A murti of the fearsome Goddess[-form], Pratyangira - a theonymic we would be tempted to translate as "Return Fire!" She is regarded as Goddess of the Atharva Veda via Atharvana Bhadrakali - and also linked to Kali through the Narasimhika ('Heroic Lioness' / 'Lion-(Wo)Man') encountered in the Sri Kalika Sahasranama stotram of MahaKalaBhairava : and … Continue reading For Pratyangira – Roaring Goddess of the Counter-Fire
Lioness
A Slightly Belated Beltane Commentary (With Additional Slavic Comparanda)
Every year, we try and have (A)Arti-cles ready for the major days of the Indo-European religious calendars. Some years, we do better than others. Other years - a delay turns out to be a blessing in disguise. So it may be viz. Beltane. For we had just in the past few hours happened across postings … Continue reading A Slightly Belated Beltane Commentary (With Additional Slavic Comparanda)
On Curious Claims Of There Not Being “Anything Like Kali” In The Vedas – A Brief Illumination To Some Of Her Correlates Within The Vedic Texts
Yesterday evening we encountered this most curious claim: https://twitter.com/Dhvasra/status/1634700610673995777 He might want to check Sankhayana Grihya Sutra II 14 14 - wherein we do, quite literally, find a 'Bhadrakali' directly attested. This guy has been doing a thing for awhile of claiming he's "reviving" the 'real' religion of Vedas. I presume this is why he … Continue reading On Curious Claims Of There Not Being “Anything Like Kali” In The Vedas – A Brief Illumination To Some Of Her Correlates Within The Vedic Texts
On Sadhguru’s Recent Curious Comment About (Hindu, Divine) Feminine And Conquest
To answer Nirjharaḥ Mukhopādhyāyaḥ's question … "No World Beyond HER RuleNo Enemy Beyond HER Wrath" is what I think about this. Now I know that Sadhguru prides himself on not letting himself be "cluttered" by reading scripture - however it does not take a pervasive engagement with our texts to see that the "Feminine", Devi, … Continue reading On Sadhguru’s Recent Curious Comment About (Hindu, Divine) Feminine And Conquest
Adorned By The Mantle Of Fire And The Masque Of Death
A fitting image, we had felt, to resonate with a figure encountered at various points in our work over this past year, and that we might perhaps think of as something of a 'Para-Kali' or even 'Proto-Kali' (and, of course, Chandika / Chamunda, and Durga, are also heavily in-mind here for reasons that ought prove … Continue reading Adorned By The Mantle Of Fire And The Masque Of Death
Sālāvṛka – The Wolves of the Temple, the Enclosure And Ancestral Warding – ‘Cruel Sanction’ Meted Out Via The Howling Hounds Of Heaven [ Excerpt IV From ‘ On The Wolves Of Rudra – The Terrific, Well-Storied Wolves And Wolf Forms Of The Indo-European Sky Father ]
Over the past several weeks, we have been running a series of excerpts from our ' On The Wolves Of Rudra – The Terrific, Well-Storied Wolves And Wolf Forms Of The Indo-European Sky Father '. The first and second of these sought to briefly examine Apollo Lykeios and the Wolf That Stalks The Stars . … Continue reading Sālāvṛka – The Wolves of the Temple, the Enclosure And Ancestral Warding – ‘Cruel Sanction’ Meted Out Via The Howling Hounds Of Heaven [ Excerpt IV From ‘ On The Wolves Of Rudra – The Terrific, Well-Storied Wolves And Wolf Forms Of The Indo-European Sky Father ]
A Combat Of Piety – Lord Rama’s Averted Eye Sacrifice To Devi For Victory And Its Vedic Antecedents
To explain what's going on here - this is a Ramayana episode of particular significance to us in relation to #NavRatri and its apex. Although the occurrence in question is drawn from other sources than the familiar Valmiki Ramayana. It illustrates a particular ritual observance hailed within the realm of Myth (and which I believe … Continue reading A Combat Of Piety – Lord Rama’s Averted Eye Sacrifice To Devi For Victory And Its Vedic Antecedents
Artemis Agrotera And Devi – Queen Of The Wilds, Ruler Of Animals, And Huntress Supreme
I find this very adorable. Devi as - as we would say in the Western IE sphere (well, in Ancient Greek, at any rate) - a 'Potnia Theron'. Now this term is generally applied to Artemis. And we have explored in great depth elsewhere how Artemis concords with our Devi. It therefore seems adamantly excellent … Continue reading Artemis Agrotera And Devi – Queen Of The Wilds, Ruler Of Animals, And Huntress Supreme
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
On The Wolves Of Rudra – The Terrific, Well-Storied Wolves And Wolf Forms Of The Indo-European Sky Father
We begin to speak upon a theme most close to us - that of the Wolf Form, the Wolf Associations and Associates of Rudra … but also of the Indo-European Sky Father deific complex more generally. Now I state that it is a mytheme close to this author. I mean this quite directly - it … Continue reading On The Wolves Of Rudra – The Terrific, Well-Storied Wolves And Wolf Forms Of The Indo-European Sky Father