Manifestations of the Divine Mother: Goddess worship at Divya Dham Temple, Woodside Queens

Written by Daniella Ross: May 4, 2005

Initially designed as the sister temple to the Geeta Mandir in Queens, the Divya Dham temple emerged in 1993 as distinct from the traditional Hindu temple. The large and diverse collection of murtis, images of the deities, serves to accommodate the varied interests of the Hindu diaspora community in New York City and to function as a place of pilgrimage, a collection of temples, murtis and holy sites all under one roof.[1] “Divya Dham,” according to Prof. Ram Chandra Pandey’s preface in the official Divya Dham information booklet, “is established for the well-beings (sic) of all the people irrespective of their caste and creed and therefore, they may have a glimpse of all the deities at one sight and may offer their respective worship according to their traditions and faiths.”[2]

Although the temple presents the pantheon of Hindu deities and is not devoted to any one particular divinity, it gives primacy to the archetypal figure of the Great Mother goddess. There is an overwhelming presence of the feminine divine depicted throughout the temple in the various representations of the Goddess: in the central murti of Durga on the main altar, in the replication of the sacred Vaishno Devi cave, in the abundant goddess murtis, in the reproduction of the fifty-one shakti pithas, and in the sacred jot flame which represents the eternal presence of the Goddess.

During the spring semester of 2005, I spent many hours researching goddess worship at the Divya Dham temple, studying its structural layout, attending religious and cultural functions, and speaking with its priests and worshippers.  My research capabilities were limited by the fact that I am not a native speaker of Hindi, Gujarati or any of the other languages and dialects generally spoken in the temple and was therefore restricted to the use of English.[3] Additionally, the combination of my academic schedule and travel restrictions meant that there was no set time at which I would consistently visit the temple. As a result, my research presents a mostly random collection of observations which range from regular weekly aarti services and individual worship to large scale religious festival worship of the spring Navaratri and the accompanying garba dance performance.  I have come to understand the temple from these observations as a unique place of goddess worship which serves as a focal point of both personal devotion and communal religious expression. In this paper, I will discuss two important dimensions of goddess worship that I observed at Divya Dham: representations of the Divine Mother in physical space and celebration of the Goddess in the spring Navaratri festival.

I.

            The vast collection of elaborately decorated marble murti at the temple astounded me on my first visit to the temple. What amazed me even more so, however, was the prominence of goddess images. Every other corner of the temple showcases another triumphant murti of the Divine Mother either in the form of Durga, powerfully riding astride her lion, or in the many other forms of the diverse female divinities in the Hindu tradition. As material embodiments of the divine and physical manifestations of the sacred, the murti represent a crucial aspect of goddess worship. Consequently, the temple directors at Divya Dham import all their hand-crafted murti from India at great expense[4] and carefully dress them in bright silk clothing (green, gold, or red) which they alternate every two weeks. Ornate gold jewelry — bangles, bracelets, necklaces, and nose rings — decoratively festoons the colorful images of the female deities whose aura pervades the large expanse of the temple.[5]

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: One of highly decorated Durga murtis at Divya Dham

On that same initial visit to the temple, my first visit of any Hindu temple, I questioned Swami Shiveshwaranand[6] about the most readily noticeable murtis which rested atop the main altar. Why were the gods and goddesses displayed in pairs with the exception of the proportionally larger goddess murti in the center? What was the particular religious significance of such an arrangement? He explained that the main image represented the Divine Mother in the form of the great multi-armed goddess, Durga, and translated the sign above her figure which read, “Jai Mata Di” as “Victory to the Mother.” All gods and goddesses are merely different incarnations of God and all goddesses are manifestations of the Great Goddess, he assured me. In the hierarchy of Hindu divinities, I soon learned, there is a clear discrepancy between gods and goddesses. The various goddesses such as Sita, Lakshmi, and Radha who feature prominently on Divya Dham’s main altar, appear as consorts to the gods (Rama, Vishnu, and Krishna, respectively) and are thus relegated to secondary roles. However, goddesses also have powerfully independent roles when they figure as supreme entities, most notably, in the image of The Great Goddess/Divine Mother. The concept of female divinity appears in ancient Indian religious expression, yet this vision of the Great Goddess emerges only in the fourth century C.E. and is best encapsulated in the Sanskrit text of the Devi Mahatmya. It is in the Devi Mahatmya that a distinct universal Goddess figure materializes; a warrior Goddess assembled from the combined furious energy of the gods who then vanquishes the demon, Mahisa, restores order to the world and serves as its divine protectoress. The text illustrates her greatness and praises her power:

