The presiding deity of my hometown is Durga. My grandmother was named after her. Not just women, men too adopt her name as a prefix. My best friend’s name is Durga Srinivas. Just type Durga in the search bar and you’ll see a number of male names pop up. Durga is the primeval unity that encompasses the trinity of Lakshmi, Sarawati, Parvati (ముగురమ్మల మూలపుటమ్మ).
My mother was named after Lakshmi, an aspect of Durga. Lakshmi is a very common female first name. I was named after Lakshmi too. My first name means – ‘gift of Lakshmi’. The other more widley known Lakshmi owns one of the largest steel companies in the world.
Our country is anthropomorphically imagined as the mother goddess Bharati, not too different from female national personifications of Columbia, Britannia, Marianne, Italia Turrita. Bharati is an epithet of Saraswati, an aspect of Durga. ‘India, that is Bharat’ is the name of the republic.
Durga was the guiding force behind India’s first freedom struggle, the Sannyasi rebellion. 170 years later, when it gained independence, India became one of the founding members of United Nations. Three decades later, in 1977, the UN officially recognised 8th March as International Women’s Day.
Notwithstanding that, since 1979, India has been celebrating 13th February as National Women’s Day commemorating the birth centenary of the nightingale of India, freedom fighter Smt. Sarojini Naidu. Sarojini, meaning ’the one who’s seated on a lotus throne’, is just another name of Lakshmi, an aspect of Durga.
Trivia aside, I meant to say ‘Happy International Women’s Day’ !
lakshmiprasadj 