It seems rather hard to digest the fact that women all over the world today are fighting for their rights. For someone as pure as the creator itself, why should a woman have to struggle to find her place in society?
In approximately 3500 BC, Vedic India had many schools of thought that fell under the category ‘aastik’ and ‘naastik’. According to the ‘Samkhya’ school of nastic philosophy, the universe as we know it was originally carved out of a pure feminine energy. It implies that a woman is the source of all creation and the philosophy gave woman the highest order in society. However, like everything else, these philosophies lose their meaning along the centuries.
No matter how ironical it may sound today, in ancient India, women were considered pure forms of creation. Hindus pour milk over the ‘Shiva Ling’ as an offering. The ‘kalash’ of the coconut on an earthen pot with mango leaves in between is considered a very auspicious symbol by Hindus. According to Shaivism, the Shiva lingam that is commonly worshiped is nothing but an abstract form of the male-female duality and is made up of two parts- ‘lingam’ that is the male reproductive organ and ‘yoni’, on which the lingam rests, which is the female reproductive organ. By offering milk to it, one is giving an offering to creation. Similar to the Shiva lingam, the ‘punar kalash’ (lit. complete kalash) is an abstract representation of the male-female duality. The earthen pot represents the ‘womb’, the coconut represents the ‘penis’ and the mango leaves in between are symbolic of the human ‘intellect’. Together, they make a triadic relation signifying ‘creation’.
The earthen pot is symbolic of ‘the womb’and water inside it reflects ‘life’. The ribbon represents the ‘umbilical cord’ and the many ripples in the water signify blossoming energy in motion.
Like hurricanes, tornadoes, electric currents and magnetic fields, the path of all kinds of energies is a SPIRAL path. The image is the artist’s attempt to depict life energy springing out of the ‘womb’ (earthen pot).
Many a times, a woman who is menstruating is not allowed to enter holy places, cooking areas and many communities of India seclude her during the span of her period. It is unfortunate to say that today, very few people actually know the truths and facts about what they call ‘customs.’ If a woman had no periods, her entire family’s lineage would end there. No periods means end of creation. For this reason, a woman during her periods would be taken special care of in ancient India, and was often told not to do any household chores, in lieu of her well-being. These Vedic beliefs may sound strange to some because their meanings have changed manifolds over the span of 5,000 years.
A woman is enlightened in her periods. She is the purest in her periods. She finds salvation within her own blood.
A woman is the secret to all of creation. The Empowered woman is powerful beyond measure and beautiful beyond description.
Within every woman resides a Goddess.
