The Goddess in your Home

To her from whom we derive our strength,
our powers, our vision, our grace,
where does she dwell?
In our dreams, our inspiration,
Our breath, our space?

Who is your Goddess?

Which Goddess are you, in the shape of your beliefs,
in the sweep of your work, in the grace of your home?

I am about to share with you a book which has long been my favourite "Goddess at Home" by A. Bronwyn Llewellyn. This book introduces the seven Greek Goddesses- Aphrodite, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Hera, Hestia & Persephone and goes on to explain how you can infuse your home with a divine grace worthy of the Goddess in you. Specific characteristics of the goddesses and their symbolism is explained with examples of ways to welcome her home by adding specific objects, colours, patterns or motifs reminiscent of her.

This is will be 1st of a series of posts where I will share with you in brief one Goddess and how you can honour and represent her in your home. I've been debating which Goddess to post about 1st Athena or Artemis? Athena it will have to be- The Goddess of the Arts, Wisdom & Civilisation. "Legend has it that Athena sprang out in a shower of gold from her father Zeus’s head resplendent in gleaming armour, brandishing a spear and emitting a fearsome war cry. Immediately she won Zeus’s favour- she was without question her father’s daughter and some say his equal. Only to her did he reveal the secret hiding place of his thunderbolts. Although clothed in accoutrements of war Athena is not warlike. Instead she represents a just and compassionate strategist, mediator and protector.”

“There is no better place to attend to the affairs of the mind than in the office of Athena, because she stands for focused attention and clarity of thought.”

“Architecture falls under this goddess’ domain, with its combination of precision, mathematics, science and beauty. Add classically inspired molding columns or a pediment to a room or doorway for a note of dignified grace. Place a potted violet on your desk to connote wisdom.”

Bring order and brightness to your workspace with neat and colourfully organised storage devises.
“Crafts and handiwork were of special importance to Athena. She taught cooking and weaving to Pandora the 1^st woman. She taught the craftsmen how to make chariots of bronze.” We may not all be artists but we can surely appreciate the beauty in a beautiful painting or a sculpture and notice how it changes in lamplight and daylight.

“Athena was often called grey eyed or ‘owl eyed’ goddess. The greeks believed that the owl had a magical inner light that enabled it to see in the dark. Call on this bird of prey’s powers to hunt down those elusive ideas that scurry in the corners of your imagination.” You can find owl motifs in artwork or use a small figurine to invoke these powers.

From Aggstatic’s flickr photostream

From abbey chritine’s photostream

“Even the mightiest of heroes of Greek legend felt their courage falter in the face of terrible monsters and insurmountable obstacles. In those times Athena allayed their dread and gave them heart. She replaced their anger with reason and their fear with determination. Make a place for pictures quotes or other reminders of your heroes, whoever they maybe”
“Athena illuminated those she protected by clarifying their thoughts or quite literally lighting their way along a dangerous path. Her insight and intelligence pierced doubt and ignorance like a beam of light in darkness. "

from Alexix Wheeler’s flickr photostream

"The symbols of Intellect: Crow, Crystal, Flute, trumpet, music, Loom (productivity, strategy, intricacy of thought), Owl (nourishment, victory, peace, well-bein, honour), Thunderbolt (flashes of inspiration, power, realisation, ideas.

The colours of creativity: Blue (imagination, truth), Orange (communication), Turquoise (insight), Yellow (wisdom, power, illumination)

Women who have exemplified Athenian focus and accomplishment include Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth, Eleanor Roosevelt, Katharine Hepburn, Coco Chanel, Margaret thatcher and Erin Brockovitch. "

And among Indians I would include Indira Gandhi, Shabana Azmi, Arundhati Roy and Sania Mirza- who can you think of? And I'd love it if you could share with me how you already do or intend to bring in the Athenian spirit to your home :)

Colourful Indian Popular art

Neon green, bright orange, Rani pink, turquoise blue- bring on the COLOUR, we are Indians! Our temples, our clothes and our temperaments are decidedly colourful – we even marry off our brides in red

....and have an entire festival dedicated to colour.

Our films are a cornucopia of emotions, we like our comedy, tragedy, romance and thrills in one go And when we eat instead of sequential courses- ours is a spread that brings it all together

I needed to give this overview to context the brilliant unabashed colour that is now going to hit your eye :) Welcome to Indian popular art!

This is stuff that we’ve seen lining the pavements, as posters and wall calenders- The gods we worship are illustrated thus :

" Roadside display of poster and calendar art (Daryaganj, Delhi, 2000)"

"Dhanya Lakshmi. The goddess of wealth with tractor and tube-well in the background, signs of industrial agrarian prosperity.(Artist: Sapar Brothers, Publisher unknown)."

