by Shubham Kewaliya
The divinity of mother goddess worship is ages old and we have been taught about the sanctity of the same since childhood. However, how old is this practice, and since when did this practice become a part and parcel of the Indian sub-continent?
These are questions that might strike the mind of a follower and believer. The answer to such questions can be tried to be answered by findings in archaeology and historical texts.
Archaeology deals with the study of the human past and evidence recovered in archaeological excavations informs us of the culture, belief structure, and policies of the people inhabiting these places. Modern-day Indian culture has been antiquity for around 5000 years and was conceived in the valley of River Saraswati and River Indus. The worship of the mother goddess can be traced back to the evidence found in the excavation of this civilization. The antiquities recovered indicate that the worship of the mother goddess probably took birth during this period.
Archaeological excavations in this region have yielded idols of Mother Goddess made of baked clay. These idols depict gentle and fierce forms. A large number of idols of the Mother Goddess in fierce form have been found in an archaeological site called Kulli in Baluchistan in modern-day Pakistan. These point towards the Chandi form of the Goddess. It is also noteworthy to mention here that out of the 52 Shakti Peethas, one of them that is, HingalajPeeth, is also in Baluchistan.
Furthermore, some scholars believe that a form of the goddess which we know as Mahisasura-mardani was first depicted in the Saraswati-Indus Valley Civilization. This argument is based on the engraving found in a clay tablet where a human figure is depicted with a spear killing a buffalo. This similarity is used to interpret the modern-day depiction of Mahisasura-mardana.
A human figure slaying a male Buffalo {(Mahishasura) Saraswati-Indus civilization)
Additionally, such statues of mother goddesses have also been found in Nausharoin Baluchistan, where female figurines wearing sindoor (vermillion) on their foreheads are recovered. The tradition of wearing sindoor(vermillion) is still followed by married women in Indian culture.
The Indian Vedic tradition believes that this earth is the mother of all. All living beings, trees, plants, etc. have originated from this earth. In this context, a tablet of baked clay has been found from an excavation of the archaeological site of Harappa where a woman is depicted with a plant emerging from her womb symbolizing the earth as the creator of all, and therefore worshipping the earth as a mother goddess.
From the Historical Period, we find persuasive evidence of mother goddess worship in the city of Mathura. From archaeological excavations in Mathura, we have found idols of various forms of goddesses such as Durga, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Parvati, Varahi, Chamunda, Indrani, Vaishnavi, etc. The idols made in Mathura paved the way for the idols of mother goddesses to be made in the future.
Thus it can be indisputably stated that the worship of Mother Goddess is a continuing tradition since time immemorial and is part of the greater connection shared by people in this sub-continent. This worship has its roots in the foundation of the Sanatana culture; which is the oldest and continuous living culture on the face of this earth. The modern-day Indian society is the progeny of this Sanatana culture which is around 5000 years old, and therefore it is evident for the modern-day Indian to be proud of this ancestry.
The author is assistant professor (History) at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Delhi University.
