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25 Oct, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Durga is the name of the Goddess who personifies the sum total of the powers of all the male gods combined. When she vanquishes the fierce buffalo demon named Mahisha, she is described as having many arms, each holding a different weapon: bow and arrow, trident, discus,

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shield, sword, mace, and the conch shell that sounds the start of battle. The horizontal lines on her arms are sectarian markings. At the moment depicted in this painting, she has succeeded in beheading the buffalo demon and

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shooting arrows into his true form that climbs from its neck. Artists in foothills of the western Himalayas, where this work was made, depicted Durga’s mount as a tiger—lions and tigers had synonymous meaning throughout India as emblems of shakti, or divine creative energy.

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Image Reference: Durga Slaying Mahisha, c. 1700-1710. India, Pahari Hills, Nurpur school, early 18th Century. Ink and color on paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1960.51

#durga #Mahishasurmardini

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The Awakened Indian Profile picture
25 Oct
A ten-armed Durga stands triumphant as she grabs the hair of the buffalo demon’s true form, one foot on his neck, about to plunge spear into his heart. Interestingly, demon wears European buckled shoes; this painting was made in the British enclave then known as Calcutta.

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Made by artists who sold their works in a goddess temple bazaar, this painting was made with rapid brush strokes and thin paint layers on inexpensive paper. Exuberant in their devotional vitality and visceral color sensibilities,

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Kalighat paintings achieved acclaim among modern artists of the 20th century.

Believed to be a manifestation of the Great Goddess, the goddess Durga is portrayed here killing Mahisha, a demon in buffalo form.

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Read 6 tweets
The Awakened Indian Profile picture
18 Oct
Raja Prithvinarayan Shah inscribed a stone slab, marking the building of his new palace in which he praises Devi Tuljabhavani as Mahishasurmardini, and marks himself as her humble servant.' writes Charudatta, where he tries to establish unity of Rashtra through Tuljabhavani.

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“"On the Panchami tithi of Shukla Paksha of the Vaishakh month, in the Shaka year of 1691 (10th May 1769), Saturday, the king Prithvinarayan completed the building of his palace and arranged a great utsava to mark it. This Prithvinarayan is a mere bee drinking the nectar,

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from the lotus feet of Devi Durga, with whose blessing he is ruling the kingdom of Nepal. Many scholars have praised this generous king and many kings have accepted him as their overlord. May he always scale new heights of prosperity."

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Read 5 tweets
The Awakened Indian Profile picture
18 Oct
One of the special things about the Goddess worshipping in Hinduism is about the worship of the goddess collective in different forms. The collective can take forms from Goddess pair like Chamumda-Chotila of Gujarat,

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to Tri-Ambika like in Vaishnodevi to Saptamatrikas in South Indian temples to Nava Durga of the Deccan region and 64 Yoginis like that in Morena District of Madhya Pradesh. There is one more collective known as –Dasham Mahavidyas of the Goddess. Kali is the first maha vidya.

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The second Mahavidya is the Tara – the sparkling one. Tara in her form is indistinguishable from the Kali, but with one difference – Tara holds a lotus flower in her hand. Kali is the nature in its primal form. Unapologetic, fierce which can never be tamed by humanity.

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Read 11 tweets
The Awakened Indian Profile picture
17 Oct
The Goddess worship in India is eons old, sometimes pre-dating to the oldest Vedic hymns. In Indian scriptures, we find a division of the world into 2 parts – Prakriti – that which is material, can be perceived via senses,

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and Purush – the which is immaterial, non-perishable and cannot be perceived through senses but has to be connected with via different means such as Ashtanga-yoga.

The Goddess is Prakriti or Nature. Nature in its primal form is wild, unapologetic about its manifestations.

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There are no moral rules in Nature. No animal feels embarrassed about being naked neither do they have a concept of justice. It is all driven by the fear of survival. And thus, we come across the Goddess in her primal form – Kali (काली).

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Read 12 tweets
The Awakened Indian Profile picture
16 Oct
"Of the three masterpieces (Of Pallava School) in the Mahabalipuram, which reach the highest watermark of plasticity and vividness, the first is Mahishasura Mardini relief. The Goddess Durga is out to destroy Mahishasura.

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The crafty, powerful buffalo-demon, is on the defensive. He is fighting with determination, though he has grown feeble, for he supports the mace with both hands, waiting eagerly for the moment when he can strike down the Goddess.

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His demons are fleeing, falling, or seeking to escape.

The ganas, short and fat-bellied and armed with bow or sword, and the different Shaktis who form the army of Durga, are bold and aggressive. Some of them hold the royal umbrella over her head as she joins the fray.

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Read 8 tweets
The Awakened Indian Profile picture
6 Oct
Meghnad Saha a well-known Indian Physicist had made stellar contributions to the theory of thermal ionization and its application to stellar spectra, an astrophysicist Svein Rosseland writes,

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"The impetus given to astrophysics by Saha’s work can scarcely be overestimated, as nearly all later progress in this field has been influenced by it." Along with being a Physicist, Saha was a staunch nationalist impressed with the revolutionary ideas and hence,

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associated himself with the Anushilan Samiti. During World War-I, Saha was assigned the task of collecting weapons from the vessel, however, the ship was intercepted by the British and the mission failed.

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Read 6 tweets

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