Terrible with your sword and spear. . .with conch and bow, having arrows, sling and iron mace as your weapons/. . .exceedingly beautiful, You are superior to the high and low, the supreme queen/ Whatever and wherever anything exists, whether it be real or unreal, O you who have everything as your very soul/ Of all that, you are the power (sakti); how then can you be adequately praised?[7]

 This depiction of an archetypal Great Goddess gives rise to the principle of shakti, a word that literally means, “power” or “ability.” [8] Shakti represents the dynamic feminine creative principle, “the primordial power underlying the universe, personified as a female deity who is the Supreme Being, the totality of all existence.”[9] According to Swami Shiveshwarand, the creative energy of shakti emanates like the rays of the sun from the Divine source and permeates throughout the world.  Individual goddesses featured in the temple embody this principle of shakti as well as symbolize various concepts such as knowledge, destruction, and light. None, however, so clearly epitomize the power of shakti as do the fifty-one shakti pithas.

Hidden on the upper level of the Divya Dham temple in a room that opens onto the wedding hall rest the fifty-one shakti pithas, replicas of the various pithas, or abodes, revered in India as places that enshrine parts of the Goddess’ body. According to Hindu legend, these shakti pithas have their origin in the tragic death of Sati and the subsequent dismemberment of her body. Sati, wife of the god Shiva, died of grief when her father insulted her husband over the matter of a sacrifice and a madly inconsolable Shiva took her dead body over his shoulder and wandered about the earth. So as to release Shiva from his mourning, the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Sani broke apart Sati’s body and scattered her fifty-one remains over India: where each piece of her body fell became a sacred abode of the goddess. Thus the “pithas express a worldview in which the earth is considered sacred and the deity embodies herself in earthly form.”[10] Each of the original pithas is located at various locations throughout India and so it seems somewhat incongruous to have these symbolic reproductions all neatly organized in rows, one after the other, accompanied by a picture chart on the facing wall that carefully catalogues and explains every one of them. Although they are meant to parallel the different shakti pithas that dot the Indian religious landscape, they look highly similar and it is difficult to distinguish them from each other but for the accompanying signs that provide their specific names and locations. In their close resemblance to one another, these shakti pithas replicas ultimately underscore the universalization of the Great Goddess. On the single occasion that I was able to visit the shakti pithas, I wondered how often worshippers made the trek upstairs to visit these holy manifestations of the Divine Mother. [11] Indeed, Swami Jagdishwarand, the original founder of Divya Dham, had intended for the temple to function as a place of urban pilgrimage and the very name chosen for the temple, Divya Dham (Heavenly Abode), alludes to its sacred purpose.

In addition to the fifty-one shakti pithas, Divya Dham features another replication of a distinctly goddess-centric point of pilgrimage: the Vaishno Devi cave. The original Vaishno Devi shrine, a major site of pilgrimage in India located in the Jammu district in the Himalayas, is symbolically brought to Woodside, Queens and made accessible to diaspora worshippers so that they too can take on the sacred journey to worship and pay homage to the Divine Mother. In spite of obvious structural limitations, Divya Dham attempts to create a simulated Vaishno Devi cave meant to reproduce the pilgrim’s experience at the original shrine. Fiberglass designed to look like rusticated grey stone lines the outside of the cave, a bump in the middle of the path inside the cave reminds one of the physical difficulty of the actual journey, and in addition to the standard marble murtis of Kali, Lakshmi and Saraswati, three small stone pithas (the only rough stone pithas in the entire temple) echo the simple images of the goddess in the authentic cave. Above the entrance to the cave reads the same inscription featured above the central Durga on the main altar: “Victory to the Mother.” Among the many symbolic meanings for the Vaishno Devi Cave, Swami Shiveshwarand highlights the image of a cave as womb and emphasizes the possibilities for spiritual growth and rebirth. Moreover, he adds in a particularly Christian sense that the Vaishno Devi cave is symbolic of the heart and like Christ, one must for look for God within one’s self, within the hear.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2: The three stone pithas in the Vaishno Devi cave replica

