The Goddesses of Hindu Mythology: An Introduction

Hindu tradition holds a vast roster of goddesses. Some are local. Some are vast. Some are pan-Indian. Some appear in a single text. Each has her own iconography, her own story, her own places of worship. This is a short guide to the major figures — their texts, their forms, and what each is known for.

Durga

Durga is the warrior goddess of the Devi Mahatmya, the 700-verse Sanskrit text composed between the 4th and 7th centuries CE. The text describes her creation from the combined energies of the principal devas and her defeat of the buffalo-demon Mahishasura. She rides a lion. She holds multiple weapons, each gifted by a different deva. Navaratri — nine nights — commemorates her battle. The tenth day, Vijayadashami, marks the victory.

Her major active centres include the Durga Puja celebrations of West Bengal, the Mysuru Dasara of Karnataka, and the Garba and Dandiya traditions of Gujarat.

Lakshmi

Lakshmi is the goddess of prosperity and well-being, the consort of Vishnu. She appears in the Vedas — the Sri Sukta, part of the Rigveda Khila supplement, is addressed to her. In Puranic tradition, she emerges from the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthana), one of the fourteen treasures the gods and asuras retrieved. She is also called Shri (श्री), Kamala (lotus), Padmasini (seated on a lotus), and many other names.

Diwali, the festival of lights, is principally associated with her worship. Lakshmi Puja on the new-moon night of Kartik is observed across most of India. Her temples include Mahalakshmi in Kolhapur, Padmavathi in Tiruchanur, and the Lakshmi Narayan temples across the country.

Saraswati

Saraswati is the goddess of learning, music and speech. She is the consort of Brahma. The Rigveda addresses her as a river goddess, identified with the now-vanished Saraswati river of north-western India. Over time her associations shifted to language, learning and the arts.

She is depicted seated on a white lotus or a swan, holding a veena, a book and a rosary. Vasant Panchami, in late January or February, is her major festival. Students and musicians offer their books and instruments to her.

Parvati

Parvati is the consort of Shiva and the daughter of the Himalaya (her name means "of the mountain"). She appears in the Shiva Purana, the Skanda Purana, and many devotional and Tantric texts. She is the mother of Ganesha and Kartikeya, and is associated with the cycle of generative energy. In Shakta tradition, she is sometimes identified as the supreme Mahadevi from whom all other goddesses derive.

The Goddess Meenakshi at Madurai is a regional form of Parvati. The Goddess Annapurna at Varanasi is another. Hartalika Teej, observed in northern India, commemorates her marriage to Shiva.

Kali

Kali is the dark goddess associated with time, destruction and transformation. She first appears in the Devi Mahatmya as a fierce form that emerges from Durga during the battle with Shumbha and Nishumbha. In later Tantric tradition, she becomes a major figure in her own right.

She is depicted dark-skinned, often with her tongue extended, wearing a garland of severed heads and a girdle of severed arms. She stands on a prone Shiva. The Kalighat temple in Kolkata and the Dakshineswar temple are major active centres of her worship. The poet Ramprasad Sen (18th century) wrote a body of Bengali devotional poetry to Kali that remains central to the tradition.

Sita

Sita is the consort of Rama, central to the Ramayana. She is born from a furrow in the earth as King Janaka of Mithila ploughs his field. She marries Rama through the bow-stringing contest. The events of her abduction by Ravana, her captivity in Lanka, and her rescue form the spine of the Ramayana's middle and final kandas.

Her temples are fewer than her husband's, but she is the central figure of the Janaki Mandir at Janakpur in Nepal, the city tradition identifies as her birthplace.

Radha

Radha is the consort of Krishna in the Vrindavan stories. She is not named in the early texts — the Bhagavata Purana, which gives the longest account of Krishna's youth, does not name her. She comes into prominence through the Gita Govinda of Jayadeva (12th century), the devotional poetry of Surdas, Mirabai and Chandidas, and the theology of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (15–16th century).

In Gaudiya Vaishnava theology, she is treated as the supreme expression of devotion, equal in stature to Krishna and inseparable from him.

The Mahavidyas

The Mahavidyas are a Tantric grouping of ten forms of the goddess: Kali, Tara, Tripura Sundari (Lalita), Bhuvaneshvari, Chinnamasta, Bhairavi, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamala. Each has her own meditation practice, her own iconography and her own theological purpose. The grouping appears in Tantric texts including the Mahanirvana Tantra and the various Mahavidya manuals.

Local goddesses

Beyond the Sanskrit canon, every region of India worships goddesses local to that region. The Saptamatrikas (seven mothers) of South Indian villages. The Gramadevatas. The Banadurga and forest goddesses of central India. The Manasa of Bengal, goddess of snakes. The Sheetala of north India, associated with smallpox and protection from disease. The Vaishno Devi of Jammu. The Padmavati of Maharashtra. The list is long; it is not closed.

The goddesses on Anahat t-shirts

Several Anahat designs feature goddesses directly:

• Durga — the warrior of the Devi Mahatmya
• Devi — the goddess in general, embroidered form
• Shri (Lakshmi) — the goddess of prosperity
• Maharani — royal Indian women in textile tradition