Last month, before Diwali, I was browsing through the shelves of one of the famous stores in the mall. I chanced upon this book and wanted to pick up a copy as I found the book to have some interesting facts. But since it was past the billing time, I could not pick up a copy.But I was very lucky to receive this from Blogadda for review!
This book authored by Devdutt Pattanaik,
attempts in unlocking the secrets of our ancestors by bringing into
light the meanings of the stories,symbols and rituals of the Goddess.
There are seven chapters titled
- Gaia’s secret[Greek Goddess]
- Kali’s secret
- Gauri’s secret
- Durga’s secret
- Lakshmi’s secret
- Saraswathi’s secret
- Vitthai’s secret
In each of these chapters, the author talks about the balance of male and female entities in the society. It flows through each society, through the Gods and Goddesses and through various cultures and countries.
And with that the book talks of how the women were in the prime position in the society long back and how men emerged to come to the forefront though the ages.
What I liked the most is the pictures / paintings and sketches on each page. For every topic on the page, there is a reference pic on the left hand page.
It was so interesting to see some rare and unusual pics and photos and it impressed me a lot.
There are no stories actually, but something more of facts from the various scriptures and other sources.
I am always interested in Mythology and found it very interesting when I read about
certain terms and how they were interpreted then and now. And how the meaning of each
word has changed through the ages.A simple example would be from the first chapter,where the meaning of virgin and whore are explained.
Earlier a virgin was a woman who was ready to bear a child. So every woman was a virgin between mensuration.And the virginity returned soon after childbirth. But now the meaning sure has changed!Similarly, whore simply meant a woman who was free to go to any man.Now though,this word is used as more of an insult.And this definitely implicated that the position of women has changed to someone being free willed to one who is bound to men in the later times.
Also there are clarification / sort of deconstruction of certain mystical features like the meaning of the naked Kali with a garland of male heads, unbound hair,blood strained tongue sticking out and so on.You get to read so many such things in this book
This book may not seem like a racy thriller and I did not get read in a day. I did take my time to read and understand, assimilate the various facets of the book. So it would be something I would love to read all over again. It surely makes for a leisurely read anytime.
If you have already read the earlier books in this series, I am sure
this one will not disappoint you.If like me ,this is the first you are
reading this book, you will be tempted to buy the other books as well.
At a glance:
Name of the Book – 7 Secrets of the Goddess
Author – Devdutt Pattanaik
Genre– Mythology
Pages– 270
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Happy browsing….
an interesting review. Mythological explanations are interesting and bring more meaning to cultures and traditions we follow.
This book looks really interesting- I agree that as time has gone on women/ goddesses were supplanted by male figures of authority and worship. This has not necessarily been a good thing! Personally I worship the male and female energies of Sr Sri Radha-Krishna. In the Gaudiya line of Vaisnavas, we ascribe to Srimati Radharani prominence as the shakti without which even Sri Krishna is powerless! (For example, in Govardhan lila, we say that Krishna thought he was holding up Giriraja by his own power, but Srimati Radhika was glancing at him and it was Her gaze which steadied the mountain on His fingertip.) Too long has the female energy been forgotten and now we have a society in which the male and female energies are out of balance.