76 - Discourses on Tantra Volume One

Chapter 20

The Pervasive Influence (3)

This Gaorii or Párvatii had no relation whatsoever to the Puranic goddess Durgá whom people worship nowadays. Gaorii, or Párvatii, was a human girl, and as such, she had only two arms. The ten-armed goddess Durgá, who was a deity of the Puranic Age, has nothing to do with Shiva or His age.

The worship of the goddess Durgá is based mainly on the Márkańd́eya Puráńa, and to a lesser extent on the Devii Puráńa, the Káliká Puráńa, the Brhatnandikeshavara Puráńa, the Duragábhaktitaraunginii, the Deviibhágavat, etc. None of these books is older than 1300 or 1400 years. Seven hundred shlokas [couplets] were collected from those books and gathered together, and that constituted the abridged Márkańd́eya Puráńa, which is also known as Durgásaptashatii, or more colloquially, Shrii Shrii Cańd́ii. None of these works existed at the time of Shiva; they have no relation with Him.

There are some people who believe that Durgá is the wife of Shiva, but this is not logically proved by any scriptural evidence. Shiva had only two arms, not four or six. Párvatii also had two arms. But Durgá is a Puranic goddess, and the author of puráńa [educative fiction] can create in his imagination as many arms of Durgá as he likes. Nobody can object to this.

No system for the worship of Durgá is prescribed by the Vedic scripture; so to put a Vedic seal of approval on the worship of Durgá, the famous Deviisúkta of the Vedas is cited. But Haemavatii Umá [Durgá is sometimes also called “Umá”], who is mentioned in the Deviisúkta of the Vedas, has no relation whatsoever to Párvatii (or Gaorii), the wife of Shiva, nor to Durgá, the Puranic goddess. People have been thinking erroneously that Durgá was the wife of Shiva, but in reality she had no relation to Shiva.

Yes, Shiva did have a wife – Gaorii, or Párvatii. And another wife was Káliká, or Kálii. Kálii was born in a non-Aryan community which was ethnically Austrico-Mongolo-Negroid. Now you may wonder about Kálii’s appearance. Why is she undressed? Why is she sticking her tongue out? There are many tales about these matters, but you must not give any importance to these stories; you must discover the real history behind these things.

One of Shiva’s wives was Gaorii, who had a son, Bhaerava. “Bhaerava” means “one who practises Tantra sádhaná”. Another wife of Shiva, Kálii, had a daughter, Bhaeravii. “Bhaeravii” means “a woman who practises Tantra sá-dhaná”. Bhaeravii learned the process of sádhaná from her father and practised it regularly.

But Bhaeravii’s mother, Kálii, always feared that her daughter might encounter some trouble while out doing Tantra sádhaná, so one night she went in search of her daughter. At that time Shiva was deeply absorbed in meditation in the cremation ground. Kálii, while walking along the path, trip- ped over Shiva. She felt extremely contrite and stuck her tongue out.(8) Shiva was roused from His meditation, and asked, Kastvaḿ? “Who are you?” Now, Kálii was deeply embarrassed, but being Shiva’s wife, how could she conceal her identity by introducing herself as Bhaeravii? A woman cannot identify herself to her husband by the name of her daughter. So she identified herself by saying, Kaoverii asmyaham “I am Kaoverii.”(9) Since then, Kálii has had another name Kaoverii. The Sanskrit word is “Kaoverii”, but sometimes people wrongly spell the word in Bengali as “Káverii”.

Later Káliká Shakti, also called Kálii, was accepted in Post-Shiva Tantra and also in Buddhist Tantra as a Tantric goddess. Still later, in the Puranic Age, this Kálii was worshipped as a goddess, and at that time she got a second name, Shyámá. But this Kálii, or Káliká Shakti, has no relation to Kálii the wife of Shiva. Kálii the wife of Shiva existed seven thousand years ago; but Kálii the deity accepted in Post-Shiva Tantra and Buddhist Tantra goes back only 1600 or 1700 years. The worship of Kálii the deity is preached chiefly on the basis of the Káliká Puráńa, so it has nothing to do with the Vedic Age nor the age of Shiva. But one thing should be remembered, that although she is a deity of Post-Shiva Tantra, she was accepted and worshipped in Buddhist Tantra also.

And in the same way,

Meghavarńá vigatavasaná,
Shavashivárúd́há shyámá trinayaná;
Narashirakhad́garvarábhayashobhaná,
Caturbhujá Kálii Kálikárúpinii.

Kálii the deity has four arms. But Kálii the wife of Shiva had two arms, not four. So Kálii the goddess who is worshipped these days according to the Puranic system is not the one who was Shiva’s wife.