Birthing the Goddess explores the Birthing myths and traditions. Five close friends with a common interest in exploring the mysteries of the Feminine Divine, come together again for their second journey after the success of their first joint publication, Experiencing the Goddess (2019).
Anamika Roy in her fascinating essay traces the birth of Radha, a female deity emerging in the early medieval Indian religious and literary scenario.
Janet Chawla beautifully captures the sense of magic that birth is seen to hold in traditional belief and her essay is only a fragment of her 25-year-long fascinating research on the traditional birthing practices across India.
Nilima Chitgopekar in her visually charged, vivid and evocative essay traces Durga’s birth and feats.
Seema Kohli navigates the continuity of birth and death through the ideas of ‘Hiranyagarbha’ and ‘Martanda’. This essay surveys her connection with the Golden Womb and Martanda: not only through her artworks and poems but also through life anecdotes and shared personal histories and memories.
Stella Dupuis takes us through a magnificent ride around the world, from the stories of Amazonian woman warriors to the Sati memorial stones of India. Through rich iconographic references, she presents the different ways the world has perceived birth, death, fertility, and immortality.
The book is a delightful dive into the many spiritual and artistic tales of birth. It is a collection of essays brimming with brilliant scholarship and creative ideas on the many facets of birth.
Introduction vii
1. Radha Was Created Not Born 1
—Anamika Roy
2. Birth as Magic and Dai as the Shaman 19
—Janet Chawla
3. Not from the Womb – Birthing in the Devi Mahatmya 37
—Nilima Chitgopekar
4. Journey of Surya, from Martanda to Hiranyagarbha – 49
Immortal Cycle of Creation and Recreation
—Seema Kohli
5. Birth of a Hero – The Pursuit of Immortality 91
—Stella Dupuis
Contributors 117
Seema Kohli is an experimental, internationally acclaimed artist. She is a multidisciplinary artist working with various visual, performative, and literary mediums. Her work is a celebration of the female form and energy as the source of the twin forces of creation and destruction. There is a focused engagement with the concept of Hiranayagarbha or The Golden Womb. She attempts to create new artistic identities by reshaping belongings, bringing the past and the present into a dialogue through a process of decay, hybridization and transformation.
