Tracing The Evolution of Goddess Worship in Ancient India

Abstract

In India the worship of the goddess goes back to the pre-Aryan times, before 1500 BCE. The sites of Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa and other parts of the Indus Valley Civilization, have yielded hundreds of female figures dating as far back as the third millennium BCE. However, goddess figures feature minimally in the early Vedic/Aryan literature. By the classical era, both the great gods, Vishnu and Shiva are believed to have had female consorts. During the 6th-8th centuries, some Hindus within the Shaivite tradition elevated the divine female form to being the consort, to the great goddess, so the goddess now enjoyed the position of Supreme Being in her own right. It was therefore now possible to worship the goddess as the Supreme Being, who is herself the Creator, Preserver and the Destroyer.

DOI - https://doi.org/10.66496/LCAP.9788168710115.2026.45-58