the INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION (c. 3600–1900 B.C.E.)
that appear to be goddess figurines and indicate a
focus on the divine feminine.
In the RIG VEDA (c. 1500 B.C.E.), the oldest of
India’s extant texts, the primary divinities AGNI
and INDRA are male, as are the great majority of
divinities mentioned. Some important goddesses,
however, are also cited. Perhaps most important is
VACH, goddess of speech. Since speech in its form
as MANTRA is the locus or primary source of ritual
power in the VEDIC context, the goddess of speech
is all-encompassing. In fact, in Rig Veda (X.125) a
verse to this goddess of speech shows her to be an
all-encompassing reality, surpassing all the male
gods. Other important goddesses in the VEDAS are
USHAS, RAT R I, and ADITI. Ushas is the goddess of
the early dawn light, possibly before sunrise. Ratri
is her sister, who is the goddess of the night. Aditi
is understood to be the mother of the male gods.
Another goddess, SARASVATI, is hailed in the Rig
Veda as an important river. She gains later fame,
beginning with late Vedas when the same name
is used for the goddess of learning. Finally, Shaci,
the wife of Indra, is frequently mentioned and
sometimes taken to be all-powerful.
Hinduism developed by mythically interlink-
ing the male gods VISHNU and SHIVA, among oth-
ers, to various local divinities throughout India.
Vishnu is found in the Vedas, where shiva (the
auspicious) was an epithet of the god RUDRA. As
theistic Hinduism developed, these gods emerged
as a sort of cultural meeting place for various local
mythic traditions. They are, in essence, amalgams
of characteristics derived from different, and
perhaps sundry, cultural sources. As the ARYANS
moved east and south, many local divinities were
identified with these greater divinities. Some of
them, such as GANESHA, the elephant-headed god,
for instance, became members of a larger family;
Ganesha became the son of Shiva.
In this context, local goddesses were under-
stood to be wives of Shiva and Vishnu. It is pos-
sible that SAT I, Shiva’s first wife, derived from just
such a local non-Aryan cultural complex. PARVATI,
his second wife and the daughter of the Himalaya
mountain, may well have been a distinct divin-
ity in ancient times. Later, as DURGA and KALI
became recognized as wives of Shiva, many of the
local goddesses lost some or all of their original
character and began to be understood as Durga or
Kali under other names. Parvati was probably the
model, here, as many local goddesses under other
names are identified with her, too—for example
MINAKSHI of Madurai.
As was the case with Shiva, certain goddesses
became identified with Vishnu’s wife, Lakshmi;
they may be seen as Rukmini or Radha the wife
and lover, respectively, of Vishnu in his form as
KRISHNA. Some are identified with SITA, the wife of
RAMA, another AVATA R of Vishnu.
Vishnu and Shiva are the main divinities for
VAISHNAVISM and SHAIVISM, respectively (the god-
dess-oriented sect of SHAKTAS is discussed later).
They are both loosely related to the divinity
BRAHMA, who has a clear post-Vedic development.
Very few male divinities around India become
associated with him, but there are many goddesses
who are identified with his wife SARASVATI, god-
dess of wisdom and learning.
The development of the two main Hindu
cults to Vishnu and Shiva began with the great
India epics (c. 700 B.C.E. to 100 C.E.). In the
early centuries of the Common Era, additional
texts recounting their deeds, incarnations, and
adventures began to emerge, called PURANAS. At
about this time the cult of Mahadevi, or the Great
Goddess, began to develop as well; texts such as
the Markandeya Purana (c. 300–600 C.E.) actually
praised the goddess as the supreme being above
Shiva and Vishnu. This represented the beginning
of the cult of the Shaktas, who focus their worship
on the goddess as SHAKTI (supreme divine energy).
Undoubtedly, Vedic divinities such as Vac helped
form the model for this development, but the cul-
tural roots of the Great Goddess must be seen to
be in the pre-Aryan substratum of Indian culture,
in which goddesses were probably worshipped
from Neolithic times.K 168 goddess