Silver Dress for Goddess Durga

As today is the beginning of a Festival to Divine Mother (see previous posting), thought it would be appropriate to post these photographs which I took some time ago at the Durga Shrine, Ramana Ashram. A devotee wished to donate a silver dress for the Goddess, and that entailed specialist craftsmen coming to the Ashram Temple Shrine and taking three separate moulds; the major one of the Body, and two individual moulds for the arms of the Goddess. 

The photographs show the creation of the primary mould, which once set is taken off the form and allowed to fully dry. Afterwhich individual moulds are taken of the arms of the Goddess. Once all three moulds are fully dry, the craftsmen return to their native place and create the ordered silver dress for Sri Durga. 

Temple Artisan to take Mould

Material to make Mould

Goddess Durga, Ramana Ashram

The Goddess

These men are specialists working with Idols

Preparing the Paste for the Mould

Covering the Statue for primary Mould

Individual Moulds required for each Arm

Primary Mould is set and left to fully harden

The last photograph of this posting is of the Goddess Rajarajeshwari at her peace-filled shrine on the Girivalam Roadway, wearing her beautiful golden dress (which would have been prepared in the same way as above). 

Goddess Rajareshwari in Golden Dress

Navaratri 2011 - Pictorial Archive

Right click on all photographs to view enlargements

Below is the completion of Arunachala Grace's Navaratri 2011 pictorial archive. The first three photographs are of the Goddess in her most auspicious aspect.

Sri Lakshmi,

Kamakshi Amman Temple




Goddess Saraswati, Kalyana Mandapam,

Arunachaleswarar Temple

Goddess on Kamadhenu (wish fulfilling cow),

Kamakshi Amman Temple

The next three photographs are of the Goddess Parvati during the 2011 Navaratri Festival at three separate Arunachala Temples, which depict the legend of the Goddess worshipping the Shiva Lingam.

The story goes like this:


On the Blind-Folding of the Lord:

The Lord and his Consort:

“ . . . would have tiffs, then make up; garland each other, listen to their praises sung by the Rishis, play on the Veena; dally in spirited sport or pass time in games, winning and losing them to one another. On one such occasion Parvati asked her Lord, “Won’t you tell me what the Moon and Sun are?” He replied, “Dear lass of lush Lips! The two lights are but my Eyes!” Thinking that he was teasing her, the mother of Kartikeya went behind him and, without any warning, closed his Eyes.

The momentary closure meant aeons of darkness for the gods. All of embodied life behaved as if born blind. Aye! Order and organisation broke down in the absence of the Eye-energy. In what was a trice for him, the Lord opened the Third Eye on his uncovered fore-head. The Destroyer had turned Life-giver! As Gauri drew her hands back, the three Eyes shone like the three Vedic fires (dakshina, garhapatya and ahavaneya) powering the ‘unplanned’ power-cut.

When Parvati begged for forgiveness Siva replied, “You are ever taintless and beyond Karma. However, if you desire to set an example of purification, go to Kanchi which is greater than Kasi, Avanti, Dwaraka and Mathura.” Narrations of the holy Mother’s Tapas at various places are scattered through the Puranas. Was the Lord now advising her of the superiority of Kanchi over those places of her earlier visits?

What follows is well known. From Kasi, Parvati reaches Kanchi; makes a sand-Linga by the Kampa River and worships it day and night. The Lord wills a flood in order to test her devotion. She embraces the Linga in protection unmindful of her own fate in the spate. Pleased, the Lord appears before her, “with his shoulders bearing the marks of the Pandya king’s cane*, his feet the marks of crowns of countless gods, his chest, embraced recently, bearing the mark and sandal-scent of Parvati’s breasts and bangles”!

Goddess with Linga,

Durga Amman Temple

She requests for the ultimate boon of Idappaham, of being his left Half. The ultimate asking; the adviteya. The Ultimate, giving, said, “purified in Kanchi, proceed now southward to holy Tiruvannamalai. Resident as the primal Linga contracted to a Hill; there I shall grant this boon!” Parvati, wise after the event, said, “Following your advice I came to Kanchi ‘superior to Kasi’. And now you mention Arunachala! Please let me know right away if more places exist!” The Lord gave her his word that the Tejolinga (Arunachala) is the Terminus.

Enroute to Arunachala from Kanchi, Parvati encamped for the night at Seyar, the Son’s River. It was here that Lord Subrahmania got a hut made of plantain trees for Her rest and the following morning enabled with a thundering arrow, a river of pure water to flow for Her ablutions.

Passing then through paddy fields Parvati reached Tiruvannamalai. After obeisance to the Lord at the Temple to the east, she began to look for a spot to purse Tapas. At the nearby Pavazhu Kunru, Coral hillock, a spur of Arunachala Hill, she met the Rishis assembled at the Sage Gautama’s Ashrama who sang the praise of Mother Parvati

Goddess with Linga,

Adi Kamakshi Temple

“Bringing forth the Eternal Siva from within you, you appear then within Him as the animating Sakti! With this, They mysterious nature (of Siva-within-Sakti-within-Siva), you procreate your multiple jivas. Is there anyone capable of finding out your nature which for ever remains non-dual!”

“If the Supreme Reality of Siva becomes Maheswara, Rudra, Brahma and Vishnu you become simultaneously the Saktis known as Maheswari, Rudri, Saraswati and Lakshmi. Other than these should He assume any ‘other’. You become correspondingly. Is there anyone capable of knowing you!”

