Goddesses and Women in Antiquity

1 Jerusha Behari 204503478 Ambivalent Goddesses in Patriarchies: A Comparative Study of Hekate in Ancient Greek and Roman Religion, and Kali in Contemporary Hinduism. 2011 University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg 2 Declaration Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, in the Graduate Programme in Classics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. I declare that this dissertation is my own unaided work. All citations, references and borrowed ideas have been duly acknowledged. It is being submitted for the degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Humanities, Development and Social Sciences, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. None of the present work has been submitted previously for any degree or examination in any other University. ___________________ Student Name _____________ Date _______________ Name of Supervisor ______________ Signature 3 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge all those who assisted me and contributed to my dissertation in one way or another. I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Michael Lambert, for his patience, and his invaluable wisdom and guidance. I would also like to thank him for giving me the opportunity within the department to present a talk and to teach, which has served to reinforce why I love Classics, especially during these demanding postgraduate years. I would like to express my appreciation to all my family and friends for their continuous encouragement and understanding. Thanks to Sandra Pitcher, for her assistance and encouragement. I owe a special thanks to my boyfriend, Kabir, for his support and patience through what has been a long process. I am extremely grateful to my parents for their endless assistance, for reading through my dissertation, for driving me around in search of source material, and for always pushing me to do my best. Thank you to my sister, Teelie, for being a constant source of emotional support, encouragement, and useful criticism. 4 Abstract The objective of this dissertation is to demonstrate that the ancient Greek and Roman goddess Hekate, and the goddess Kali in contemporary Hinduism, as revealed in literature from the respective cultures, removed from each other by time and geography, are constructs of the male imagination, resulting in the reinforcing of stereotypes about the dangers of women in power, and demonstrating that women are irrational, lustful, deceitful, close to nature, and inherently lawless. This dissertation aims to show that Hekate and Kali can be re-envisioned as challenging these stereotypes, and can be re-interpreted as positive role-models for women in their respective cultures. To situate this research within a scholarly tradition, the dissertation begins with an overview of research into the supposed existence of prehistoric matriarchal cultures, where the supreme mother goddess who gave birth to the universe was apparently venerated. This is based largely on prehistoric art and interpretations of symbols with the help of secondary source material. Then this dissertation aims to trace the evolution of Hekate from her origins in Greek literature as a generous and benign, yet potent goddess to a dangerous, chthonic deity of the Roman world associated with black magic, the crossroads, demons and the restless dead. This will be done by a thorough examination of selected ancient Greek and Latin sources in chronological order. Kali’s character and function in Hinduism will be determined through an in-depth analysis of Hindu scriptures written in Sanskrit, as well as by investigating devotional hymns written to her by poets during the 18th and 19th centuries CE. These Sanskrit and Hindi sources highlight Kali as a terrible and unruly manifestation of Durga or Parvati’s wrath while also emphasising her maternal qualities. Artistic representations of Hekate and Kali will also be examined. A comparison between the two goddesses and their roles within their respective cultural and religious systems will be undertaken in order to deduce why such goddesses were deemed necessary within patriarchal cultures. Special reference will be made to the reclamation of Hekate and Kali by feminists today as religious role-models for women over traditional role-models such as Sita, and the Virgin Mary. This dissertation seeks to show that whereas goddesses have been alive and well in Hinduism for thousands of years, Classical 5 deities are far from dead, and are at present experiencing a revival and reinterpretation so as to cater for new forms of spirituality. It seeks to examine whether goddesses who have been rebellious in their patriarchal cultural systems are stereotypic representations or whether they can actually empower and make a difference to women. 