Modesty

Hi. My name is Modesty...Modesty Blonde...Lajjā (Modesty) Gaurī (Blonde, White, Yellow) is a Hindu goddess associated with abundance, fertility and sexuality. 

She is invoked for abundant crops (vegetative fertility) and good progeny (human fertility)...

She is most often shown in a birthing posture, but without outward signs of pregnancy...

She has a blossoming lotus instead of her head and neck. Her arms are bent upwards, each holding a lotus stem...

So what's all this about? Who is Lajjā Gaurī? And what's with the lotus head?

Well let's see what Hindu legends tell us:

Lord Shiva and Lady Parvati were having sex after they got married. Just when they were reaching their orgasms, they were rudely interrupted by other Gods, who urgently needed to talk to Shiva about preserving world order or some similar rubbish...Parvati was so surprised by the sudden entry of the heavenly folk, that she picked up a full bloomed lotus and covered her face. And this is why she is called Lajja ("modesty") 🙂

How is this helping? Well, remember this?

The Ardhanarishvara, the union of Shiva and Parvati producing river Ganga...

Maximum monsoon, which feeds the river Ganga, falls in Jul/Aug.

At the meeting point of Summer (symbolized by Bull, mount of Shiva) and Autumn (symbolized by Lion, mount of Parvati)...

I talked about this in my article "Ardhanarishvara"

The "union of Shiva and Parvati", is just a calendar marker for the moment when Summer (Shiva, Bull) meets Autumn (Parvati, Lion)...

Why Bull and Lions? Well...

I talked about this in my article "Symbols of the seasons"... It's all to do with ancient animal calendar markers derived from the mating of birthing seasons of the depicted animals. 

Summer (May, Jun, Jul) starts in Taurus, calendar marker marking the beginning of the calving season of wild Eurasian cattle. 

And Autumn (Aug, Sep, Oct) starts in Leo, calendar marker marking the beginning of the Eurasian lions...

Anyway, when bull meets lion, or when lion catches bull...is when the monsoon peaks in India. The wettest part of the year... 

Monsoon which produces river Ganga, which is the source of the fertility of the land and the abundance (of food)...

Interestingly 🙂 river Ganga is said to come out of the top of the head of Shiva...Shiva, whose symbol is lingam, penis...So out of the top of which head exactly?  🙂 The upper one or lower one? Oh, Look! Ganga is pouring out of Shiva's head on top of a lingam...So symbolic...

Is Shiva another divine ejaculator in disguise? Like Mesopotamian Enki who ejaculates Tigris and Euphrates...Or Egyptian Min who ejaculates Nile (well ensures that nile floods)...Or Egyptian Atum who ejaculates Shu (air) and Tefunut (moisture), monsoon which feeds the Nile...

I think so...Rain is the heavenly semen with which Father Sky fertilizes Mother Earth...This heavenly semen then flows out of the earth as life giving rivers, Tigris, Euphrates, Ganga, Nile...

Anyway, look what Lajja Gauri holds on this relief: Shiva Lingam in one hand and Lion in the other...

Remember, River Ganga's flow peaks at the beginning of the main mating season of Eurasian lions. In Leo...Shiva (Lingam) ejaculates (produces) Ganga in Leo...

By the way, Lajjā Gaurī is sometimes depicted with with liquid (menstrual blood, amniotic fluid, urine???) gushing out of her vagina...

But is it actually water which is pouring out of Lajjā Gaurī's vagina? Living water (as flowing water out of a well is called in Serbia)...

Now have a look at this. A very interesting object from Harappa, dated to 2100-1750 BC and currently in New Delhi Museum, Huntington archives...

First, on the left, we see two lions facing each other. The monsoon peaks during the mating season of Eurasian lions, which starts in the middle of Leo (beginning of August)...

Then we see a sign in a shape of a person carrying water jugs. Northern India would be a desert if it wasn't for the annual monsoon which fills in the wells and rivers...

Then we see a sign in a shape of a growing tree, plant...India would not be a green paradise if it wasn't for the monsoon...

Then there are some yet undeciphered squiggles and then an upside-down Lajjā Gaurī with a lotus growing out of her vagina...

The whole thing is basically a description of how (Mother) Earth becomes fertile:

Lions start mating, monsoon peaks, lots of water, plants growing (urinating dog urinating dog urinating dog) Mother Earth happy, pregnant, giving birth to all life...(For the urinating dog joke explanation refer to the Discworld novels series 🙂)

Cool. Amazing...But why lotus flowers??? Well, Lotus is the herald of the peak of the rainy season....It's peak flowering season is July-August, the peak monsoon season in the Ganga river catchment area...