Alongside the salient images of the fifty-one shakti pithas and the Vaishno Devi cave which are unique to Divya Dham, other manifestations of the Great Goddess stand out among the various murtis of the temple. The most notable of these murtis, none other than the central Durga figure astride her lion, towers over the other representations of the deities. Sword in one hand, a bow in another, and a conch in yet another one of her seven hands, this Durga inspires a sense of reverent awe and respect for her tremendous power. The sacred flame, or jot, that burns continuously in front of her represents the eternal presence of the Goddess in the temple.[12] It is before this murti that worshippers receive prasad and either begin or conclude their individual prayers when visiting the temple. In addition to this central figure, there are two other Durga murtis displayed at Divya Dham. The first, a relatively recent supplement to the temple added only a few months ago and positioned towards the entrance to the temple, parallels the main Durga image, albeit in a simpler fashion. The second Durga murti located behind the stage belongs to a “trinity” of goddesses: Gayatrimata flanks it on its left, Santoshi-ma on its right.[13] Another notable depiction of the Great Goddess, forms of Durga as Swami Shiveshwarand explains, lies in the far back of the temple. Here, the nine goddesses — Skandmata, Katyayani, Kalratri, Mahagauri, Sidhidatri, Shailputri, Brahmancharini, Chanderghanta, and Kushmanda — each occupy her own nook in a gazebo-type structure and wear elaborate silk garments and gold jewelry analogous to the other goddess murtis in the temple.

II.

            On the majority of occasions that I visited Divya Dham, a distinct quietness permeated the temple. Most worshippers came for only ten to fifteen minutes, often to or from their place of work, and seemed visibly rushed. When I asked one particular female worshipper in her early 30’s about her worship, she succinctly summed up her reality with the following statement: “Job is necessary, eating is necessary, and prayer is necessary, part of the life, we have to come.”  Although Divya Dham serves as a place for individual worship and private meditation, it truly seems designed as a location for larger religious gatherings. During the course of my research for this paper, I was fortunate to observe the first spring Navaratri festival held at Divya Dham on April 16, 2004. The tone of this festive communal celebration of the Great Goddess/Divine Mother stands in direct contrast with that of my prior exposure to the temple. One could argue that the temple, adorned with gleaming decorations, flashing colored lights, and the vibrant rhythms of music, indeed “came alive” only in the context of Navaratri.

Hindus observe the Navaratri festival twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring.[14] For nine days (the word, Navaratri, literally means “nine nights”) devotees of Durga meditate, fast, and pray to the Divine Mother in honor of her nine manifestations and hold a special Durga puja. Swami Shiveshwaranand divided the nine days into three groups of three when I asked him for a description of the festival. Accordingly, the first three days commemorate Durga as destroyer of dark forces, both internal and external. Days four through six honor Lakshmi as the giver of light and prosperity. The last three days are reserved for worship of the Goddess as Saraswati, provider of knowledge and wisdom. One of the basic aims of the Navaratri celebration is to propitiate shakti, the Goddess in her aspect of power, to bestow upon man prosperity, auspiciousness, knowledge, and health. As such, people often make special requests of the Goddess for they consider the nine days of Navaratri a sacred and propitious time. “In this period of time, all time is good” maintains Roopnaraine Singh (Kush), a Guyanese disciple of Swami Vidyanada. Another male worshipper, Mohandra, who ardently believes that the Goddess helped him obtain his green card and bring over his family from India, urged me to “pray to the Goddess–all my wishes will come true. If you pray with heart, Goddess will answer you.”[15]

