Navratri Notes: Artemis, The Ancient Greek Goddess

Knowing Non-Hindu Goddesses From Outside India

Dear Reader,

Today in the Navratri Notes, we have a piece on Goddess Artemis whose temple in the ancient city of Ephesus was renowned throughout the Greek and Roman world. The silversmiths there crafted and sold sacred images of the Goddess Artemis.

• However, a new religious movement, centred around a male god, denounced the sacred idols as sinful. This new cult, fervently preached by the recently converted Paul, denounced the handcrafted sacred idols as sinful.

• But the Goddess lost in frescoes is alive and adorned in the kolu of Hindu houses of southern India.

And from Aravindan Neelakandan's commentaries on Lalita Sahasranama, we have — 'Random Meditations Through Her 1,000 Names (XX): The Celestial Nose Ring'.

🎵 Music Recommendation: Chances are you've listened to one of the many remixes and versions of the soulful Gujarati Garba classic — 'Kum Kum Na Pagla Padya'. So, today listen to the OG version of this bhakti song originally sung by Pamela Jain.

Until tomorrow,

Anmol N Jain