Goddess with Lingam,

Kalyana Mandapam, Arunachaleswarar Temple

. . . . . . . . . . “This Abode, the primal One, is known as the Abode Supreme and is sacred par excellence. One good deed done here multiplies manifold of itself. Therefore do Thou conduct ardent penance here. They Lord will then surely come on His bull-mount and reabsorb you as His left Half.”

“(O Mother) even Vishnu, Brahma, the Vasus, Indra, and a host of Munis had in days gone by, made their dwelling here and completed the penance of solitude. The place is right and the time auspicious. Thy penance is thus assured of success.””

* Tiruvilaiyadal Puranam.

[Extract from Sri Arunachala Purana Vignettes
By J. Jayaraman]

The last two photographs are of the final day of the 2011 Navaratri Festival, Vijayadashami, as celebrated in the Kalyana Mandapam of the Arunachaleswarar Temple.

Aarti of Goddess Durga Victory, Kalyana Mandapam,

Arunachaleswarar Temple

Victory of Good over Evil,

Killing of Mahishasura by Goddess Durga

To read the story of the Goddess Durga's victory of good over evil as symbolised in the slaying of the demon Mahishasura, go to this earlier link here.

Vijayadashami

The culmination of the festival of Navaratri is Vijayadashami also known as Dussehra (i.e. "remover of bad fate") which symbolises the Victory of Good over Evil, which this year falls today October 6, 2011.

The name Durga which means; "inaccessible", "invincible"; or "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress" is a form of the Devi which is considered the fierce, demon-fighting form of Shiva’s wife, goddess Parvarti.

A narrative describing the victory of good over evil, is that of Goddess Durga fighting an asura named Mahishasura as appears in the Devi Mahatmya in the Markandeya Purana. More well known in these parts is the story of Goddess Durga’s battle and defeat of the demon as set down in the Skanda Purana (this legend appears in the below narrative).




Fight with Mahishasura

In this narrative Brahma relates how the demon Mahishasura was attracted to the beautiful Goddess Parvati and how he was lured to meet his end.

The devas, oppressed by the demon Mahishasura, who had taken the form of a buffalo, came down to earth and took refuge in the Goddess. They piteously told her about their sufferings and how they lived in fear and were compelled to obey all Mahishasura’s commands. They could do nothing, as the demon Mahishasura was invincible having obtained a boon from Siva that no man could kill him.

Hearing their cry of fear, the Goddess assured the devas of her protection and vowed to kill the great asura by strategy. Hearing such words of assurance the devas returned in peace to their abode. After they had left, Parvati manifested herself as the resplendent delusion Mohini (enchantress) and appointed four Bhairavis to keep watch on all four sides of Arunagiri, ordering them to admit only those who came to worship Arunachala and were tired, hungry and thirsty. Then after appointing strong men to guard the boundaries of Arunachala, extending to two yojanas (24 kilometres) the Goddess continued her penance at the ashram.

While Parvati was engaged in penance, there was no type of distress at all. The rains were plentiful, crops grew and the trees bore abundant fruits. Animals antagonistic to one another gave up their previous animosity, and neither external nor internal enemies prevailed. All the sages became content and praised the Goddess, who day and night continued to perform severe penance.

One day the demon Mahishasura, far from his own place, entered the forest of Arunachala whilst hunting animals. The animals then took refuge in the ashram of the Goddess and the asuras, chasing them, were denied entrance as it was a place of penance for Parvati. After entering the ashram, disguised as birds, the asuras seeing the Goddess soon returned to Mahisha praising her enchanting beauty. The demon, stricken with lust, disguised himself as an old man and entered the ashram, where he was told that the maiden of the ashram was doing penance in order to obtain a valiant husband, capable of performing great deeds.

After Mahisha spoke of his glories, the Goddess said she would become the wife only of a valiant man: ‘If you are such a man, display your strength. If you fail, admit that you are weak.’

On hearing these words Mahisha became enraged and sprang towards the Goddess with the object of killing her. At his approach Parvati transformed herself into Durga, the fiery and invincible Goddess. On seeing this, the demon made himself into the size of a mountain and gathered his vast armies from all quarters. But the Goddess was offered weapons and missiles by Brahma, Visnu, Siva, the dikpalakas, devas, mountains and seas. With many hands blazing due to the multitudes of arms, missiles and weapons, Durga, the great Maya, wore a coat of mail and immediately rode on her vehicle, the lion. Unable to bear her effulgence and seeing her terrible form, the demon Mahisha fled.

Knowing that the wicked Mahishasura could only be killed by subterfuge, the Goddess sends a monkey-faced muni named Suraguru to the demon. The demon becomes enraged on hearing the muni’s message from Parvati of abandoning adharma and following the path of righteousness. Thereafter the demon, gathered his armed forces and surrounded Arunagiri. The ensuing battle ended when the Goddess pierced the demon with her trident and cut off his head.



*********


After having killed the Demon, a lingam adhering to the Demon's neck when taken by the Goddess remained welded to the palm of Durga’s hand. The Goddess then went to a place which legend has it is now situated in the compound of the Durga Amman Temple at the foot of Arunachala. The area was dry, but the Goddess dug a hole with her sword and water gushed forth. When she took a bath, the lingam came off her hand and Durga started worshipping it.

The Goddess remained and bestowed her favours on her devotees. Since then, the sacred tank has had a regular water inflow. It is at this Temple that great celebrations take place in honour of Durga during the days of Navaratri and Dussehra – which symbolise the victory of the Goddess over evil.