Shakti

Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; lit. 'energy, ability, strength, effort, power, might, capability') in Hinduism, is the "Universal Power" that underlies and sustains all existence. Conceived as feminine in essence, Shakti as devi refers to the personified energy or power of a male deity, often personified as the complementary force of the given Hindu god. In Tantric Shaktism, Shakti is the foremost deity, akin to Brahman. In Puranic Hinduism, Shiva and Shakti are the masculine and feminine principles that are complementary to each other. The female deity is prakriti, the active, dynamic and creative principle. The male deity is purusha, the passive, unchanging and observing principle. The interaction of both principles is what creates the universe. The term Shakta is used for the description of people associated with Shakti worship. The Shakti pithas are shrines, which are believed to be the sacred seats of Shakti.

Overview

Etymology The word Śakti is derived from the Sanskrit root śak- ("to be able," "to have a certain capacity or power to do anything.") śak derives from the proto-Indo-European root ḱek- ("to achieve, accomplish, be able, capable.") In Vedic literature, śakti is closely related to śacī, which is also derived from the same root śak, and is used often in instrumental plural and meant "energy", "function" or "power". According to the Monier-Williams dictionary, Shakti (Śakti) is the sanskrit feminine word-meaning "energy, ability, strength, effort, power, might, capability". Relatedly, Shakta (Sanskrit: शक्त, Śakta), is used for people and traditions associated with Shakti worship. Shakta became popular from the ninth-century onwards, before that the term Kula or Kaula, which referred to clans of female ancestry, besides to the menstrual and sexual fluids of females was used to describe the believers in Shakti.

Prologue New learners of Hinduism often get confounded by its fluid discourses on the divine. The numerous Hindu deities can make one regard it as polytheistic, such categorization, however, is rather simplistic or misguided. Hindus have since the earliest times viewed the divine as being both one and many, with the two views considered mutually nonexclusive. From around 200 BCE, devotional movements in Hinduism started to group the numerous gods under a sovereign deity, two such common groupings were under Vishnu or Shiva, with the followers known as vaishnava and shaiva respectively. The followers of any of the Hindu goddesses honoured as the supreme goddess became shakta. Starting around 500 CE, Hindu Tantric religious cults developed among the shaiva sects, in the subsequent centuries Tantra developed amongst the sects of Vishnu, Goddesses, Buddha, and other obscure religious traditions. Goddesses and their associated traditions became prominent from the Tantric age. The idea of God being female may appear radical, but goddesses form the foundation of the ancient Indian religious traditions. Hinduism has been cited by scholars of Religion as having the most extensive living Goddess traditions amongst all the extant religions. The concept of Shakti, as the supreme cosmic power that projects and sustains all existence, forms the basis of Hindu ideations of female deities. Much has been written to describe, define, and delineate Shakti, which, is primarily identified with the feminine and with the numerous Hindu goddesses, seen as tangible expressions-visible personifications of the intangible Shakti—a notion arrived at after centuries of deliberation. In studying Indian religions and their associated philosophies, one finds terms in combination with Shakti, such as; adya Shakti (primal energy), cit Shakti (energy of consciousness), para Shakti (supreme energy) etc.—all of which, by their association with Shakti indicate that the respective concept is feminine. Though Shakti has broad implications, it mostly denotes "power or energy, which is feminine", and is also a name by which goddesses are referred. The term Shakti also covers maternal religious experiences and spiritual histories transmitted generationally by Hindu female elders.

Origins and development Archaeological excavations have been studied to trace the origins and development of goddess worship cultures. One of the earliest representation of a mother goddess dates back to the Upper Paleolithic period in Europe 20,000 years ago. Though goddess worship cults prevailed since antiquity in India, they gained popularity in the post Gupta era (6th century CE), much of it attributed to their esoteric practices. Apart from the Indian sculptures, the Vedas, the Puranas, and the Tantras constitute the major literary sources detailing the development of goddess culture in Hinduism.

Pre-Vedic goddess worship The origins of Shakti concept are prevedic. Sites related to the worship of the mother goddess or Shakti were found in Paleolithic context at the Son River valley, where a triangular stone known as the Baghor stone, estimated to have been created around 9,000–8,000 BCE was found. The excavation team, which included Kenoyer, considered it highly probable that the stone was associated with Shakti or the female principle. The representation of Shakti by a stone is an early example of yantra. Scholars assume that goddess worship prevailed in the Indus Valley Civilisation (3300–1300 BCE) as many terracotta female figurines with smoke-blacked headgear, suggesting their use in rituals had been found in almost all the houses of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Numerous artefacts that appear to portray female deities were also found. This development however is not assumed to be the earliest precursor of goddess worship in India; it has evolved over a long period of time before.

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