12x16 inches; Watercolour, Pen and ink over graphite pencil on acid free textured paper (Click on image to enlarge)
Imagine nature as the embodiment of feminine force - Naked, wild, untamed, nurturing and destructive at the same time. She has the power to create life, destroy it and create again, while providing nourishment throughout this cycle to herself and her creation. She can decide to turn lush forests into deserts and create an oasis in that desert. She can become the sea and engulf the land or push an island up in the middle of the sea. She is formed of air, wind, earth, fire and space and she also brings forth these elements from within her to create the universe. She is self sufficient and requires no one else to support her in this process. She is devoid of ego. She is devoid of shame. She is devoid of greed. She wants to conquer no one, and in turn can’t be conquered. She is limitless like the horizon and yet she is a grain of sand. She is the eternal cycle of birth, staying alive, feeding and procreating, death and ultimately decaying to feed other life. She is the universe and the universe is her creation. She seems to be chaos, the churning of contradictions through which she keeps the world in balance.
Imagine if she was given the form of a woman. That is exactly the form given to the ‘Dasa Mahavidya’ (10 cosmic wisdom) – of which ‘Chhinnamasta’ is one such goddess. What kind of threat would such a woman pose to the dominance of ‘man’? What kind of challenge she would pose to patriarchal control? This could be one of the main reasons why her worship became shrouded in secrecy and mystery. She was demonized, often deliberately to inspire fear. Women were discouraged to get initiated in her worship; for fear that they will become detached from the world of Maya and attain enlightenment, becoming ‘siddha’ yoginis or ‘Dakinis’ (in Buddhist and Hindu Tantric practice a Dakini is the female embodiment of enlightened energy). Dakinis are reputed to be fierce, demonic and uncontrollable – a clear case of demonization of women who have attained spiritual enlightenment through dedicated practice. Such women are a threat to the smooth workings of a patriarchal societal set up, where women should be tamed like cattle and immersed in making a family and sustaining it, while the men can immerse themselves in other worldly pursuits to satisfy their ego or to rise above it and answer to their spiritual awakening.
So, Chhinnamasta got restricted and reduced into the limiting ‘self –sacrificing’ mother figure, who epitomized ‘self-control’ of sexual desires for spiritual bliss. A shallow narrative of her vastness and depth is what has been normalized. I have started working on this series of ‘Aadi Parashakti’ (primordial supreme energy) wherein I want to explore Buddhist and Hindu Tantric and Hindu Shakta Mythology, Spirituality, Philosophy, and Symbolism through a queer perspective which examines and questions the patriarchal conditioning imposed on such empowering narratives of the eternal feminine. I had created another painting of ‘Chhinnamasta’ and you can see it here – Chhinnamasta/Chhinnamastika and read more about this awe inspiring incarnation of ‘Shakti’.
