Back from a harrowing journey, a tumultuous and somewhat absurd romantic quest that took me to Montreal and then down the eastern states of the USA to as far south as Georgia, then eventually back to Wyoming, and without the company of her who I had set out to find on said quite Quixotic misadventure. Upon returning to Laramie, I had intentions of moving into a cave in the foothills of the mountains on the east side of town to devote myself to yoga and meditation, but was dissuaded by my younger sister, who was visiting our dad. She convinced me to move into her old camper van which was sitting parked and immobile in front of our childhood family home, as the Wyoming winter was fast approaching. Shortly thereafter my dad informed me that I had a healthy chunk of money coming, apparently as inheritance from his parents who had died around the beginning of my journey in 2005. I bought a computer and the first cell phone I'd had since I was in graduate school, and payed off a few debts.
I spent my days and nights in Laramie playing with my new HP laptop, and writing a travel narrative of my trip to Montreal and ensuing wanderings, and of the many mostly magical wanderings and adventures that ensued after I dropped out of grad school and got divorced. I was rather exceedingly depressed from the loss of both "Beloved" and the wonderful white wolf-dog who had travelled with me for about eight years who I had to leave in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and who was later put to sleep by the kind women I left him with for the macadamia nut poisoning that had paralyzed his hind quarters. I had fed him bites of the sprouted fruit and nut bread that had become a regular part of my diet, not knowing the effects of said nut on canines.
Traveling back in my memories and recounting some of the most magical and poignant experiences of the decade lived as a wandering mystic hippy freak in order to write my later published travel narrative, Memories and Musings of a Post-Postmodern Nomadic Mystic Madman, was proving cathartic, but I very much missed the hometown hippy crew, my Rainbow "family," as most had moved away after finishing college or otherwise wandered to other climes than the cold high plains and mountains of Wyoming. Oddly, I found some semblance of the camaraderie and good company I had known in those best of days in a TV show I seemingly randomly came across on the internet. I found some solace in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who I quite immediately figured was intended, by whatever or whosever intention, as multiform expression of Durga, the Great Mother as a Slayer of demons, Consort of Shiva, God the Destroyer. As a devotee of Shakti, the Divine Feminine, Buffy the Vampire Slayer fit quite well with my devotions to Her.
In the dream sequence towards the beginning of the pilot episode, visions of a graveyard and tombs fades into an image of Shiva Nataraja, God the Destroyer as the Lord of the Dance of the Universe.
Shiva and Parvati (in various forms) are said to inhabit the cremation grounds, crypts and tombs, as is shown at the beginning of Buffy's dream. The immediate appearance of the well-known Shiva Nataraja murti (sacred statue) well enough verifies that trope. These hints granted at the outset of the show give clear clue to the theme of the series. Despite the overt focus on Western mythology, demonology and other mostly European esoteric traditions, subtly it is the mythology of Durga, also known as Parvati, and Her Consort Shiva and their various forms, family and associates that provides the overriding theme and trope of the series: What if Goddess Durga, Goddess Mother of the Universe, the most well known and beloved Goddess in the world, came to earth and lived as a High School cheerleader?
Giles, Buffy's "Watcher," has a Shiva Nataraj murti in his office in the library, sitting unobtrusively in the background in a number of episodes, including in season 1 episode 4, shown below.
In S1 E12, Giles is shown talking on the telephone, concerned about the prophecy of the Slayer's demise--with a significant portion of the Shiva Nataraj murti taking up a quarter of the shot in the foreground. The next shot shows that the camera view from the last shot would have been where the wall is, and then again the view granted is from behind the Nataraja murti. I dare say this is more than a mild hint that Joss and company certainly had something in mind with the prop placement of this scene...
Xander, introduced in the pilot episode, is obviously intended (by whoever...) as a multiform expression of Skanda, a war god who is Son of Shiva and who is thus also considered Durga's Son, even though he was spontaneously generated when Shiva ejaculated into the Ganges River, and thus technically had no biological mother. Skanda, also known as Kartikeya, took form to destroy an evil demon called Tarakasura. Skanda's "Mother" is a form of Durga called Skanda Mata, The Protector of Children (a role Buffy certainly plays in "Killed by Death, S2 E18), who is one of the Nine Durgas (Navdurga) and is associated with the seven Matrikas who are identified with the constellation of the Pleiades. Skanda, also called Muruga, is the Overlord of Mars and as noted is a war god. Skanda married two women, one of whom is sometimes touted to be a reformed demoness who used to be "devourer of children" named Shashthi who was made into a Devi (a Goddess), Shashthi Mata, also a Protector of Children like Skanda's "Mother," Durga as Skanda Mata.
