This was pretty saddening to see this morning. It's a Kali Mandir in Carli Bay, Trinidad & Tobago that was vandalized earlier in the week. The Murti has been damaged and smeared with olive oil, and as you can see, there's a rather prominent Biblical citation somebody's painted over the top of the entryway. You … Continue reading On The Recent Attacks Upon Hindu Temples In Trinidad And Tobago
Kali
Of Goddesses, Gods, and Ghosts at the Crossroads – A Comparative Indo-European Exploration [Extract 3]: Part Three: Cosmology, At The Crossroads
[Depicted is the fine marble Hekate from the Greek isle of Aegina, in overtly 'Triple-Facing' Goddess form. Note that the Initiatory Torches are, here, utilized to create an illusion of 'depth' - and, to my mind at least, almost seem to connote different 'pathways' off through trees.] The first point to be made concerns Ambika. … Continue reading Of Goddesses, Gods, and Ghosts at the Crossroads – A Comparative Indo-European Exploration [Extract 3]: Part Three: Cosmology, At The Crossroads
Of Goddesses, Gods, and Ghosts at the Crossroads – A Comparative Indo-European Exploration
It fascinates me how our various Indo-European religions 'interlock'. Both in terms of the way that the same (or highly similar) elements co-occur in recognizable format across various of these, even separated by millennia or many thousands of kilometers; yet also in the way that a fulsome understanding of one can help to 'unlock' the … Continue reading Of Goddesses, Gods, and Ghosts at the Crossroads – A Comparative Indo-European Exploration
Operation VaishvaDevi – A Show of Force
Navratri, the famed Nine Nights of the Goddess, is soon to begin. We propose to have a broad Indo-European 'Show of Force' (Shakti) for the occasion. What do we mean by this? Navratri is, of course, a Hindu observance. Yet the Goddess is broader than 'just' the Hindusphere. She has also been worshipped amidst all … Continue reading Operation VaishvaDevi – A Show of Force
On The Army of Kali
Finger-Snapping Intensifies Kali - and Dakinis , striding forth from the Smashana (Cremation Ground). We would, perhaps, suggest that this is a 'Smashana *krewh₂-' As in a 'Crew' … but using that particular Proto-Indo-European term which stands for 'Cold Blood' (in contrast to *h₁ésh₂r̥ - 'hot-blood', 'alive-blood'). This informs Sanskrit 'Kravya' (क्रव्य - 'raw flesh', … Continue reading On The Army of Kali
The Crows Of Kali
For Kali Jayanti - a Crow. Now, of course, I am indulging myself here by presenting a Crow as Devotee to Her … yet there is actually a comparatively little-known suite of resonant conceptry for the Corvid in relation to Kali. She is, after all, Kakamukhi - The Crow-Faced One. This is as we should … Continue reading The Crows Of Kali
On The True Meaning Of Kali Standing Above Shiva – The ‘Dark’ Devi Uber Alles
This style of Kali depiction is probably one of the most familiar forms of Hindu deific representation to many of us here in the West. It's remarkably prevalent - and along with it comes a curiously insistent similarly 'pop-culture' perspective as to what's represented there within. To paraphrase the sort of thing I'm referring to … Continue reading On The True Meaning Of Kali Standing Above Shiva – The ‘Dark’ Devi Uber Alles
Kali is Hindu, and Glorious – Opposition To Her In Depiction And Practice, Not So Much
Earlier this week I was reading through some academic articles of a few decades ago speaking about particular forms of Devi - and Tantrik ritual elements. Now, here's the thing … these articles, one in particular, were rather … heavily negative. Saying the most choler-raising things about how these spheres were barbaric and savage, and … Continue reading Kali is Hindu, and Glorious – Opposition To Her In Depiction And Practice, Not So Much
On This Week’s Claims Of Kali Somehow Not Being A Hindu Goddess
There's currently a rather loud contratemps going on in the online Hindusphere over an (Indian) art-film creator's attempt to co-opt Kali. Now, by this I do not really mean the initial photograph which caused all the furore - but rather, the artist's (Leena Manimekalai) frankly bizarre claims in reply to criticism she'd received for how she'd … Continue reading On This Week’s Claims Of Kali Somehow Not Being A Hindu Goddess
The Sacrifice to the Fourteen Gods of Tripura of the Enemies of that State
To provide some measure of context: at the time, Bengal was significantly under Muslim (and, indeed, Afghan - Pathan) domination, in the form of the Bengal Sultanate. Tripura had been a vassal-state - although not long afore this incident had occurred, Tripura had begun to throw off the foreign yoke in earnest (and more upon … Continue reading The Sacrifice to the Fourteen Gods of Tripura of the Enemies of that State
arya-akasha 