REL 1300 Highlights and Lowlights Summer 2009: Paper 1

Only three papers were handed in, and all of them were good. So there are no glaring errors: these are just minor flaws in good papers.

First, an example of a vacuous explanation:

"Devi is a leader because other gods look up to her and come to her for help. When a certain god is in need of aid, they rely on Devi to do so. Her powers over rule other gods which means she is beyond powerful in comparison to humans. Hence, she is followed and admired by many."

People followed Alexander the Great because of his many victories. Devi has many victories so people follow her. The same explanation in each case, right?

No. People believed Alexander the Great had many victories because his battles were witnessed by thousands of people, some of whom lived to tell the tales. But Devi's victories take place in stories. Why did people believe and tell those stories about Devi? Until that question is answered, we cannot explain devotion to Devi by invoking those victories. It isn't that what is written above is false, it's just shallow.

A deeper explanation:

"The River Goddesses, for example, were always considered important divine beings in the help of blooming harvests and bringing abundant life to food production and growth (Ganesh WS-60). The connections between fertility, sowing seasons, blood sacrifices and the role of goddesses as a force in funerary ceremonies, cremations, and the granting of boons and rebirth, makes the Goddess the center of all life and death together."

(Ganesh WS-60 is a reference to Ganesh, Kamala, "Mother Who Is Not A Mother: In Search of the Great Indian Goddess", Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 25 (October, 1990).)

Here, belief in the goddess is linked to natural events that are connected with feminine qualities such as birth and fertility, which in turn is linked to blood (because of menstruation and childbirth) and therefore death which is necessary to complete the cycle. We can see how the symbolism of goddesses was linked to the kind of life that people were actually living. That then is a deep rather than a shallow explanation.

Back to REL 1300.