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The Lion : Mount of Goddess Durga Orissa Review * October - 2004 The Lion : Mount of Goddess Durga Pradeep Kumar Gan Shaktism, the cult of Mother Goddess and vast mass of Indian population, Goddess Durga Shakti, the female divinity in Indian religion gradually became the supreme object of 5 symbolises form, energy or manifestation of adoration among the followers of Shaktism. the human spirit in all its rich and exuberant Studies on various aspects of her character in variety. Shakti, in scientific terms energy or our mythology, religion, etc., grew in bulk and power, is the one without which no leaf can her visual representation is well depicted in stir in the world, no work can be done without our art and sculpture. It is interesting to note 1 it. The Goddess has been worshipped in India that the very origin of her such incarnation (as from prehistoric times, for strong evidence of Durga) is mainly due to her celestial mount a cult of the mother has been unearthed at the (vehicle or vahana) lion. This lion is usually pre-vedic civilization of the Indus valley. assorted with her in our literature, art sculpture, 2 According to John Marshall Shakti Cult in etc. But it is unfortunate that in our earlier works India was originated out of the Mother Goddess the lion could not get his rightful place as he and was closely associated with the cult of deserved. Siva. Saivism and Shaktism were the official In the Hindu Pantheon all the deities are religions of the Indus people who practised associated in mythology and art with an animal various facets of Tantra. Siva and Shakti, the as its specific vahana, conceived both on the dual deities were the principal deities of the 3 figurative and the metaphysical plane. An non-Aryans of the Indus Civilization. The animal acting as vahana owns some magical Mother Goddess assimilation into the Hindu characteristics, in that each single example of Pantheon, however, took place long after Siva its species, either living or carved in sculptural and Visnu had been accepted in two distinct form, bears the implicit presence of the deity phases; i.e. first the Indo-Aryan male gods were associated with it. In the realm of Indian given wives, and then, under the influence of sculpture art the vahana of a deity is generally 6 Tantric and Shakti movements, which had been depicted below the latter's pedestal. gaining momentum outside orthodox Hinduism According to H.Zimmer, the vahana meant as for many centuries, these shadowy female an animate divine symbol supporting the figures emerged as supreme powers in their 4 anthropomorphic figure of a god or goddess, own right and emerged into the great Goddess. is an iconic representation of the power and Due to the wide prevalence of the character of the concerned divinity, or an worship of Shakti or the female energy in India incarnation of the same at an inferior stage and from a very early period among almost all the under a different aspect. The depiction of the different ethnological elements comprising the vahana below the pedestal of the deity 22 Orissa Review * October - 2004 dissipates any possible ambiguousness as to with the lion. The car of the Phyrgian goddess the latter's identity. Such treatment of the carved Cybele, whose cult spread all over the Roman images of divinities may have originated in empire is dragged by lions. Goddess Cybele Mesopotamia in the course of the second is popularly known as Mother of the mountain millennium B.C.; from thence, through the in ancient Rome, like the same in the Indian medium of trade, it may have reached in Indian context, Durga and Parvati similarly associated 7 sub-continent in the subsequent epochs. with lion and in the different manifestations, they are also known as the goddess of the In consideration of the mount lion 10 Mountain. The Egyptian goddess Sekmet has associated with her in the myths or in sculptural a leonine head, while the most archaic statues art, goddess Durga can be alternatively of the Greek goddess Aphrodite depict the deity conceived as Mahisamardini or as as accompained by a lion. Sculptural examples Simhavahini. The lion came to prominence in of a goddess associated with lion and paired the Hindu pantheon with the origin of the with a god associated with bull have been goddess Durga, which was narrated beautifully 11 8 recovered from Anotolia. in the Markandeya Purana. According to this text, after being completely defeated by Durga, the beautiful goddess of dawn, Mahisasura, the gods, headed by Brahma, life and victory, riding a lion, defeats the approached Visnu and prayed for the buffalo-demon Mahisasura. In all her exploits destruction of the