[Advaita-l] 'Kuladevataa' concept in Kalidasa's Kumarasambhavam

[Raghav Kumar Dwivedula]

Namaste Subbu ji
That was an interesting argument against Vaishnava sectarianism by invoking
Kalidasa's works and it certainly advances the case for the Hindu Dharma
supporting and endorsing a non-sectarian approach.

Many Hindus take for granted the fact the Vedas validate different forms of
worship and ultimately don't privilege one form over another. Such Hindus
have to be informed that there are vigorous efforts on by scholarly
sectarian (an oxymoron?) Vaishnavas now and even earlier which purport to
prove that the Vedic tradition only accepts Sri Mahavishnu as the highest
form and that equal status to other forms like Shiva and Shakti etc., was a
post-Shankara historical development. Therefore it's sometimes necessary
for Advaitins to state and establish what is self-evident to most Hindus
that all forms of Ishvara are equally exalted.

I take it that your post is in that direction..

Om
Raghav

On Wed, 25 Sep, 2019, 5:38 AM V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> The concept of Kuladevataa is timeless. Even as ancient as in Kalidasa's
> times we see the idea in vogue in Vedic families. Here is an instance in
> the Kumarasambhava, in the episode of Parvati's wedding:
>
> https://sa.wikisource.org/s/6cr
>
>
> *तामर्चिताभ्यः कुलदेवताभ्यः कुलप्रतिष्ठां प्रणमय्य माता
> ।**अकारयत्कारयितव्यदक्षा
> क्रमेण पादग्रहणं सतीनाम् ।। ७.२७ ।।*
> *Mena Devi, the wife of Himavan, made Parvati bow to all the family deities
> that had been worshiped. Also the sumangali-s who were there on the
> occasion too were shown that respect by Parvati. All this happened just
> before the actual pani-grahanam, on the day of the wedding.    *
>
>      अन्वयः- कारयितव्यदक्षा माता कुलप्रतिष्ठां ताम् अर्चिताभ्यः
> कुलदेवताभ्यः प्रणमय्य सतीनां पादग्रहणं क्रमेण अकारयत् ।
>     Mallinatha's commentary  मल्लिo- तामिति । कारयितव्येषु दक्षा कारयित्री
> । कर्मोपदेशकुशलेत्यर्थः । माता मेना प्रतितिष्ठत्यस्यामिति प्रतिष्ठा ।
> `आतश्चोपसर्गे' इति कः स्त्रियां टाप् । कुलस्य प्रतिष्ठां कुलालम्बनभूताम् ।
> स्थितिकारिणीमित्यर्थः । तां गौरीम् । अर्चिताभ्यः पूजिताभ्यः *कुलदेवताभ्यो
> गृहदेवाभ्यः प्र*णमय्य प्रणामं कारयित्वा ।
>
>
> That families had a deity to which special worship is offered first during
> all important occasions is known from the above. The very name
> 'kula-devataa' signifies that a deity is specific to a family/lineage. If
> there was a mandatory worship of only one deity by everyone, the
> adjective/prefix 'kula' would be meaningless. This shows that not just one
> deity was worshiped. The plural in the verse shows that there were many
> deities that were together called 'kuladevataa-s'. This practice was in
> vogue from extremely ancient times. Kalidasa is very old in time compared
> to Shankaracharya.
>
>
> Many other evidences for the idea of Kuladevata can be seen here:
>
>
>
> https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/2016/12/15/the-concept-of-kuladevata-family-deity/
>
>
>
> Om Tat Sat
>
> subbu
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