6 Table of Contents Title Page 1 Declaration 2 Acknowledgments 3 Abstract 4 Table of Contents 6 Chapter 1 – Introduction 8 1.1. Aims and Reasons 8 1.2. Theoretical Framework and Methodology 9 1.3. Chapter Content 10 Chapter 2 – Literature Review 12 2.1. Introduction 12 2.2. Sources and Themes 13 2.2.1. The Palaeolithic Age: Venus Figurines 32 2.2.2. A Neolithic Civilization: Çatal Hüyük 41 2.2.3. The Aegean in Prehistory 49 2.3. Conclusion 60 Chapter 3 – Hekate: Greek Primary Sources 64 3.1. Introduction to Greek Sources 64 3.2. Hesiod’s Theogony 64 3.3. Homeric Hymn to Demeter 72 3.4. The Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius 81 3.5. Conclusion 87 Chapter 4 – Hekate: Roman Primary Sources 90 4.1. Introduction to Roman Sources 90 4.2. The Aeneid by Vergil 90 4.2.1. Book 4 91 4.2.2. Book 6 96 7 4.3. Seneca’s Medea 99 4.4. Metamorphoses (‘The Golden Ass’) by Lucius Apuleius 107 4.5. Conclusion 112 4.6. Hekate in the Greek Magical Papyri 113 Chapter 5 – Kali in Hinduism 118 5.1. Introduction 118 5.2. Devi-Māhātmya 118 5.3. The Purãṇas 127 5.3.1. Linga Purãṇa 127 5.3.2. Agni Purãṇa 130 5.4. Mantras and Devotional Songs to Kali 135 5.4.1. Tantric Mantras to Kali 135 5.4.1.1. Adyakali Mantra 139 5.4.1.2. Karpuradi-strota 142 5.4.2. Kali in the works of the poet Ramprasad 147 5.4.3. Kali and Swami Vivekananda 151 5.5. Conclusion 155 Chapter 6 – Comparison 159 6.1. Women in the Greco-Roman world 159 6.2. Women in Hinduism 162 6.3. Hekate and Kali in their respective cultural, religious and social systems 165 6.3.1. Appearance and dual natures 166 6.3.2. Dark qualities: associations with witchcraft, the moon, the dead and blood sacrifices 169 6.3.3. Links with the primitive mother goddess 173 6.4. Conclusion of Comparison 175 Chapter 7 – Final Conclusion 176 Bibliography 183 8 Chapter 1 – Introduction 1.1. Aims and Reasons This comparative research project focuses on goddess worship in the ancient Greek, Roman and contemporary Hindu religious systems, concentrating on the goddesses Hekate and Kali respectively. Firstly, it aims to explore the mythology and ritual functions of Hekate, and determine the reason for her transformation from a benevolent, powerful deity to the menacing goddess of magic and the crossroads, with reference to ancient Greek and Roman source material. Secondly, the research aims to explore the mythology, evolution and enduring popularity of the Hindu goddess Kali, as well as to investigate her ambiguous nature as both creator and destroyer, and catalyst of order and chaos. Thereafter, the research aims to discuss the apparent need for the ‘dark’ goddesses’ existence in their respective pantheons, and to establish what can be discerned about the position of women within each culture in relation to the natures and representations of the goddesses, bearing in mind that ‘the study of goddesses concerns the relationship of goddess worship to the status of women’ (Kinsley 1989: xi). A comparative analysis will be undertaken to determine similarities and differences between the two cultural systems in order to explore the relationship between religious representation and gender identity. The research arises from a desire to generate critical awareness of religion in relation to gender roles. I will attempt, as far as possible, to concentrate on contemporary Hinduism in South Africa since South Africa is home to the second largest number of Indians outside of India and Pakistan,1 thus feeding into the concept of African Scholarship, as publicized in the mission statement of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.2 Comparative studies always present the researcher with problems: the problem of importing ideas from one culture into another or of imposing a pre-determined structure on to random data, in the hope of discerning patterns which may be of universal significance. This often 1 Diesel & Maxwell 1993: 1 – 2. 2 Online Source: http://www.ukzn.ac.za/AboutUs/ukznmission.aspx 9 results in resorting to ‘grand narratives’, usually of a Jungian kind, which may be of dubious worth.3 I shall make every effort not to import Classical Greek notions into Hindu culture and vice versa, even though I strongly believe that moving from the logic of one culture to the other often raises questions and provides insights into the cultures compared. I shall be aware of the argument, made by J.Z. Smith and others, that ‘comparison provides the means by which we revision phenomena as our data in order to solve our theoretical problems’.4 Self- reflexivity is essential in comparative studies and I shall be constantly aware of the fact that I am a South African female researcher of Indian descent, who happens to be a Hindu as well, deeply interested in the role religion plays in both validating and interrogating the role of women in patriarchal societies. This project is part of a general comparative sociological and anthropological research interest in the study of classics, particularly in the ongoing desire to see the Classics in new ways.

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