Mahadevi on My Mind

Vishnu flanked by Sridevi (left) and Bhudevi (right)

Ever since our Friday Flowers celebrated the Hindu goddess Kali, I've been wanting to go see some classic Indian sculpture. Perhaps the finest collection of such work in the Los Angeles area is at the Norton Simon Museum. So a quick trip to Pasadena was in order.

The collection is very extensive and impressive. Therefore, I'm limiting this post to focusing on my favorite goddess statues. The Norton Simon website has brief audio tour lectures for some of these statues. I'll provide the links after at image.



Vishnu embracing Lakshmi


Here's the link to the Norton Simon page with the audio information. ;-)


One of the things that can cause confusion to those just starting to learn Hindu religion is how a god or goddess can take on many different names and manifestations yet be considered a single deity. For instance, Lakshimi is Vishnu's primary consort, but she also manifests as numerous other goddesses such as Bhudevi and Sridevi, as depicted in the image at the top of this post.

Same thing goes for Parvati, Shiva's consort. She also manifests as Durga and Uma.



Durga


Here's the information page for Durga. And here she is as Parvati and Uma.



Parvati




Uma


Here's the information page for Uma.

Although each goddess has distinct attributes, unique stories, and different spheres of influence, it's easiest to just think of them as aspects of Mahadevi, an underlying universal goddess that embodies all the goddess manifestations within her.

Celestial Goddess

Enjoy!!!