To draw the parallels, Xander's mother, Jessica Harris, is only shown in the episode wherein Xander is supposed to get married, "Hell's Bells" (S6 E16), although she is mentioned or is only heard on the phone or arguing with Xander's father in twenty-three episodes. Thus the absent/non-existent mother, as is somewhat the case with Skanda. Xander's father shows up in two episodes, in "Hell's Bells" and briefly in season 4 episode 22, "Restless," wherein all the gang meets "the Original Slayer" in a dream. The Original Slayer, a black woman, is clearly intended (whether by Joss or some muse) to represent Kali Ma, Durga as a Black Goddess (Kali Ma literally translates as "Black Mama"). One very interesting scene in this regard is when Willow is being attacked by the First Slayer in the stage curtains, who suddenly transforms into Buffy grabbing Willow's arm to help her up.
In season 2 episode 6, "Halloween," Xander becomes an "army guy," his toy machine gun becomes an M-16 and suddenly he knows all sorts of military stuff, the which comes in handy in episode 14 when the scoobs have to steal a bazooka to destroy a demon known as "the Judge," and in S3 E22, Graduation Day, when the students must be mobilized to battle the mayor and his vampire guards. Xander's "military background" acquired in season 1 also surfaces at other moments throughout the course of the series. Skanda is known the "Commander of the Divine Army," a title He was given upon leading the battle against Tarakasura and his two demon brothers and their army of demons.
In season 2 episode 9, Buffy and her crew are in the sights of the bounty hunters known as The Order of Taraka, more than a subtle nod to Skanda's slaying of the demon Tarakasura--again, whether consciously intended by Whedon or no. Xander is directly involved in the fight with one member of the Order of Taraka, as he and Cordelia are attacked by a member of the Order who turns into the worm guy. At the end of the episode, Xander and Cordelia (who certainly figures as one of Skanda's two Consorts, Valli), help to destroy the three assassins of The Order of Taraka by smooshing the worm guy, not entirely unlike Skanda leading the army of the Devas (Gods) and slaying Tarakasura and his two demon brothers. Xander later hooks up with an ex-demon named Anya who obviously figures as Skanda's other consort Devasena, also known as Shashthi Mata, who as noted used to be a demon who ate kids, who then became their protector.
It is also in S2 E9 that another Slayer shows up, a black woman named Kendra who was "called" to be the Slayer as Buffy had briefly died. Kali Ma ("Black Mama") and Gauri Ma ("Golden Mama") are understood as the same Goddess in different forms, rather like how Buffy and Kendra are both "the Slayer" at the same time.
Insofar as who might figure in the show as Shiva, Durga's Consort? Shiva has "Five Heads," and so I figure Angel, Parker Abrams, Riley Finn, Spike and Giles are the "Five Heads" of Shiva, i.e., the guys Buffy had sex with and her "Watcher." Giles's Buffy, in rather "Freudian" terms (in the broadest sense), is another "Kali Ma," Olivia Williams, who appears with Giles and Buffy in a carnival scene in S4 E22, and then weeping after he ditches her for his responsibility as Buffy's Watcher/Father figure, shortly before Giles is attacked by the First Slayer. Note the Hindu Deity Vishnu on the left side of the screen, His Chakram represented as a carnival game hoop around Vishnu's upper left hand.
"Spike" might be a personification of Shiva Linga, literally Shiva's phallus. This metaphor is clearly evinced by Spike's demise, when he destroys Sunnydale as the dynamo of God the Destroyer's power via the amulet given him by Angel via Buffy, as the "Hell Mouth" collapses into a giant hole that swallows the whole city.
Of other hints granted to the subtle "Hindu" theme to the show, a number of inadvertent clues are granted over the course of the series. In S1 E11, Angel and Giles are in the library talking about the invisible girl. Giles is shelving a small stack of books, and comments that his "own volumes have been rather useless of late," then the camera shows the books Giles is holding and focuses on The Legends of Vishnu, as Angel reads the title out-loud, "The Legends of Vishnu..."
In the opening scene of S2 E5, "Reptile Boy," Buffy, Xander and Willow are watching a Bollywood movie.
Buffy: I think she's singing.
Xander: ...to a telephone in Hindi. Now that entertainment! Why is she singing?
Willow: She's sad because her lover gave her twelve gold coins, but then the wizard cut open the bag of salt, and now the dancing minions don't have anywhere to put their big May-Pole fish thing.
The lingum and the May-Pole of the European pagan tradition are both similarly worshiped at the beginning of spring (respective to the respective climates), on Shivaratrti in late February or March and on Beltane somewhere around May 1.
