Reading Notes: 7 Secrets of the Goddess, Part A
Gaia's Secret 1.1
Gaia is the earth mother in Greek
mythology. She had a son named Kronas who castrated his father, and from his
blood came Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and Rhamnousia, the goddess of
retribution. Kronas then declared himself King and ate his own children to
prevent them overthrowing him as king. Gaia saves one son of Kronas', Zeus, and
kills his father and claims a palace on mount olympus.
"This idea of a female deity, first
adored, then brutally side-lined by a male deity is a consistent theme in
mythologies around the world."
There is a similar story where there
was a woman of the Inuit Eskimo tribes who was unhappy with her marriage, so
she asked her father to take her back home with him on his boat. He agrees, and
then the boat is attacked. The father threw the daughter overboard to save himself,
and cut off her fingers when she tried to get back in the boat. Even after her
fingers got cut off, she still tried to get back in, so her father cut her arms
off too! She ends up sinking to the bottom of the ocean as her separated limbs
turned into fish, seals, whales, and all other sea animals.
In the Epics, there was a Goddess,
Adya, who turned into a bird and laid the eggs of Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. Adya
cursed Brahma because he wouldn’t be her lover so there would be no temples in
his honor. Shiva agreed to be her lover if Adya gave him her third eye in
return. Adya agreed to Shiva’s demands, used her third eye against her, set her
on fire, and turned her into ash. From the ash came 3 goddesses and the grama-devis,
the goddesses of every human settlement.
From all of these stories, it seems
that every all-powerful woman has to suffer at the hands of a man throughout
mythologies all over the world. It is really sad that many origin stories are a
result of brutality and violence towards women.
Source: 7 Secrets of the Goddess by Devdutt Pattanaik
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