Gayatri (goddess)
Gayatri ( Sanskrit . F., गायत्री, Gāyatrī ) is a Hindu goddess and is regarded as the personification of the Gayatri mantra , the most important Vedic hymn, and thus as its personal aspect. The mythology describes her as wife of the creator god Brahma .
The iconography shows Gayatri as a goddess sitting in a lotus flower, often with five heads, with two, four or ten arms and with a swan as a companion animal. Together with Savitri, the sun, and with Sarasvati , goddess of wisdom and art, she represents the three phases of the sun in the course of the day, but also the mantra sung three times a day: Gayatri here stands for the rising sun and morning prayer; Savitri embodies the sun at noon and the noon prayer while Saraswati represents the setting sun and the evening prayer. Often the writings consider Gayatri to be identical to Savitri and Saraswati.
In this context, the sun not only means the physical celestial body that creates all of life and on which it depends, it also serves as a metaphor with spiritual meaning in Hindu scriptures.
An example from the Upanishads :
- O Gayatri, you are the life force and the shine in everything
- You are the source and nourishment of the heavenly ones
- You are the universe and also its existence
- You are everything that exists and its lifespan
- You surpass everything
- You are the truth of pranava (om)
- I awaken you as Gayatri, giver of enlightenment
- I awaken you as Savitri, giver of life
- I awaken you as Sarasvati, giver of wisdom
- (Mahanarayana Up.XXV.1)
mythology
According to mythology, Gayatri became the second wife of the creator god Brahma by chance: when he wanted to perform a ritual that required the presence of his wife Sarasvati, she was a long time coming. Brahma immediately married Gayatri so that he could perform the ritual. When Saraswati found out about this, she angrily cursed Brahma for being the center of religious worship only once a year.
Another story from Bengal connects Gayatri with Vishnu , who had three wives, besides her, Saraswati and Ganga. However, these two argued constantly and that is why he finally gave Ganga to Shiva and Saraswati to Brahma. He himself kept Gayatri as the only woman.
literature
- Swami Harshananda: Hindu Gods and Goddesses , Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras-600004
- Anneliese and Peter Keilhauer: The Imagery of Hinduism , Dumont Buchverlag