Title: Lajja Gauri

This artwork is part of the series “Make It Rain Fire: Ancient Wisdom Of The Divine Feminine”. 

In India, the name of Lajja Gauri is given to ancient artistic representations of the “Mother Goddess”.

 

These deities are associated with fertility and sexuality, inherited by Indian artists from early Mesopotamia -via the Indus Valley civilizations.

The iconography displays distinctive features such as, nude female bodies in the squatting position, legs wide apart and emphasized vulvas. Historically, squatting has been considered the best labor position for women to take during childbirth, therefore, archaeologists have interpreted such iconography as symbolic of sexual intercourse -necessary for procreation,  and important to prehistoric societies, for successful preservation of the species -given climate threats which were factors relating to high mortality rates. Hence, the worship of the ‘divine feminine’ as the preserver of the human species.

 

The Sanskrit word Devī means ‘goddess’, and is used in Hinduism to identify the various manifestations of one supreme goddess throughout centuries. The word was first used in the Vedas, the Hindu sacred text written around the 2nd millennium BC. As a general representation of female divinity, the concept of Devī encompasses an assortment of goddesses, from Saraswati to Lajja Gauri. They all reveal different aspects of one supreme female deity (Devī), likewise, displaying further manifestations of themselves.

 

This painting is a rendition inspired by a stone carving of Lajja-Gauri, manifested as Devī Parvati, the Mother Goddess in Hinduism. The famous stone carving was originally excavated from the Naganatha temple and is now at the Archaeological Museum in Badami, India.

There are many variations and wonderful stories about Parvati and her spouse, Shiva. One of them states the following…

For many eons, in a faraway divine forest, Parvati and Shiva enjoyed the blissfulness of intimacy and wedlock in isolation from the rest of the world. During that time, evil demigods known as Asuras, ran amok the earth, creating death and chaos. Earth’s inhabitants seeking to stop the madness, went looking for Shiva to ask for help. As the people approached the entrance of Shiva’s cave and did not get any signals from him, they ventured into the cave, where Shiva was found within a deep meditative marital bliss, in union with his consort, Parvati. When Parvati took notice of the intruders, in order to cover the modest embarrassment (Lajja) of her nudity, she picked a lotus flower, and covered her face. This is why, Parvati is represented in stone carvings as Lajja Gauri (harvest), with a lotus flower covering her face, as well as holding lotus flowers in each hand, symbolizing divinity, regeneration, fertility and procreation.

 

It is common to find depictions of Parvati and Shiva along representations of the yoni (vulva) and the linga (penis). It is also common for Parvati to be depicted with golden or yellow skin-color, which represents the goddess of ripened harvests. Ancient texts in which the word ‘gauri’ appears, have established the use of the term to respectfully address another deity, Durga. Therefore, the term “Gauri” is use reverentially.

 

Indian artists intentionally portrayed Lajja Gauri as a headless figure with swollen abdomen and vulva, aiming to emphasize the procreation cycle. Western colonial-era scholars, erroneously interpreted such iconography as ‘pornographic’ given the rigid European influence, under the Victorian standards, which are not appropriate for studying nor interpreting millenary Vedic culture.

 

The existence of fertility cults in prehistoric societies, highlight the significance of matriarchy in human development. Ancient iconography representing childbirth is not only a symbol of reproduction and fertility, but also a representation of spiritual regeneration; to be born again. Ancient civilizations or so-called ‘civilizations of the goddesses’ were witnesses to the veneration of the Great Mother… Lajja Gauri is not only an iconographic symbolism of reproduction, but also a representation of the cosmic matrix.

 

Certificate of Authenticity included.

 

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