Sarpedon

On a similar note...How are the older style deities represented in art? Soma, Agni, Indra et al. Are they ever represented anymore?

hinduwoman

mea culpa! I looked at a photo of Vishwakarma (the artisan god, that is) in a bus. Apparently he has acquired four arms holding hammer, axe etc.

According to Sanskrit dictionary, Brahmani is the name for the female energy of Brahma. She is his creative aspect. Of course she can be one of the Seven Mothers as well. Bagong, did you find it in any purana?

Amit, I know you are a communist but living in an overwhelmingly Hindu milieu how can you miss the fact that Sarawsati is supposed to be Brahma's wife? Just because she is white (echo of white river foam?) does not mean she has to be a virgin. But the marriage is a later addition; I guess that since Brahma is the creator it was thought he ought to have wisdom as his consort.

The original impulse for Vishwakarma day was a sensible one. On that day, craftspeople had to clean their workshop, polish up the tools and sharpen any that needed to.
Bagoing, so it is Pashupati in Bali? Hmmn, that proves that Vishwakarma is a really late entrant in the god stakes.

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You mean religion as opiate of the people?


Serpedon, the older style gods are hardly represented any more. If they appear it is usually in a crowd scene in heaven or begging one of the Great Gods/Goddess to save them.

Mashriqi Mercenary

The worshipping of Yoni was a well known practice in Arabia prior to Muhammad and was taken to the rituals of Islam not knowing the meaning of worshipping the holy Mother Goddess symbol the holy Yoni doormann.tripod.com/the4.htm.


What you have said requires leaps of imagination to make the connection. ANyways, just to correct you, the symbols of worship in pre-islamic Arabia are well documneted. Not one pertains to a phallic symbol or Yoni. The Black stone or hujre-aswad, is not a worshipped as a fertility symbol. It was a meteorite and is considered as one of the stone of heavens and so is revered by the islamic peoples today. On your website I see equal exagerrations including the pebble throwing at the "pillar" during islamic pilgrimage or haj. There are 3 pillars at Mina and are rendered as sign of Satan and hence pebbles are thrown on them as a sign of degradation on Satan and this practice only started much later in Islam and has no precedent in pre-islamic Arabia. Those pillars like the meteorite have no connection to the shiv symbol or the phallous.

Darth Dane

I'll slip i a little tidbit.

Siva is represented in many ways, Like Rudra or Nataraja. Siva is presented like a God in teh manifested, but there is also another Siva, the Siva from the Siva/Shakti teachings.

Shakti is the female, and manifested part of creation, the energy is also often asscociated with Shakti. Shakti is futhermore also a synononom(sp?) for Kundalini.

Siva is the male, and un-manifested part of creation, the potential, Siva in this connection also stand for conciousness.

Both are nesasary, we need conciousness to guide the energymatter to create movement. and we need energy/matter for conciousness to express it self.

A popular poetic phrase is that Siva and Shakti are making Love, and teh motion of their love making is what creates and sustains Reality as we know it.

Creation is one big orgasm, which could explain why humans like sex or love making so much




DD - Love Spliff

hinduwoman

I think the confusion about Shiva and phallic symbols in Arabia is due to the resemblance between the Kabba and the linga. Hindu traders in pre-Islamic Arabia used to worship Kabba as the black linga --- Arabians did not, but they did.

Seraphim

by hinduwoman

I think the confusion about Shiva and phallic symbols in Arabia is due to the resemblance between the Kabba and the linga. Hindu traders in pre-Islamic Arabia used to worship Kabba as the black linga --- Arabians did not, but they did.

Hmmm .... That could explain why some Christians attack Muslims (in the another forum where I'm active in) by stating Islam came from a branch of Hindusm while there was no proof of this in any texts. Anyway ... Thanks for the insight.

Opera Nut

Hindu gods/goddesses are confusing and fascinating!

And then in Buddhism there is a similar trend -- different aspects of Buddha worshiped as distinct entities.

Shakyamuni Buddha -- Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha.

Medicine Buddha -- Buddha prayed to for healing of all kinds. He is made out of lapis lazuli and is dark intense blue (I could make a joke here about he being "blue around the gills")

Maitreya Buddha -- the Buddha of the Future.


There are more, but that's a start.

hinduwoman

I think the various aspects of Buddha too came from the Hindu penchant of regarding all gods and goddesses as varying aspects of One God.
also maybe when Buddhism travelled into various lands it absorbed older gods of that region.
In Tibet, Buddhism is a mishmash of Buddha and Tantrikism.

SpaceNut

http://www.the-week.com/23jun29/cover.htm

Top ten myths about Indian history

Darth Dane

Kali is a goddess, I have been told that long ago the priests could see that simple farmers woldn't understand the concept or Time, and Time is one of God's attributes, so we can reach God if we transcend Time. But simple people may difficulty undertsanding this so they made an image of Time, depicted as Kali.

Kali has other attirbutes as well.


Brahma creator, Vishnu preserver, shiva destroyer

God

Generator(creator) Operator(preserver) Destroyer




DD - Love & Laughter