"Ya Ghaus-e Azam: a woman pays her homage to the shrine of Saint Abdul Qadir Jilani in Baghdad (Iraq) who is considered in high esteem by all Sufis in South Asia. The devotee wears typically north Indian dress while the saint’s miracles (of saving a drowning boat and others) are seen in the backdrop. It rare to see an Indian poster showing the persona of a saint.Artist: unknown, Publisher: Brijbasi, date: circa 1990"

When I was putting together this post I came across a site: Tasveerghar and a book on Indian popular art. 'India Bazaar' ( by Taschen Publications) is this beautiful book filled with posters, packaging, advertisements and calendars done in the inimitable Indian poster style. The Hindu god Shiva and his consort Parvati

The Favourite Elephant headed god, Lord Ganesha in an earlier illustration & a current version
Freedom Fighters all. Posters and charts- M.K Gandhi to the left and the many freedom fighters across generations
Firecracker packaging featuring Indian film stars to the left & a boy and girl illustrated in a style from the 60s.

"Tasveer Ghar is a trans-national virtual “home” for collecting, digitizing, and documenting various materials produced by South Asia’s exciting popular visual sphere including posters, calendar art, pilgrimage maps and paraphernalia, cinema hoardings, advertisements, and other forms of street and bazaar art." Tasveerghar is the place on the net to check out a serious and methodical approach to Indian popular art

A Hindi Film star Kajol used as decor on an Auto rickshaw

Filmposters with Muslim storylines. Note the predominant green.

Packaging.
Graphic design- Indian style.

There's a lot more which typically constitutes Indian popular art like 'Truck graphics& vehicle art' 'Signage graphics' 'Bollywood posters' but each of that will be a separate post :) Do tell me if you'd like to anymore in this space.

Images from GettyImages, IndiaBazaar, Tasveerghar.net & Streetgraphics India.

Dhoop: Its sunlight all the way

A welcome break from my travel tales! I can’t wait any longer to share with you guys pictures of my favourite store for gifting- ‘Dhoop’ which roughly means ‘bright sunlight’ has a lot to offer under one roof. From artefacts to knick-knacks to jewellery, its really like stepping into a world where you can shut your eyes and pick anything & trust that it will be well liked. And all the time you are at the store you will be ably guided in your decisions by the very affable Mr. Rammy Nagpal. Here’s a quick look at some of Dhoop's treasures.

The doors double up as frames which beautifully capture 'Dhoop' and the sunlight theme.

A Beautiful copper buddha bust is the 1st thing you see as you enter.
Dhoop also has a great terrace garden which doubles up as great dispaly space for their amazing range of terracotta ware, natural fibre mats, and a collection of rustic wooden stools.
They have a lot of lamps. Suspended...and in all hues of the rainbow...

Super bright & super ethnic pouches & purses in multicoloured baskets.
They also have a great assortment of Incense, aroma products & a variety of ceramic holders for the same.
Candle holders and Handpainted stools..

Stylised untensils from the east of the country....
...to beautiful ceramic 'leaf platters'
I loved their stunning marble tablewear!

Little ceramic tiles framed in wood makes for great coasters.

And I will leave you this surprising discovery- they have a lot of traditional board games that are a rare find these days. There's another post coming up on Dhoop which will showcase a lot more of their stuff and maybe even a tete-a-tete with Aradhana Nagpal the brain behind this show...

Tsuglagkhang- McLeod Gunj

Tsuglagkhang is the main temple complex in McLeod Gunj, I had heard. For most of us in India temples are synonymous with architecture that dates back atleast 5 centuries & even if the temple is new no effort is spared to replicate its predecessors. So I walked up the concrete stairs of Tsuglakhang with a strange sense of anticlimax, forgetting that this was built by a people and culture in exile. But that said, there was no mistaking the sense of sacred in the open terraces of the temple and the sanctum sanctorum. Here the Silences were at home, as monks went about their prayers undisturbed by the constant stream of tourists.

Stupas : "The Tibetan Stupa is a precise traditional structure that transforms and harmonizes imbalances in elements and energies.It is a symbol of the enlightened mind of the Buddha and of our own potential as human beings. The form and contents of the stupa expresses the balance and purification of the five basic building blocks of the universe: earth, water, fire, air and space and also the wisdom and compassion of Buddha nature, the true nature of all living beings.more about stupas" Open terraces
This faced the main sanctum sanctorum...

....and held numerous little brightly polished lamps ready to be lit.


The main temple houses larger than life statues of the Buddha, Padmasambhava and Avalokiteshwara.

The hall is lined on either side by beautiful Tibetan Thangka paintings

Padmasambhava- This image is from shunya.net
Details of the throne on which the Buddha is seated.
Details of one of the many Thangka paintings

The temple also houses one of the largest collections of sacred Tibetan texts.

Around the main temple the corridors are lined with prayer wheels that you can spin while you circumambulate around the sanctum.

I mentioned the tourists :)

Some monks you knew not to disturb

The others were gracious and actually smiled for you :)