20.5x28.5 inches; Pen drawing on handmade paper with watercolour wash (Click on image to enlarge)
SOLD. In private collection
The name of Lilith conjures up diverse associations in the
mind of those who are familiar with her myth. She is an enigmatic character
from the Judeo-Christian stories of Genesis, shrouded in darkness and
superstition, almost silenced and meticulously avoided. She earned a notorious
reputation in the Jewish tradition as a demon of the night, harbouring a vicious
grudge against all the children of Adam and Eve, a constant threat to the
well-being of newborn babies and their mothers. She is believed to be the eternally lusty,
unsatiated, voluptuous spirit who leads hapless young men astray with erotic
dreams when they sleep alone in a house and plagues them with nocturnal
emissions! She is the much debated first female companion of Adam, much before Eve was
created. She is also the rebellious, free willed, untamed feminine force who
will not submit to the domination of man made rules. No wonder she has been reinvented
and reimagined as a torchbearer of feminism.
But long before she found her way into Jewish folklore, she
is believed to have wandered around in the lores of Sumeria. Some scholars believe that her origins can be
traced back to the ancient Babylonian demonology, which makes her a staggering
4000 years old. Some believe that Lilith is another name of the Sumerian
goddess known as ‘Ninlil’ (Meaning ‘Lady Air’. The Sumerian word of air is
‘Lil’.), ‘Ishtar’ or ‘Innana’. This Sumerian goddess is portrayed as a
voluptuous woman with wings on her back and claws of an owl in place of her
feet. She is always seen standing on two lions and flanked by a pair of owls.
The best known example of this iconography is the famous ‘Burney Relief’,
currently found on display in the British Museum.
Lilith has been explicitly mentioned in the ‘Alphabet of Ben
Sira’, one of the earliest literary parodies in Hebrew literature. The story
recorded in it goes like this:
“After God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not
good for man to be alone.' He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as
He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately
began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie
beneath you, but only on top, for you are fit only to be in the bottom
position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal
to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.' But they would
not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable
Name (Name of god which is too holy to be pronounced) and flew away into the
air.
Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: 'Sovereign of the
universe!' he said, 'the woman you gave me has run away.' At once, the Holy One,
blessed be He, sent these three angels Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, to
bring her back. "Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees to come back,
what is made is good. If not, she must permit one hundred of her children to
die every day.' The angels left God and pursued Lilith, whom they overtook in
the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters wherein the Egyptians were destined
to drown. They told her God's word, but she did not wish to return. The angels
said, 'We shall drown you in the sea.'
'Leave me!' she said. 'I was created only to cause sickness
to infants. If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days
after his birth, and if female, for twenty days.' When the angels heard
Lilith's words, they insisted she go back. But she swore to them by the name of
the living and eternal God: 'Whenever I see you or your names or your forms in
an amulet, I will have no power over that infant.' She also agreed to have one
hundred of her children die every day. Accordingly, every day one hundred demons
perish, and for the same reason, we write the angels names on the amulets of
young children. When Lilith sees their names, she remembers her oath, and the
child recovers.”
This Story serves a dual purpose. On one hand it has surely
been the source of defining and designating Lilith as the hateful demon in
Jewish tradition and on the other she has been portrayed as the ‘equal’ of
Adam, the woman who will not submit to the rules set down by man, an untamed
entity and hence a dangerous challenge to the domination of patriarchy. A force
that can’t be controlled is immediately maligned and marginalized as the
unworthy or unwanted!
The idea that Adam
had a companion prior to Eve has developed from an interpretation of the Book
of Genesis.
Genesis 1: 27 reads- “And
Elohim created Adam in His Image, in the Image of God He created him; male and
female He created them.”
Genesis 2:18 and 22 read- “And Yahweh said, ‘It is not good for Adam to be alone. I will make a
fitting helper for him.’ … And Yahweh fashioned the rib that He had taken from
the man into a woman; and He brought her to the man.”
These two different creation stories leave a gap where
Lilith fits in seamlessly.
But whatever the myth (You can read more in the reference
sources I have provided below, if your inquisitiveness has been aroused!) this
painting has grown from the soil of my imagination and exploration of the
feminine energy/force within me and how Lilith is an embodiment of the same.
For me Lilith is the eternal feminine, the unbridled force of nature, the
scorching glow of sexuality, the darkness within us, the terror of the unknown,
the limitless freedom we seek, the wilderness of lust and temptation, the
tenderness of love and compassion, the languor of intoxication, and the power
of knowledge and spiritual awakening (Kundalini).
Lilith for me is a metaphor for duality in
nature. She is strength and vulnerability fused into one. She is the symbol for
all that guides our natural (animal) instincts and rebels against artificiality
and control and yet she is bound by her own limitations. She can be either
liberating or self destructive. She may also lead us to liberation through
destruction of the ‘Self’! She can guide us through self discovery or drown us
in self doubt. All in all, she is a raw force we are scared to acknowledge but
when embraced with humility she strengthens us with her nurturing.
References:
Links:
Books:
Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai ( New York: Doubleday, 1964)
The Hebrew Goddess, by Raphael Patai (Wayne State University Press, 3rd edition, 1978)
