Shakti

2021-12-09T08:26:08Z

2409:4043:295:E34C:0:0:15A2:C8B1:

{{short description|Personification of divine feminine energy and power in Hinduism}}
{{Other uses}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2017}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = hindu
| image =
| alt = Shakti
| caption = Adi Parashakti Lalita [[Tripura Sundari]] seated over [[Brahma]], [[Vishnu]], [[Rudra]], [[Shiva|Maheswara]] and
[[Parashiva]]
| children =
| god_of = The divine energy
affiliation = [[Devi]]
| consort =
| siblings =
| other_names = [[Adi Parashakti]],[[Parvati]] , [[Mahadevi]], [[Kali]], [[Durga]], [[Devi]], [[Sati (Hindu goddess)|Sati]], [[Lakshmi]], [[Saraswati]] ,
[[Indrani]]
| weapons = All
}}
In [[Hinduism]], especially [[Shaktism]] (a theological tradition of Hinduism), '''Shakti''' ([[Devanagari]]: शक्ति, [[IAST]]: Śakti; lit. "Energy, ability, strength, effort, power, capability"<ref>{{cite web |last=Monier-Williams |first=Monier |author-link=Monier Monier-Williams |title=Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary |publisher=University of Washington |url=http://faculty.washington.edu/prem/mw/z.html |quote=śaktí f. power, ability, strength, might, effort, energy, capability}}</ref>) is the primordial [[energy (esotericism)|cosmic energy]], and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the [[universe]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Datta |first1=Reema |last2=Lowitz |first2=Lisa |year=2005 |title=Sacred Sanskrit Words |publisher=Stonebridge Press |place=Berkeley, CA |page=111}}</ref> This energy is thought of as creative, sustaining, as well as destructive, and is sometimes referred to as auspicious source energy.

Shakti is sometimes personified as the Creatrix, and is known as "Adi Shakti" or "[[Adi Parashakti|Adi Para Shakti]]" (i.e., Primordial Inconceivable Energy). In [[Shaktism]], [[Adi Parashakti]] is worshipped as the [[Supreme Being|Supreme Being/God]]. On every plane of creation, energy manifests itself into all forms of matter; these are all thought to be infinite forms of Para Shakti. However, the true form of Para Shakti is unknown, and beyond human understanding. She is described as ''Anaadi'' (with no beginning, no ending) and ''Nitya'' (forever).

==Origins==
{{Saktism}}
One of the oldest representations of the goddess in India is in a triangular form. The [[Baghor stone]], found in a [[Paleolithic]] context in the [[Son River]] valley and dating to 9,000–8,000 [[BCE]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Insoll |first1=Timothy |year=2002 |title=Archaeology and World Religion |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134597987 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTqCAgAAQBAJ&q=baghor%20stone%20date%20son%20valley&pg=PA36}}</ref> is considered an early example of a [[yantra]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harper |first1=Katherine Anne |last2=Brown |first2=Robert L. |year=2012 |title=The Roots of Tantra |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=9780791488904 |page=39 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NtKrbKIOL5wC&q=baghor%20stone%20roots%20of%20tantra&pg=PA39}}</ref> [[Jonathan Mark Kenoyer|Kenoyer]], part of the team that excavated the stone, considered that it was highly probable that the stone is associated with Shakti.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kenoyer |first1=J.M. |last2=Clark |first2=J.D. |last3=Pal |first3=J.N. |last4=Sharma |first4=G.R. |year=1983 |title=An upper palaeolithic shrine in India? |journal=Antiquity |volume=57 |issue=220 |page=93 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00055253}}</ref> The worshipping of [[Shiva|Shiv]] and Shakti was also prevalent in [[Indus valley civilization]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chaurasia |first=Radhey Shyam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cWmsQQ2smXIC&pg=PA26 |title=History of Ancient India: Earliest Times to 1000 A.D. |date=May 2002 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist |isbn=978-81-269-0027-5 |page=26 |language=en}}</ref>

==Evolution==
The Shakti goddess is also known as ''Amma''{{efn|''Amma'' is an honorific for a respected feminine person and even used for boys. The mother in English denotes a person with a child. Sakti is not represented as married or with a child.}} in south India, especially in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. There are many temples devoted to various incarnations of the Shakti goddess in most of the villages in [[South India]]. The rural people believe that Shakti is the protector of the village, the punisher of evil people, the cure of diseases, and the one who gives welfare to the village. They celebrate Shakti Jataras with great interest once a year. Some examples of Shakti names are [[Mahalakshmi]], [[Kamakshi]], [[Parvati]], [[Lalita (gopi)|Lalita]], [[Bhuvaneshwari]], [[Durga]], [[Meenakshi]], [[Mariamman]], [[Yellamma]], [[Poleramma]], and Perantalamma.