The above image is from S3 E3, "Faith, Hope and Trick," and shows Willow and Oz. Oz is wearing a T-shirt that says "MANTRA WORLD." Mantra is a Sanskrit term for sacred intonations, "magic words," generally chanted in Sanskrit, the sacred language used by Hindus and Buddhists.
In S5 E21, as Dark Willow has cornered Jonathon and Andrew in the Magic Box, Anya chants a Sanskrit mantra in the corner to quell Willows power to allow the boys to escape. The First word of the mantra she is intoning is "Gurumay," which means "Refuge in the Guru."
Tara, Willow's girlfriend for much of the series, shares name with Devi Tara, yet another form of Parvati/Durga who is worshiped by both Hindus and Buddhist. In S4 E22, it is Tara who acts as an intermediary between Buffy and the FIrst Slayer in Buffy's dream, who as noted was a multiform expression of Kali Ma. And not least, as Willow's fashion sense has been a notable feature of the show, and though I haven't been able to find the episode as yet, I I'm quite certain I noted that Willow once wore a T-shirt with a depiction of Hindu God or Goddess screen printed on the front . . .
In S5 E18, "Intervention," Buffy again follows a mountain lion through the desert, though Tara is absent is this vignette. Nonetheless, the metaphor is clear enough...
And then after falling asleep on a large stone, Buffy wakes to a blazing fire that is burning a few feet away. She calls out, and then the First Slayer appears.
Buffy I know you.You're the first slayer.
1st Slayer This is a form.I am the guide.
Buffy I have a few questions about being the slayer.
1st Slayer What about... love?
Buffy Not just boyfriend love.
1st Slayer You think you're losing your ability to love.
Buffy I didn't say that.
1st Slayer Yeah. You're afraid that being the slayer...
Buffy Does it?
1st Slayer You are full of love.
You love with all your soul.
It's brighter than the fire, blinding.
That's why you pull away from it.
Buffy I'm full of love? I'm not losing it?
1st Slayer Only if you reject it.
Love, give, forgive.
Risk the pain.
It is your nature.
Love will bring you
to your gift.
Buffy What?
In the final episode of the series, S7 E22, Chosen, Buffy says, "I say my power, should be our power . . . every girl who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power. Can stand up, will stand up. Slayers, every one of us . . . ," Goddess Durga is touted to be in every woman as her strength, in all the mamas it is the Great Mother, Slayer of Demons, who is there to rise against evil !! (see https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/finding-durga-in-every-woman/article19796395.ece )
Clearly enough, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is what Dr. Wendy Donigher of The University of Chicago would call a "multiform expression" of Devi Durga (Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Shiva), demon slaying Goddess Mother of the Universe. And for me, like who knows how many other boys and girls, time spent with Buffy and her crew has offered much solace and inspiration granted via this ground-breaking and very inspiring TV series . . . if you happen to adore powerful women.
Namaste and Jaya Ma Durga!!
(I bow and Victory to Mama Durga!!)
Addendum:
I just keep finding more metaphors fitting only too succinctly!!
In S2 E13, in a dream, Buffy comes upon Willow sitting at The Bronze with a monkey sitting on the table clad in a red outfit. Hanuman is nigh always shown wearing red, and the color red is an identifying characteristic of The Monkey God, noting His devotion to Lord Ram, an Avatar of Vishnu. Another more than mere coincidence...
I will post more of these clear clues as I come across them...In the meantime, continue on to check out other posts in this blog, if you're not afraid to have your mind further blown . . . !!
And . . . whilst just now watching S3 E7, "Revelations," as I'm still seeking the Willow outfit with the Hindu deity thereupon, I noticed this Buddhist figure printed upon the shirt Willow's wearing...Then noticed that the shirt I happened to be wearing depicts the same deity/demon(?), a shirt I'm rather sure I picked up at a thrift store here in Laradise. Not making this shit up !! Strange synchronicities that have meanings I've yet to determine . . . Hmmmmmmmm . . .
Maybe more to come . . . In the meantime, read on and expect the magic . . .
"The First Evil," the enemy of the final season, is maya, by the way, the illusion of this so called reality . . . maya and samsara, repetition of cycles, something succinctly and comically presented in S6 E5, Life Serial when Buffy experiences loops in time. Shiva (and thus His Consort Durga) is touted "enemy to samsara" . . .
AND one last certain indicator that this interpretation is not wrong . . . Notice the t-shirt Willow's wearing compared to the murti (sacred image) of Shiva and Parvati . . . An only slightly veiled clue . . .
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| Ganesha on a poster with caption "Indian Style" to the left of Willow. |
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