PART I
ESSAY #6c
ESSAY #6c
ESSAY TITLE: Compare and Contrast – Oh Mama!
QUESTION: Describe the similarities of and connections between the cults of Earth goddess Gaia, the Virgin Mary and Devi, the Hindi Mother goddess. Select representative artwork depicting each one and describe the similarities in the imagery.
SUMMARY: I found this essay
intimidating before diving right in but once I did, I wondered what I was
fussing about. It was pretty obvious to see the similarities between each
Female Icon. It was just a matter of getting all of the mess in my head down on
paper (or on a blog in this case).
REASON: I believe this question
was one of few essays aimed at pushing the student to utilize research methods
on a variety of subjects and think outside the box.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this essay was to explore similaries
and connections between cultures and religions that upon first glance, seem
very different.
DIRECTION: This time around, most
of my research was conducted using the course text. Often,
I find that articles online provide more information but for this question, I only
utilized the web for examples of imagery.
IMPRESSIONS: As stated in the
purpose section, I was pushed to realize the similarities between seemingly
different religions. I learned that no matter what background you come from,
most people want to believe that some higher power is protecting them and that usually
comes in the form of a mother figure.
PART II
ANSWER:
It seems history is going through a looped
civil pattern. The more I consider the past’s female iconography across
multiple cultures, the more ironic the repression of women’s rights in the 19th
and 20th centuries seems. When surveying Greek Mythology, Hinduism
and Christianity, it is curious to uncover quite obvious similarities in the
way they worship. All of these cultures hold their female deities in high
esteem, placing them equal to or even higher than men on the proverbial food
chain of devotion.
Most interesting to me is that the
very first god of Greek Mythology was actually a goddess. Gaia is the name of
whom most people, even today refer to as Mother Earth. In the red figure vase The Birth of Erichtonius, as with most depictions of her, she is
shown coming out of the earth. “Gaia is shown only partially risen from the earth, being inseparable
from her native element” (http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/T1.6.html). On top of this obvious suggestion of
earthliness, Gaia hands over her child, Erichtonius, bringing forth the future
of his regality. According to Greek Myth, Gaea was the mother of all and
therefore was their main icon of fertility.
![]() |
(http://www.nortonsimon.org/collections/browse_title.php?id=M.1975.11.05.S) Mother Goddess with Child,Uttar Pradesh, Gupta period, 575-625, Sandstone |
The ancient sculpture Mother Goddess with Child shows one of many manifestations of the Devi
in what I would consider a very classic light. The piece is comparable to even
such pieces as the Venus of Willendorf
or Venus De Milo. Ancient peoples
long before the beginnings of Hinduism produced female figurines with exaggerated
attributes, giving them pendulous breasts, a big belly, wide hips and solid
thighs (Course Text, Page 6). In Mother
Goddess with Child, the Devi is depicted as possessing exaggerated feminine
features. Her Hips, bust and child become the main focus of the sculpture while
still advertising her power as represented by the sword in her right hand.
![]() |
(http://www.iconsexplained.com/iec/pics/001_vierge_de_vladimir.jpg) The Virgin of Vladimir ,Tempera on Wood Panel, Unknown Artist, Late 11th Century - Early 12th Century |
Jamie - Bob Dylan wrote in Just Like a Woman - Queen Mary, she's my friend
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe I'll go see her again
Nobody has to guess
That Baby can't be blessed
Till she finally sees that she's like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamine and her pearls
She takes just like a woman, yes she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl.
Take from this what you will. You, however, nearly completed a circle I've never visualized. Gaia and Devi are from religions much older than Christianity. Those religions were concerned wit fertility. When you placed the Venus of Willendorf in the equation (even though she was a fertility figure) you contrasted the, "...Virgin Mary... not... as a goddess but rather a more relatable icon of fertility."
Regardless, the female was once represented as a symbol of fertility, a goddess and a protecting mother and, with the exception of Devi, didn't show the other "faces" of womanhood. As you state, "... terms like “earth”, “bearer” and “Divine all seem interchangeable when separately describing all three of these female figure(s)."
However, in most cases, the artist was a man and I wonder how that plays into it all? Nice job. I offer you the opportunity to return to this essay and dig deeper if you so wish. On a scale of 1 to 4, this was a 3.7