so multicoloured.

The goddess had a lot of power, power that would have been domesticated by marriage and maternity. Forced to live without a groom, the energy was then invoked by the gods to make the goddess fight and destroy demons. This story draws attention to the raw power that is the goddess. If she is married, this energy is channelised to provide for a home. If, however, she is not married, this energy is channelised for protection...

The goddess is a symbol of the material world, the world that we observe through our senses. We want this world to be like a mother so that it can feed us; we want this world to be like a warrior so that it can defend us. So, the Goddess and her many diminutive doubles, the goddesses of households and villages, are mothers and warriors, loving and fearful...

A village-goddess or
Gram-devi

Only her head is seen. Her body is the village. The villagers live on top of her and they feed on her. They love and fear her. They know that beneath domesticity (orchards, fields, gardens) lurks wildness (forests). If she is unhappy she can show her rage by letting the forest slip into the village. This happens in the form of disease and death. When a woman miscarries, when there is an epidemic or when children suffer from high fever, the whole village looks upon it as the wrath of the goddess.

No village, no field, no orchard can come into being unless we destroy an ecosystem unless we cut the trees of the forest, unless we plough the soil, break down the rocks, channelise the river. These are violent processes, a forceful domestication of the earth. Why do we domesticate? We domesticate because we can, because we are humans, because we have the ability to do so. And we use this ability because we desire a better life where we are not at the mercy of nature for our survival.

Naturally the relationship between man and the other is based on desire. Desire can satisfy need or greed. Either way, nature is exploited. Man exploits nature to feed, clothe and shelter himself. He begs the goddess to allow herself to become domesticated and become a mother. But he knows she is wild and dangerous and can strike him down any time. In Image 5.3 is a village goddess from the south of India. Under her feet grovels a demon. Who is this demon?

One would not like to admit it, but this demon is man who seeks to destroy nature to establish his settlement. Typically, this demon has been externalised he is that part of man that seeks to dominate the forest and make the goddess his mistress. He is the bad son. With him, the goddess becomes the bad, violent goddess. The good son adores the goddess. With him, the goddess turns into the good mother, full of bounty and joy. She becomes the goddess in Image 5.4.