Heavenly Sisters: Virgin Mary and Bhagavati

From The Guardian.co.uk Sisters and goddesses Legend has it that it was the apostle, Thomas, the doubting one, who brought Christianity to Southern India - and now, aside from the odd jealous spat, the Virgin Mary and goddess Bhagavati are worshipped with equal fervour William Dalrymple The Guardian, Saturday June 28, 2008 On the edge of the jungle lay a small wooden temple. It was late evening, and the sun had already disappeared behind the palms. The light was fading fast, and the hundreds of small clay lamps lined up on the wooden slats of the temple all seemed to be burning brighter and brighter, minute by minute. The oiled torsos of the temple Brahmins were gleaming, too. They had nearly finished the evening ceremony - surrounding the idol of the goddess Bhagavati with burning splints as they rang bells, chanted and blew on conch shells. The ritual prepared the goddess for sleep. Only when it was over, and the doors of the inner shrine were sealed for the night, were they able to tell me about the goddess they served. Bhagavati is the pre-eminent goddess in Kerala, the most powerful and beloved. In some incarnations, it was true, she could be ferocious: a figure of terror, a stalker of cremation grounds who slaughtered demons without hesitation or compassion. Some of her titles reflected this capacity: She Who Is Wrathful, She Who Has Flaming Tusks, She Who Causes Madness. But, in other moods, Bhagavati could be supremely benign and generous - the caring, loving, fecund mother - and this was how her followers usually liked to think of her. For many, she was the deity of the land itself: the spirit of the mountains, and the life force in the soil. In this form, Bhagavati is regarded as a chaste virgin and a caring mother, qualities she shares with her sister, whose enclosure lies a short distance down the road. "Yes, yes, the Virgin Mary is Bhagavati's younger sister," explained Vasudeva, the head priest, matter of factly, as if stating the obvious. "But, for sisters, don't they look rather different from each other?" I asked. A calendar image of the goddess, pinned up behind him, showed Bhagavati as a wizened hag wreathed in skulls and crowned with an umbrella of cobra hoods. In her hand she wielded a giant sickle. "Sisters are often a little different from each other," he replied. "Mary is another form of the Devi. They have equal power." He paused: "At our annual festival the priests take the goddess around the village on top of an elephant to receive sacrifices from the people. She visits all the places, and one stop is the church. There she sees her sister." "Mary gets on an elephant too?" "No," he replied. "But when the goddesses visit each other, the sacrifice in the church is just like the one we have here: we light lamps and make an offering. The priests stay in their church, but the congregation of the church receives us, and makes a donation to the temple." "So relations are good?" "The people here always cooperate," he said. "Our Hindus go to the church and the Christians come here and ask the goddess for what they want - for everyone believes the two are sisters." Rest of article.

Goddess Bhagwati and the Recovery of The Vedas

A wonderful tale from the Hindu religion, where the Goddess Bhagwati comes to the rescue of mankind - and the other gods and goddesses! A tale of victory of good over evil. Recovery of the Vedas By Manju Gupta (February 8, 2008) Durgam was a strong but evil-minded king of the rakshasas (demons). He said to his ministers, “Why is it that after defeating the gods so many times, we have had to concede defeat to them? There must be some reason for it.” A minister replied, “It appears to me that the knowledge behind this power lies in the Vedas.” Durgam decided to do penance so that Lord Brahma would get pleased with him and grant him his desire to get hold of the Vedas. He went deep into the forest and prayed and prayed to Lord Brahma. After years of strict penance, Durgam so pleased Lord Brahma that he appeared before him and asked, “Why have you been praying so devotedly to me? It seems you want something from me. Tell me what is it that you want. I’ll give it to you because I am very happy with your prayers.” Durgam replied, “I want to see the Vedas and keep them in my custody. I assure you I’ll keep them very safely.” Lord Brahma granted him his wish. Durgam received the Vedas and after going through them, hid them in pataal loka (hell), away from the prying eyes of others. In the heavens, the gods daily read the Vedas to find the secrets of remaining young always but now, with the Vedas gone, they started growing old and lost all their strength. Durgam launched an attack on the gods and took Indra, Agni, Kuber, Varun and Yamraj into captivity. With Indra and Varun in captivity, the environment underwent a change—the wind stopped blowing; there were no rains; famine and drought occurred everywhere. So the gods went to Lord Vishnu to seek help. Vishnu advised them to approach Goddess Bhagwati as he felt that only she could help them. So the gods reached Goddess Bhagwati and told her their tale of woe. Goddess Bhagwati gave them a leaf growing on her body and said, “Keep this leaf with you for protection. Now you will find there will be rain on the earth and all will be lovely and green. There will be no famine or drought.” True to the Goddess’s words, rains came, crops began to grow and famine disappeared, bringing relief to the people. She then formed ten other goddesses from her body and along with her warriors attacked the rakshasas in a fierce battle in which even Goddess Mahakali participated. The rakshasas fled in terror. Goddess Bhagwati then said to Durgam, “Give me the Vedas and go and rule over the pataal loka in peace.” But Durgam refused to part with the Vedas. Goddess Bhagwati launched an attack on Durgam. Finding that it was not easy to win over the rakshasas, finally Goddess Bhagwati was forced to hurl her trident at Durgam. It went and pierced his heart and he died on the spot. The gods were pleased at this victory of the goddess and on searching the pataal loka, they found the Vedas hidden in a corner. They quickly took it away with them to heaven. Peace now reigned supreme over the earth.