demon. Thereupon all the the lion is her mount, ferocious in look and gods including Brahma, Visnu and Siva emitted action. The lion also symbolised in all ancient civilizations as the solar, igneous and luminous flames of anger which solidified into the 12 effulgent form of a goddess (Durga) with three principle of life and knowledge. The lion is eyes and ten arms, each of which bore a weapon well represented in our religious digests and given by the mighty gods. During this time the others, adoration to him along with the goddess Himavat offered a white lion to goddess Durga is enjoyed with reference to this point the as her vahana. Vaikrtika Rahasya appended to the Saptasasti states that after worshipping the Goddess, the The golden skinned hairy lion is an devotee has to attend to the demon, whose body archetypal symbol for the golden rayed sun, lies in the left side of the Goddess with severed the lord of the day, whose appearance kills the head and then to the lion, the carrier of the 13 god of the night. Night, terminating the day in Goddess in her right side. the evening, is equally well represented by the bull, whose horns connect it with the cresent Vamabhage grato devyas chinnasirsam mahasuram //29 Pujayen mahisam yena Praptam Sayujyam isaya / of the moon. It seems possible that the lion and daksine paratah simham samagram dharmam isvaram//30 the bull also simultaneously personified other As the symbol of the divine energies antithetic cosmic forces, such as heat and cold, fire and water, light and darkness, life and embodid by the great Goddess, who is stated 9 to have been born out of the tejas of all the death. gods in order to slaughter the buffalo-demon, The lion has always been important in the lion express the heroism and prowess mythology, not only in India, but also in some necessary to defeat the asurik forces contrasting other countries. In Mesopotamia, Ishtar the with the Hindu dharama. Furthermore, the lion goddess of war, has always been associated can be even taken to represent the heroism and 23 Orissa Review * October - 2004 strength required from the sadhaka to enter the Lion, the royal beast, the mount of dangerous path of Shakta-Tantric religious Goddess Durga, represents the best in animal 14 practices, full of pitfalls for the uninitiated. creation. It can also represent the greed for In Indian context the lion is considered to be food and hence the greed for other objects of an animal full of Shakti(power) with a devaic enjoyment, which invariably leads to lust. and sattvik being of rhythmic movement. As Goddess Durga in Simhavahini form is a lesson far as Shakta iconography is concerned, the lion for the control of animal instincts in human almost invariably accompanies the images of beings. Parvati, Mahisamardini and Simhavahini Durga and is also represented in the most part of the References : composite Saiva-Shakta images, such as 1. Chitralekha Singh and Preem Nath, Durga New Ardhanarisvara and Umamahesvara, as the Delhi, 1999, p.1. symbolic animal lion associated with the 2. Sir John Marshall, Mohenjodaro and the Indus Valley Civilization, London, 1931, p.107. feminine side of the sculpture. Of course, from 3. L.P. Singh, Tantra : Its Mystic and Scientific an orthodox Brahmanical point of view, it was basis, Delhi, 1976, p.3. only the lion, that acted in all ages as the 15 4. W.D. O'Flaherty, Hindu Myths, Penguin Books, celestial vehicle of the Mahadevi. It 1975, p.238. represents lordly power in general and lordly 5. Pradeep Ku. Gan, "Durga in Sacred Literature," power of wild beasts in particular. The image Orissa Review, Vol.LX, No.2 & 3, Sept.-Oct., of this animal, expressing a sense of rhythm, is 2003, Bhubaneswar, pp.4-6. thought to be made up Prakriti maya-shakti. 6. F. Brighenti, Shakti Cult in Orissa, New Delhi, Therefore, the lion partakas in the divine 2001, p.231. essence of the great Goddess, the transforming 7. H. Zimmer, Miti esimboli dell' India, Milano, 16 energy of the universe. 1993, pp.70-1. 8. Markandeya Purana, Chapter-82, 1-17. In the Brahmanical pantheon the lion not 9. Chitralekha Singh and Preem Nath, op.cit., p.53. only has relation with the Goddess, but also 10. F. Brighenti, op.cit., p.234. with Siva and Visnu. A lion sculpture placed 11. N.N. Bhattacharya, History of Shakta Religion, on its Vahana-Stambha faces the main portal New Delhi, 1974, p.53. of most of the Shakta Shrines. A Shakta pitha 12. F. Brighenti, op.cit., p.232. is always guarded by a image of lion facing its 13. U.N. Dhal, Mahisasura in Art and Thought, main entrance, just like a Nandi image in a Delhi, 1991, p.64. Saivite Shrine and a Garuda image in a 14. A Boner and S.R.
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