Minakshi

Minakshi ( Sanskrit मीनाक्षी Mīnākṣī [ miːˈnɑːkʂiː ] "the fish-eyed") is a Tamil, Hindu goddess revered in South India and in parts of the Indian diaspora . It is to be assigned to the Gramadevatas . Minakshi is mother, war and patron goddess of fishermen. She is identified as the local manifestation of Parvati and was a great worshiper of the god Shiva. Minakshi is Vishnu's sister and Shiva's consort . Her home is the Minakshi Temple of Madurai , where, according to myth, the wedding between her and Shiva took place. Minakshi is depicted anthropomorphically with green skin, her attribute is a parrot and a bouquet of flowers. Occasionally she also carries a sword. It is usually shown next to two fish. Your Vahana is also a fish.

The name Minakshi means "the fish-eyed one". The interpretation of the name is unclear. It is mostly believed that the epithet "fish-eyed" refers to the beauty of the goddess' eyes, which have the long and graceful shape of a fish (similarly, in Indian poetry, the eyes of beautiful women are often compared to lotus leaves ). The name is partly explained by the fact that, according to Indian ideas, the gods, like fish, do not blink their eyes. The gaze ( darshana ) of the goddess plays a central role in rituals . The goddess is all look.

Minakshi is essentially a local deity who only manifests in the central shrine at her home temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu . There she is worshiped as the main deity together with her husband Shiva, who is called Sundareshvara there . However, it is the focus here. In South India there are also a few temples in which a side shrine is dedicated to Minakshi. In addition, emigrated Tamils built Minakshi temples in Port Louis , the capital of Mauritius , and in the Texas city of Pearland . The worship of Minakshi is also remotely related to its place of origin, Madurai.

Origin myth

One day Indra killed a "demon" even though it had not harmed anyone. This act brought a curse on Indra, forcing him to wander on and on until he went, looking for a way where no one would tell him where to go further to redeem him from his sin. After much wandering, Indra was relieved of his suffering by the power of a liberated shivalingam in a forest, and so he built a small temple at this point. It so happened that at that time in South India there was a Pandyan king named Malayadhwaja Pandiyan who ruled a small town called Manavur , which was very close to this Shivalingam. He was the son of Kulashekara Pandiyan. He came to learn about Shivalingam and decided to build a huge temple for Shiva in the Kandambavanam forest ( tamil vanam means forest). He also developed the region into a fine princely state called Madurai. The king was childless and was looking for an heir to the kingdom. Shiva bestowed his grace on him through an Ayonija child (a child who was not born from the womb). This child, born from the king's sacrificial fire, was three years old and actually the incarnation of the mother goddess Parvati, the wife of Shiva. She was raised like a boy.

She was born with three breasts and fish-shaped eyes. It was said that once she met her future husband, her extra breast would go away. It was called Minakshi from the words mina (i.e. fish) and aksi (i.e. eye).

It would become a Shiva- Shakti personification. After the death of the king, her father, she ruled the empire with great wisdom and skillful administration. She became a great warrior who wanted to conquer the whole world. In one of her expeditions and campaigns she went to the Himalaya Mountains and wanted to challenge the Lord of Shiva there. But at the sight of the god her additional third breast disappeared. Shiva managed to tame Minakshi. Overwhelmed with humility, innocence and shyness, she began to scratch the floor with her toe, embarrassed. So her character changed completely. Many of the goddesses and gods came to witness their marriage.

At the wedding celebrations in Madurai, the gods present refused to eat the food served until Shiva would not perform his majestic dance, the tandava , for everyone on site. In this place the dance of Chidambaran took place in front of his wife Minakshi. He embodied and fused all forces of life and beauty into one. In the end, Minakshi merged with the Shivalingam and became the representation of life and beauty. So Shiva managed to turn the great warrior and queen of battle into a shy girl and in the end an obedient and submissive wife. Together they rule the city, Shiva under the name Sundara Pandhya . Together they begat the god Kartikeya (Tamil Murugan ), who succeeded them as heir to the throne under the name Ugra Pandya as ruler of Madurai. Over time, Minakshi and Shiva disappeared from the city and retired to their temple. The god, it is said, returns there regularly to check on the residents and work numerous miracles. He remains the real ruler of the city.

literature

W. Norman Brown: The Name of the Goddess Mīnākṣī 'Fish-Eye' . In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 67 (1947). Pp. 209-214.
CJ Fuller: The divine couple's relationship in a south Indian temple: Mīnākṣī and Sundareśvara at Madurai. In: History of Religions 19 (1980). Pp. 321-348.
Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4

Individual evidence

^ Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4
^ Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4
^ ^A ^b Gerhard J. Bellinger : Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-8289-4154-0 , page 330: Minatciyamman
^ Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4
^ Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4
^ Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4
↑ Axel Michaels, Der Hinduismus, CH Beck Verlag, Munich 1998, page 162
^ Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4
↑ ^a ^b Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4
^ Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4
^ Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4

[1] Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4

[2] Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4

[Bellinger-3] A ^b Gerhard J. Bellinger : Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-8289-4154-0 , page 330: Minatciyamman

[4] Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4

[5] Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4

[6] Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4

[7] Axel Michaels, Der Hinduismus, CH Beck Verlag, Munich 1998, page 162

[8] Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4

[Richman-9] Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4

[10] Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4

[11] Paula Richman (ed.), Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Asian devotional genre. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8248-1063-4