==Shaktism==
[[File:Guruji puja.jpg|thumb|Sri Guru Amritananda Nath Saraswati, performing the Navavarana Puja, an important ritual in Srividya Tantric [[Shaktism]], at the Sahasrakshi Meru Temple at Devipuram, Andhra Pradesh, India.]]

[[Shaktism]] regards Devi (lit., "the Goddess") as the Supreme [[Brahman]] itself with all other forms of divinity considered to be merely Her diverse manifestations. In the details of its philosophy and practice, Shaktism resembles Shaivism. However, ''Shaktas'' ({{lang-sa|शक्त}}, {{IAST|Śakta}}, ), practitioners of Shaktism, focus most or all worship on Shakti, as the dynamic feminine aspect of the Supreme Divine. [[Shiva]], the masculine aspect of divinity, is considered solely [[Transcendence (religion)|transcendent]], and Shiva's worship is usually secondary.<ref>Subramuniyaswami, p. 1211{{full citation needed|date=August 2020}}</ref>

<blockquote>
From ''Devi-Mahatmya'':

By you this universe is borne,
By you this world is created,
Oh Devi, by you it is protected.<ref>{{cite book |last=Klostermaier |first=Klaus K. |title=A Survey of Hinduism |year=1989 |pages=261, 473 footnote [1] |publisher=SUNY Press |place=New York, NY}}</ref>
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
From ''Shaktisangama Tantra'':

Woman is the creator of the universe,
the universe is her form;
woman is the foundation of the world,
she is the true form of the body.

In woman is the form of all things,
of all that lives and moves in the world.
There is no jewel rarer than woman,
no condition superior to that of a woman.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bose |first=Mandakranta |year=2000 |title=Faces of the Feminine in Ancient, Medieval, and Modern India |publisher=Oxford University Press |place=New York, NY |isbn=0195352777 |page=115 |oclc=560196442}}</ref>
</blockquote>

===Adi Parashakti===
{{main|Adi Parashakti}}

===Smarta Advaita===
In the [[Smarta]] [[Advaita]] sect of Hinduism, Shakti is considered to be one of five equal personal forms of God in the [[panchadeva]] system advocated by [[Adi Shankara]].<ref>{{cite web |title=[no title cited] |website=Himalayan Academy |url=http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/dws/dws_mandala-02.html}}</ref>

==Shakti Peeths==
{{main|Shakti Peetha}}

According to some schools{{which|date=February 2021}}, there are four Adi Shakti Pitha and 51 Shakti centers of worship located in South Asia (four Adi Shakti Pitha are also part of 51 Shakti pithas but they are four major parts of Devi Sati's body. So, they are adi shakti pithas). They can be found in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Tibet and Pakistan. These are called [[Shakti Peetha]]s. The list of locations varies. A commonly accepted{{by whom|date=February 2021}} list of Shakti Peethas and their temple complexes includes:
* [[Hinglaj]] [[Mataji]] [[Balochistan]]
* [[Taratarini Temple|Tara Tarini]] ([[Brahmapur, Odisha|Brahmapur]], [[Odisha]])
* [[Katyayani]] ([[Chhatarpur Temple|Chattarpur]], [[Delhi]])
* [[Bhadrakali]] ([[Kodungallur Bhagavathy Temple|Kodungallur]], [[Kerala]])
* [[Kamakhya]] (Assam)
* [[Kali]] at [[Kalighat]] ([[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]])
* [[Guhyeshwari Temple]] [[Devi]] ([[Kathmandu, Nepal]])
* [[Ambaji]] ([[Gujarat]])
* [[Vishalakshi Temple]] ([[Varanasi]])
* [[Chandranath Temple]] ([[Sitakunda]], [[Bangladesh]])
* [[Jwalaji]] ([[Himachal]])<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jawalaji.in/ |title=Jwalaji}}</ref>
* [[Naina Devi Temple]] ([[Uttarakhand]])<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nainadevi.com/ |title=Naina Devi Temple}}</ref>
*[[Mangla Gauri Temple|Mangala Gauri]] ([[Uttarakhand|Bihar]])

Other pithas in [[Maharashtra]] are:
* [[Tuljapur]] ([[Tulja Bhavani|Jagdamba]])
* [[Kolhapur]] ([[Laxmi|Mahalaxmi]])
* [[Nashik|vani-Nashik]] ([[Saptashrungi]])
* [[Mahur, Maharashtra|Mahurgadh]] ([[Renuka]]mata)

==Bhajans and mantras==
There are many ancient Shakti devotional songs and vibrational chants in the Hindu and Sikh traditions (found in [[Sarbloh Granth]]). The recitation of the Sanskrit mantras is commonly used to call upon the Divine Mother.

