The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c11.82

v1.c11.82

**Maya, Prakrti, Sakti :** In Indian philosophical works, the concrete mother Umā passes into the abstract Māyā or delusion, i. e., the mystery by which the Great Spirit evolves the universe from within himself. The usual character assigned to that Spirit being a negation of all human faculties, wants and feelings, the mediation of Māyā became necessary to extricate the philosophers from the cocoon which they had woven around themselves. This Māyā then is the power which disturbs the calm repose of the Godhead, and excites him into action, and is, therefore, his energy or power, (*Śakti*), or his consort *Prakṛti*, or plastic nature. The Vedānta approves the term *Māyā* as it suits best its nondualistic dogma. The materialistic Sāṁkhya prefers *Prakṛti* or plastic nature as most consonant with its mode of exposition of the mystery of creation; and Śakti finds the greatest prominence in the Tantras as in accord with a purely anthropomorphic theory. The Purāṇas adopt these terms at option according to their particular leaning, some giving prominence to Māyā, some to Prakṛti, and some to Śakti. They all, however, accept the three words as synonymous. Thus, Umā is the same with Māyā, Śakti and Prakṛti of the Hindus, and with “Io, Isis, Astarte Ishtar, Mylitta, Sara, Maia, Mary, Meriam, Juno, Venus, Diana, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hera, Rhea, Cybele, Ceres, Eve, Frea, Frigga," &c, of other nations, everywhere representing the female principle in creation.³⁵ She is equal to the Godhead, because creation cannot be accomplished without her, and she is greater than God, because, she sets him into action. “Śakti gives strength to Śiva; without her he could not stir a straw. She is, therefore, the cause of Śiva."³⁶ Again, "of the two objects which are eternal the greater is the Śakti."³⁷ Mysticism revelled in these ideas, and developed them into a variety of forms. By herself Umā is a maiden or mother; united with the Godhead, she produces the androgynous figure of Ardhanārīśvara, the left half of a female joined along the mesian line to the right half of a male figure. Now, Rudra having been identified with the male principle, she necessarily becomes his wife, and as a symbol of the former is the *Liṅgam*, that of the latter is *Yoni*, which appears in art, as the crescent, the star, “the circle, the oval, the triangle, the door, the ark, the sheep, the fish, the charm, the cave,” various fruits, trees, and a host of other forms alike among the Hindus, the Egyptians and the mystics of Europe. The union of these symbols with those of the male principle, produces the innumerable cabalistic symbols, talismans, amulets and mystical diagrams, which have deluded mankind for ages, and still occupy so prominent a place in the history of religion. The *Liṅgam* and the *Yoni* united is the form in which Śiva appears most frequently in India, and is best known in our temples. It should be noticed however, that in the more ancient temples, the “upright”³⁸ or the emblem of the male principle is alone met with. In the great temple of Benares, it occurs to the entire exclusion of the modern symbol of the *Liṅgam* and the *Yoni* united into one.