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KAMALA,
THE LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST
Kamala as the tenth and last of the Wisdom Goddesses
shows the full unfoldment of the power of the Goddess
into the material sphere. She is both the beginning and
the end of our worship of the goddess.
The canonical texts are quite specific regarding her
iconography: "She has a beautiful and golden complexion.
She is being bathed by four large elephants who pour
jars of nectars over her. In her four hands she holds
two lotuses and makes the signs of granting boons and
giving assurance. She wears a resplendent crown and a
silken dress."
The name Kamala means "she of the lotus" and is a common
epithet of Goddess Lakshmi. Indeed, Kamala is none other
than the goddess Lakshmi. Though listed as the last of
the Maha Vidyas, she is the best known and most popular.
Several annual festivals are given in her honor. Of
these, the Diwali festival is most widely celebrated.
This festival links Lakshmi to three important and
interrelated themes: prosperity and wealth, fertility
and crops, and good luck during the coming year.
The elephants pouring nectar onto her are symbols of
sovereignty and fertility. They convey Kamala's
association with these highly desirable qualities.
Though equivalent to Lakshmi, important differences
exist when Kamala is included in the group of Maha
Vidyas. Most strikingly, she is never described or shown
accompanying Vishnu, who otherwise is her constant and
dominating companion in all representations. In this
respect unlike Lakshmi, Kamala is almost entirely
removed from marital and domestic contexts. She does not
play the role model of a wife in any way, and her
association with proper dharmic or social behavior,
either as an example of it or as the rewarder of it, is
not important in the Mahavidya context.
Here a premium seems to be put on the independence of
the goddesses. For the most part, the Mahavidyas are
seen as powerful goddesses in their own right. Their
power and authority do not derive from association with
male deities. Rather, it is their power that pervades
the gods and enables them to perform their cosmic
functions. When male deities are shown, they are almost
always in supporting roles (literally as when they are
shown supporting Shodashi's throne), and are depicted as
subsidiary figures.
CONCLUSIONS
The next question It is striking how female imagery and
women are central to the conception of the Maha Vidyas.
Iconographically, they are individually shown dominating
male deities. Kali and Tara are shown astride Shiva,
while others like Shodashi sit on the body of Shiva
which in turn rests upon a couch whose legs are four
male deities! Most significantly none of the Maha Vidyas
is shown as the traditional wife or consort. Even
Lakshmi, who is widely known for her position as
Vishnu's loyal wife is shown alone. It is also
noteworthy that the severed heads that decorate the
goddess's bodies are male, as are the corpses that lie
beneath them.
Moreover, related Tantric texts often mention the
importance of revering women. The Kaulavali Tantra says
that all women should be looked upon as manifestations
of Mahadevi (the Great Goddess). The Nila-tantra says
that one should desert one's parents, guru, and even the
deities before insulting a woman.
The central aim here according to Tantric belief is to
stretch one's consciousness beyond the conventional, to
break away from approved social norms, roles, and
expectations. By subverting, mocking, or rejecting
conventional social norms, the adept seeks to liberate
his or her consciousness from the inherited, imposed,
and probably inhibiting categories of proper and
improper, good and bad, polluted and pure.
Living one's life according to rules of purity and
pollution and caste and class that dictate how, where,
and exactly in what manner every bodily function may be
exercised, and which people one may, or may not,
interact with socially, can create a sense of
imprisonment from which one might long to escape.
Perhaps the more marginal, bizarre, "outsider" goddesses
among the Mahavidyas facilitate this escape. By
identifying with the forbidden or the marginalized, an
adept may acquire a new and refreshing perspective on
the cage of respectability and predictability. Indeed a
mystical adventure, without the experience of which, any
spiritual quest would remain incomplete. |