Navaratri is celebrated in various parts of India in different styles, however, the Navaratri celebration at Divya Dham represents a specifically Gujarati experience.[16] In general, Divya Dham caters mostly to Northern Indians and Gujaratis in particular despite the Guyanese spiritual leadership at the temple. Many of the names of the donors listed alongside the murtis are of Gujarati origin, Gujarati is spoken more often than Hindi or any other language, and Durga is likewise referred to as Amba, the epithet that Gujaratis reserve for the Divine Mother. This is not to say, however, that the Gujarati Hindus excluded non-Gujaratis from the Navaratri festival at Divya Dham. Two Jain teenagers, a brother and sister, represented one interesting exception to the general rule.[17] However, the general format of the spring Navaratri followed a distinctly Gujarati pattern, most notably in the enthusiastic practice of garba dance.

“When garba season comes, you just know it inside. We know God is going to give us      strength to dance.”      –Ravi, medical student, mid-20’s.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 3: Women and men dancing garba in honor of spring Navaratri at Divya Dham

  Garba originated as a Gujarati religious folk dance where predominately female worshippers dance in rings to traditional music during the festival dedicated to the Goddess known as Amba by Gujaratis. The name of the dance derives from the garba pot punctured with strategic openings in which a lamp is lit to the deity. Customarily performed out in the streets in India by women in lovely saris and salwarkameez, today garba has incorporated men as well. Additionally, there is a dandia-raas or stick dancing, component to garba in which worshippers tap colorful sticks against each other in time with the alternating tempo of the music.

For many of the Navaratri worshippers at Divya Dham with whom I spoke, the religious festival also functioned as an important social activity. Avenika, an affable female worshipper in her early 30’s, comes to Navaratri and garba “for fun, religious [sic], you enjoy a lot, meet people, your community.” Hiten, a male worshipper and software engineer in his mid 20’s, typically prays at home but takes pleasure in attending Navaratri: “We have a temple in my house, but coming here is different.” The level of participation in the garba dance surprised me: motivated teens and young adults, both female and male, enthusiastically join in on the dancing as smiling middle-aged women bring their young daughters into the garba circle. One little girl in particular who appeared to be about four years old focused on mastering the garba footwork so diligently that she earned not only her mother’s approval, but the praise of some of the older women sitting along the sidelines. Undoubtedly, Navaratri garba educates the next generation of Gujarati American Hindus in the transmission of cultural memory.

While the garba performance indeed serves as a significant aspect of the Navaratri festival, it is the distinctive Durga/Amba puja and aarti service that actively mark the event as a special communal religious celebration. A miniature murti of the Divine Mother dressed in festive red and gold silk lies in the center of the main hall especially for the occasion. Positioned between two poles of high-powered spotlights, this Goddess murti represents the focus of the evening. The dancing women and men circle the miniature image of the Goddess in their multiple rounds of garba and some individual worshippers pray before her in brief moments of silent meditation. Once the dancing comes to an end, the religious ritual begins. In contrast to the standard evening aarti I observed in which only a handful of worshippers followed along with the Swami as he preformed the service in front of the large stone shivalingam, this aarti involved active worshipper participation and took place simultaneously at two locations: one group led aarti in front of the central Durga murti at the main altar and the other group did so before the temporary image in the middle of the open hall space.[18] One worshipper rang the large bell facing the main altar every second for nearly a minute while the crowd of worshippers loudly sang along with the bhajans. Six young adults all waved the aarti lights in front of the main altar and the temporary murti of the Great Goddess. Even as the music ceased to play, the worshippers joyfully sang out a last bhajan as they clapped their hands in unison.

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Swamiji, Pujya. “Navratri, Worship of the Mother Goddess.” Parmarth Niketan. Sep.             2003. 28 Apr. 2004.  <http://www.parmarth.com/updates/augsept2003                                /navratri.html>.

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