the_forlorn_soul
What if the gods you know were never the same?
What if the stories we inherit about Kali, Durga, Chandi, Chamunda, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Uma-and countless other goddesses-were not preserved, but reconstructed?
What if entire traditions were rewritten to serve political, theological, or cultural consolidation?
What if indigenous and tribal goddesses were absorbed, renamed, or erased to fit the narrative of a singular Supreme Goddess?
What if promises made to these deities and their worshippers were quietly broken?
What if the Shakti Peethas were never originally tied to Sati?
What if Kali once stood without Shiva?
What if Durga was not Parvati?
And what if Mahadevi-Tripurasundari, Parvati, Saraswati, Lakshmi-came to represent not liberation, but homogenization?
This series explores the forgotten, sidelined, and absorbed goddesses of Hindu traditions, especially local and regional deities whose identities were overwritten or left undocumented. Each chapter will examine goddesses from specific regions, tracing how their stories were altered, merged, or abandoned in the rise of a centralized Shakti narrative.
This is not an attack on faith-but an inquiry into memory, power, and loss.
Each chapter may:
Document forgotten or marginalized goddesses
Critically examine canonical myths and popular retellings
Invite collective discussion toward building an alternative ontological map of goddess traditions
I welcome corrections, additions, and respectful challenges. If something is missing or inaccurate, I want it questioned-because silence is how erasure survives.
This work is not anti-Hindu. Hindu traditions have always allowed questioning, plurality, and philosophical dissent. This series stands within that spirit-seeking understanding rather than worship, inquiry rather than obedience.