Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Worship of Mother Goddess is a universal phenomenon, more often or not, it is associated with the fertility cult. Central India has a rich diversity and range of the sculptural representation of the Goddess. An extremely unique sculpture is the twenty- armed Durga sculpture which is housed the Museum of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Archeology, Sagar University, India. Another unique representation is that of Mahishasurmardini, where the Goddess is seen killing the demon king Mahishasura. Worship of the feminine divinity in India, forms the genesis of the Sankhya Philosophy, where the human experience or reality is made up of Prakriti and Purusha. The Devi Sukta of the Rigveda, talks about how the universe is created by the Goddess or Devi. This paper is an effort to analyse the sculptural manifestations of the Goddess, and how it corresponded to faith and religious texts.