Question: Did rAma or ikshvAkus (his ancestral dynasty or raghu clan) worship female Goddesses?
Answer: vAlmiki rAmAyaNa is silent. SitA prayed the River Goddess yamuna, while crossing the river. Agastya's hermitage which rAma visited during the fag end of his exile in forest, along with SitA and lakshmaNa, contained about 17 places dedicated to Gods/Goddesses. It included a place for the Goddess 'bhagavati'.
rAma, and daSaratha performed horse sacrifices to please God Indra. Once ancestor king ambarIsha performed sacrifices to satisfy God vishNu. The vAlmiki rAmAyan does not at least mention that they were regular worshippers of Goddess lakshmi.
Question: What is the trigger for this comment by you?
Ans: In India, in the State of Andhra Pradesh, two top police bosses (Director Generals of Police or DGPs) are fighting for the post of the Head of Police force in the State. Court cases are pending.
26th July 2012: The local newspapers Andhra Jyothi and Deccan Chronicle reported that the rival-aspirant-claimant DGP Mr. Umeshkumar and his family had performed some kshudra pUjAs (ignoble worships - witchcraft?) in a temple for Goddess pratyangira at rAmakrishnApuram, in the outskirts of the Hyderabad City, for destruction of his enemies (presumably the incumbant DGP Mr. dinEsh reDDy).
Having come to know of the worship, the incumbant DGP Mr. dinEsh reDDy's subordinate police officers are investigating into the affair.
The Andhra jyOthi newspaper claimed that performing rituals and sacrifices to Goddess pratyangira was an ancient practice and that rAma, and krishNa too did the pratyangira worship before going to battles.
The newspaper seems to have received the information from the pratyangirA temple priests and organisers. Temple priests, trustees, and Executive Officers have a habit of claiming great powers and miracles for the Gods and Goddesses, their temples have. They often quote the scripture skAndha purAna for their claims. This skAndha purANa is a sort of "fluid" without any specific shape or form. Anybody can draw anything from it.
This pratyangirA temple has I.A.S. Officers and political leaders as its customers. (According to one temple trustee, kshudra pUjAs (evil or tAntrik worships) are performed in grave yards and not in temples. The prayers, rituals and sacrifices which take place in temples always have noble goals and are not kshudra (evil witchcraft).
The newspaper Andhra jyOthi made a good distinction between a kshudra pUja (evil witchcraft like worship) and virtuous worship. This virtuous worship, we can probably call bhadra pUja? Something done for own good or somebody's good is supposed to be a positive worship. Something done for destruction of others is kshudram or evil.
If prayers take place in American and European churches for victory of NATO forces, do they become kshudram or bhadram? Simultaneously, if prayers take place in pAkisthAni, or Iranian mosques for destruction of Nato forces do they become kshudram or bhadram?
Humans classify and justify whatever they do whimsically.
Things have reached to such a sordid state, that we have to view everything cynically.
Added on 28 July 2012:
*The essence of atharvaNa vEda (the fourth sacred book of hindus) mainly is annihilation of enemies using both physical weapons and magic chants and witchcraft. Animosity between enemies need not always be of invading or sharing kingdoms. It can even be envy between two rivals seeking the same girl, where one lover succeeds in getting the girl, while the other rival is left in the lurch. The lover who got the girl will also perform motivated worships to preserve his girl and prevent her being snatched away or weaned away by his rival. Details of some of such chants and rituals, readers may see at yb blog: (click to go to)atharvaNavEdayb.blogspot.com.
Mr. Dinish Reddy, the Director General of Police, Andhra Pradesh State (the Officer who became the boss superseding umEshkumar who happened to be his senior) spoke to the media. It seems that he has warned the temple authorities against allowing worships placing 'liquor and meat' on the idols. One gets an impression, that an FIR could not be registered, as an appropriate Section of Indian Penal Code could not have been identified or adequate admissible and tangible evidence was not available.
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