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chapter II Major goddesses 59 The 'great-mothers are the representations of the pregnant
goddesses of fertility and are looked upon throughout the world as the
goddesses of fertility and of childbearing. They are the cult-objects of
not only women but also of men; representing the archetypal symbol
of fertility, and also of sheltering, protecting and of nourishing.
A belief in the maternal potentialities of the female was a
prevailing element in the religion of the Indus valley civilization. And
in the opinion of H.D.Sankalia', since the mother-goddesses figurines
of baked clay are found only in Sindh and Baluchistan specially, at
Mohen-jo-Daro and the Harappa in large numbers, these are regions
of widespread Mother Goddess cult. It is a widely accepted opinion of
a good number of scholars that in the Vedic religion that no female
deity in general was given any significant position and only a
subordinate role was designated to them either as consorts of the male
divinities or, as tutelary goddesses. The concept of the one goddess
who was a blend of the major as well as minor functional aspects was
a later outcome. This blend assimilated within it both the traits of
Vedic as well as that of tantric worship.
Classification of the goddesses.
Classification is an essential element of order. It helps in
categorization and the systematic arrangement of data for
understanding the nature of a deity Dange S.A has classified the
mother goddesses, on the basis of the sacrifice and the victim offered
to the mother goddess. The victim offered to the mother goddesses is
Sankalia H.D., 'Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan. p.155, Bombay 1962
Dange S.A.
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