Another childhood drawing. Lord Kartikeya (Hindu deity). I don’t have much left from then but I was obsessed with drawing Hindu deities and mythological figures.
Durga Puja 2015
It’s that time of year again. Durga Puja (annual festival worshipping Goddess Durga) has come and gone. Today is Dassami (tenth day) of celebrations and worship that form this most important of festivals for Hindu Bengalis all over the world. In other regions of India, and most prevalently amongst the Gujarati community, the same festival is celebrated as Navratri (literally nine nights), the festival of nine nights culminating on the tenth day - Dusshera.
Durga is the supreme Mother Goddess in Hinduism. She is referred to as Devi (Goddess). She is believed to be the manifestation of the energy that resides in every being and that which regulates the cosmos. She is Narayani (the source of all mankind), therefore her worship and status as the Mother Goddess. In Hinduism, she is also regarded as the wife of Shiva in her role as Adi Shakti (the primordial energy that creates and regulates the cosmos). In mythology, the story of her marriage to Shiva speaks of her as the daughter of Himavan (King of the Himalayas). Every year, during Durga Puja, she is believed to leave Shiva at Mount Kailash and visits the earth and her father. Hindu Bengalis celebrate this yearly festival with pomp, joy, colour and devotion. Communities come together to welcome the goddess to earth. Usually, a week before the puja, many HIndus listen to the ‘Mahalaya’ a collection of ancient songs, sanskrit hymns and mantras that invoke and awaken the goddess, welcoming her. The hymns and mantras praise her and narrate the story of her victory over Mahishasura. This festival also represents the power of womanhood.
The story behind this religious festival speaks of her invocation by all the gods to defeat Mahishasura (water buffalo demon). He invokes the creator god, Brahma, through severe penances and wishes for immortality when asked to request a boon from Brahma. His initial wish is declined on the argument that all beings apart from God cannot escape the inevitability of their own death. Hindu mythologies often tell the story of an ongoing war between demons and the gods. In another story, the gods attain immortality by drinking ‘amrit’ (nectar), a magical elixir that gifts the drinker immortality. Since then, demons are obsessed with attaining immortality by other means. Once his wish for immortlaity is refuted, Mashishasura’s arrogance and belittled view of women sees an alternative wish as good as immortality. Mahishasura attains a boon from the creator god Brahma, that he can only be vanquished by a woman. In his view, women are powerless creatures who would not dare face him and have the capability to defeat and vanquish him.
Upon securing his powers from Brahma, he sets out to conquer the earth and heavens, wreaking havoc and displacing all the gods and heavenly beings. They turn in refuge to the trimurti (trinity) Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The convergence of all their powers brings forth a goddess - Durga. The gods are all pleased and offer her their gratitude and weapons. She sets out to battle Mahishasura upon her mount, a lion. Mahishasura is at first struck by lust upon hearing of her and sends forth messengers, who declare his love for her and proposal for her to become his wife. The goddess laughs at his accomplices and on their forceful attempts to subjugate her, she destroys them. Mahishasura goes forth to the goddess with his proposal and upon them being met with ridicule and rejection, sets out to kill the goddess. In a fierce battle, Durga nullifies all his attacks and assaults. The demon assumes various forms - among them an elephant, a water buffalo, and sometimes a hybrid form of half man half water buffalo. In the end, he is killed and the gods rejoice Durga’s victory. Goddess Durga’s victory earns her the name, Mahishasuramardini (literally meaning, the slayer of Mahishasura) amongst her other 107 names.
Pictures are from Durga Puja I attended yesterday at Jain Community Centre, Manchester. It’s one of many pujas that are held in the UK.
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As part of the Durga Puja festival, daily rituals include ‘Aarti’ - worship with the offering of light to an icon. Aarti worship can also include worship through the singing of hymns that praise the deity who is being worshipped.
Representations of the five elements are used in Aarti - fire, water, air, ether / space and earth. Earth is represented by flowers. Air and movement by gently fanning the deity with a fan made of peacock feathers and ether / space using a yak-tail fan. Fire and heat are represented by the use of fire lit lamps. A wick soaked in ghee and lit represents light and fire and these lamps are ceremoniously waved in front of an idol during worship. Hindus believe that all material creation is made up of all these five elements. In addition to this, incense sticks place in front of the idol represent a purified state of mind. This ritual symbolises the submission of all material creation and existence to God.
This video is an example of one of many Aartis that take place during Durga Puja in India. I’ve been enjoying it this week during the festival of Durga Puja.
During Aarti at Durga Puja, ‘Dhaks’ or drums, with skins traditionally made with buffalo hide or goat hide are played along with cymbals and metal instruments. Conch shells are blown symbolising auspiciousness and victory over evil. The combination of all these instruments is a rhythmic representation of the battle that took place between the goddess Durga and demon, Mahishasura. Aarti is conducted once early afternoon and after evening prayers and rituals.
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Since a young age, I’ve been fascinated by the visual features of the Durga Puja festival. Every year the festival takes place around the end of September or October.
In India, the work by artisans to create the idols starts a lot earlier. This video is a small documentary that takes a closer look at the work of artisans based in Kolkata at the heart of West Bengal. The idols are referred to as ‘pratima’ - icons, traditionally sculpted from clay. Various styles of representation and scales are used but the same composition and arrangement of figures is almost always used.The idols appear in a group. The final scene of the battle is most commonly always depicted in sculpture. The figure of Durga with ten arms holding an array of weapons stands on top or sits on a lion engaged in vanquishing the assault of the demonic Mahishasura. In one of Durga’s hands, she holds a spear with a trident head (Trishul - iconographic weapon of Shiva and Durga in all her forms), with which she pierces the heart of the demon. Beneath all the figures, a crushed figure of a water buffalo is also usually depicted. It refers to Mahishasura’s identity as a half buffalo half human, and comes from the story as one of his forms taken during the battle with the Goddess Durga. Accompanying these central figures are the goddesses, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and fortune and Saraswati, the goddess of learning and the arts. They are considered to be two other of Durga’s numerous forms. The figure of Lakshmi is placed to the left of Durga and is accompanied by the figure of Ganesha, the elephant headed god of wisdom, fortune and auspiciousness. On the other side, the goddess Saraswati is accompanied by the figure of Kartikeya, god of war and youthful courage. Kartikeya and Ganesha are the sons of Durga. All are accompanied by their mounts. An owl beside the figure of Lakshmi and a swan beside the figure of Saraswati. Ganesha is accompanied by his mount, a mouse and Kartikeya stands beside or sits on his mount, the peacock.
As is often common in Hindu society, social order has dictated right up to the modern day, a class of people whose daily work is to create the idols. Artisans speak of learning the trade of idol making from fathers and their fathers from their fathers . Idols are made in their thousands all over India every year in time for Durga Puja.
On the last day of the Puja (Dassami), prayers are rituals are followed like other days. Married women indulge in a ceremonious ritual known as ‘Sindoor Khela’ (sindoor is vermillon powder that married women apply on their foreheads and along the centred parting on their hair. The insignia distinguishes them as married women). During Sindoor Khela, sindoor is also applied to the idol of Goddess Durga. She is the consort of Shiva and therefore an eternally married woman. Married women seek her blessings for a long and happy married life and apply sindoor on each others faces affectionately and wish for a happy and long married life for each other. After all prayers,rituals and following a procession, all idols in India are immersed and left to disintegrate in rivers.
In the video, the artisans are asked about the nature of their work, how they have seen changes in work that has lasted several generations in their own families.
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Found this drawing of my friend, Matt, from a few years ago at university. Ink on paper
Monoprint on pink paper.
