Celebrating the Goddess

Goddess worship is one of the longest-standing religious traditions in Hinduism, and today devotees in India and around the world celebrate and venerate the power and protection they provide. The goddesses of the Hindu pantheon are understood as manifestations of shakti, a dynamic energy that, when combined with passive male energy, is responsible for the creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe.

Some goddesses embody the destructive aspects of shakti, such as death, degeneration and illness, while other goddesses embody their creative and auspicious powers, such as nature, the elements, music, art, dance and prosperity. Shakti may be variously personified as the gentle and benevolent consort of Shiva; or Kali, the terrifying force destroying evil; or Durga, the warrior who conquers the forces that threaten the stability of the universe.

The veneration of goddesses is also an aspect of the beliefs of the Gond people of central India, the largest tribal group in the world. Over a millennium or more, the agrarian society of Gond has evolved a distinctive artistic and religious identity, in which ancient indigenous spirituality merged with Hindu beliefs.