;Kundalini-Shakti-Bhakti Mantra

:Adi Shakti, Adi Shakti, Adi Shakti, Namo Namo!
:Sarab Shakti, Sarab Shakti, Sarab Shakti, Namo Namo!
:Prithum Bhagvati, Prithum Bhagvati, Prithum Bhagvati, Namo Namo!
:Kundalini Mata Shakti, Mata Shakti, Namo Namo!

;Translation:
:''Primal Shakti, I bow to Thee!''
:''All-Encompassing Shakti, I bow to Thee!''
:''That through which Divine Creates, I bow to Thee!''
:''Creative Power of the Kundalini, Mother of all Mother Power, To Thee I Bow!''
:::— Yogi Bhajan<ref name=KaurPregnancy>quoted in {{cite book |title=The Conscious Pregnancy Yoga Teacher's Manual |first=Tarn Tarn |last=Kaur |place=Espanola, New Mexico}}{{full citation needed|date=August 2020|reason=publisher, year, ISBN}}</ref>{{rp|page=79}}

"Merge in the Maha Shakti. This is enough to take away your misfortune.
This will carve out of you a woman. Woman needs her own Shakti, not anybody else will do it ... When a woman chants the Kundalini Bhakti mantra, God clears the way. This is not a religion, it is a reality. Woman is not born to suffer, and woman needs her own power."

:~ Yogi Bhajan (Harbhajan Singh)<ref name=KaurPregnancy/>

== See also ==
* [[Mohini]]
* [[Devi]]
* [[Iccha-shakti]]
* [[Tridevi]]

==Notes==
{{notelist|1}}

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Datta |first1=Reema |last2=Lowitz |first2=Lisa |year=2005 |title=Sacred Sanskrit Words |publisher=Stonebridge Press |place=Berkeley, CA}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Georg Feuerstein |last=Feuerstein |first=Georg |year=2000 |title=The Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga |publisher=[[Shambhala Publications]] |place=Boston, MA}}
* {{cite book |last1=Harish |first1=Ranjana |last2=Harishankar |first2=V. Bharathi |year=2003 |title=Shakti: Multidisciplinary perspectives on women's empowerment in India |place=New Delhi, IN |publisher=Rawat |isbn=81-7033-793-3}}
* {{cite book |first=June |last=McDaniel |year=2004 |title=Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular goddess worship in West Bengal |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Shaw |first=Miranda |title=Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |place=Princeton, New Jersey |year=1994}}
* {{cite book |last=Tiwari |first=Bri. Maya |year=2002 |title=The Path of Practice: A woman's book of Ayurvedic healing |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] Press}}
* {{cite book |author-link=John Woodroffe |last=Woodroffe |first=John |year=1910 |title=Shakti and Shakta |publisher=Forgotten Books |isbn=1-60620-145-X |via=Google Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3e3_GVggCgUC&q=Hinduism&pg=PA325}}
* {{cite book |author-link=John Woodroffe |last=Woodroffe |first=John |translator-last=Woodroffe |translator-first=Ellen |year=1952 |orig-year=1913 |title=Hymns to the Goddess |publisher=Forgotten Books |isbn=1-60620-146-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4VUS2Rxmy_QC&q=John+Woodroffe&pg=PR7 |via=Google Books}}
* {{cite book |author-link=John Woodroffe |last=Woodroffe |first=John |year=1922 |title=Hymn to Kali: Karpuradi Stotra |publisher=Forgotten Books |isbn=1-60620-147-6 |via=Google Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XrAIJR37dJoC&q=John+Woodroffe&pg=PP7}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}

* {{cite web |url=http://vedabase.net/s/sakti |title=Shakti |series=Listing of usage in Puranic literature |website=VedaBase|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415111508/http://vedabase.net/s/sakti |archive-date=15 April 2009 }}

{{Hindu Deities and Texts|state=expanded}}
{{Hindudharma}}
{{Shaktism}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Hindu philosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Shaktism]]
[[Category:Hindu goddesses]]
[[Category:Mother goddesses]]
[[Category:Hindu tantra]]
[[Category:Tantric practices]]
[[Category:Vitalism]]
[[Category:Names of God in Hinduism]]
[[Category:Consorts of Shiva]]

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