And during the rain season, lotus flowers cover the surface of the river...Her face...

There is another thing that the union of of Shiva and Parvati produces. Ganesha, elephant god...

Why elephant? Well, the peak of the elephant mating season coincides with the peak of the monsoon season...

And guess who rides on an elephant? Indra, the rain god of course... 

I talked about this in my articles "Ganesha" and "Musth"...

So it is the rain that falls during elephant mating season that makes lotus flowers open and makes soil fertile so grain can grow...And people can get fat, rich and happy...

Guess who is sitting or standing on a lotus, holding lotus flowers in her hands, surrounded by humping elephants? Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, fortune, love, beauty, joy and prosperity...

Modestly dressed, like a real lady, not some squatting naked whore, right?

Lakshmi is depicted in Indian art as an elegantly dressed, prosperity-showering golden-coloured (!!!) woman. She typically stands or sits on a lotus pedestal, while holding a lotus in her hand, symbolizing fortune, self-knowledge, and spiritual liberation (eeee WTF?, not rain?).

Lakshmi is very often shown with elephants. Elephants symbolize work, activity, and strength, as well as water, rain (!!!) and fertility for abundant prosperity (!!!).

Like on this cool 1st c. BC coin from Gandhara...Elephants on lotus flowers...Next to a naked (!!!) lady...

The Gupta period sculptures used to associate lion with Lakshmi too (!!!) which was later attributed to Durga or a combined form of both goddesses...Interesting...

Lakshmi, holding lotus and cornucopia, flanked by two elephants and two lions. From Kashmir, 6th century CE

Oh, look at this: An Indus Valley artefact showing a woman standing on an elephant, between two lions, under a wheel 

By pure "coincidence", this same wheel is the symbol of the Slavic rain god Perun and Slavic Sun god Svetovid...

Monsoon being the hottest and wettest part of the year...

By the way, Durga, Devi (Mother earth) at her most powerful (fertile), is also associated with lions. 9th century relief depicting Durga, the ultimate weapon of the gods, sitting on a lion and holding a trident...Most probably from Uttar Pradesh. (The Met)...

This is because Leo, Jul/Aug, when Indian monsoon peaks, is the beginning of the mating season of the Eurasian lions...

Apparently Durga, who rides on a lion was a super weapon created to "defeat a buffalo demon"...Buffalos  start their breeding season in Oct/Nov, at the beginning of the dry season in India...

Lions start their breeding season in Jul/Aug, the peak of wet season...

So Lion (rain) vanquishes buffalo (drought)...

I talked about Durga in my article "Mahishasuramardini"... 

By the way, aren't lions yellowish, golden in color????

So Lajjā Gaurī (who is Modest) is a Hindu goddess associated with  sexuality, fertility and abundance. And Lakshmi (who is Super Modest) is the goddess of wealth, fortune, love, beauty, joy and prosperity...

In agricultural societies wealth, abundance, prosperity, fortune and all directly linked to fertility...Human, animal and land fertility...And hence sex, love, joy, beauty...

Both Lajjā Gaurī and Lakshmi are associated with Lotus flowers (rain season)...These are all nicknames of Lakshmi:

Padmā: She of the lotus, 

Padmapriyā: Lotus-lover

Padmamālādhāra Devī: Goddess bearing a garland of lotuses

Padmamukhī: Lotus-faced (!!!)

Padmākṣī: Lotus-eyed (!!!)

Padmahasta: Lotus-hand (!!!)

Padmasundarī: She who is as beautiful as a lotus

They are both "golden"...They are both associated with elephants and lions...Could they be the same "goddess"? Well of course they are...

Anyway, you might find this interesting:

Slavic goddess Mokosh depicted as a Birth Giver. She is Spring, Summer, Autumn Mother Earth giving birth to nature (plants). She stands between the birds which symbolically depict the fertile part of the year between the arrival and departure of migratory birds...

But on a second glance, these birds look very much like peacocks...

The peacock's call is a loud trumpet-scream resembling the miaou of a gigantic cat. In Northern India it is said to form, the syllable “Menhao” meaning “Come Rain!” for the peacock is especially noisy at the approach of the rainy season...The most fertile time of the year in India...

If you are interested in animal (and plant) calendar markers, start here, then check the rest of the blog posts I still didn't add to this jump page (I got lazy after a while), and finally check my twitter threads @serbiaireland I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 11 months behind now...