So I amused myself all night by generating pictures c/o Microsoft Bing´s AI. Like the one above, showing Kali and a golden jackal (her sacred animal) in an Arctic landscape. Believe it or not, but golden jackals have been observed in Lapland in northern Sweden!
I have to say, though, that Bing´s version of Mother Kali is pretty tame...
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| Credit: Tisha Mukherjee |
Kalis och Anubis´ heliga djur har åter siktats i vårt östra grannland! Bilden ovan är dock tagen i Indien.
Some taxonomical notes...
The golden jackal (Canis aureus) is mostly associated with India and the Middle East, but it has also considerably expanded its European range, with small populations in northern Norway and Finland, perhaps entering Swedish Lapland as we speak. Yes, golden jackals north of the Arctic Circle!
A similar-looking canid in North and West Africa was previously considered to be a subspecies of the golden jackal. This is the animal associated with the Egyptian god and psychopomp Anubis. However, recent DNA research shows that it´s really a separate species, closer related to the wolves than to the golden jackal. Its vernacular name is African wolf, golden wolf or African golden wolf, with the Egyptian population being called - you divined it - Egyptian wolf. The scientific name is Canis lupaster. Or Canis lupaster lupaster, if you´re a Egyptian wolf specifically (well, sub-specifically).
So strictly speaking, Anubis doesn´t have the head of a "jackal" at all, but the head of a wolf! Imagine that. It does make him less romantic, but (perhaps) more scary...
Somewhat ironically, it should be noted that the golden jackal itself isn´t really a jackal either, LOL, but is *also* closer to the wolf, a kind of wolf cousin perhaps? The "real" jackals in sub-Saharan Africa are usually classified in the genus Lupulella, not Canis.
So Anubis is a wolf, and the golden jackal - associated with Tantric goddesses in India - is also wolfish. Somehow, I´m not surprised.
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| Chamunda (another problem for prisca theologia) |
The golden jackal is an animal mostly associated with India and the Middle East. It also lives in the Balkans. However, the jackal has slowly but steadfastly spread its range northwards. It sounds crazy, but it seems they have established themselves in Estonia, Finland and northern Norway! It´s only a matter of time before they reach Sweden. That is, *northern* Sweden.
The idea of jackals in Lapland would have sounded insane just a few decades ago, yet here we are.
But there´s more. Here is Wikipedia the All-Knowing on jackals in - you may have guessed it already - Tantric traditions:
"In Hinduism, the jackal is portrayed as the familiar of several deities with the most common being Chamunda, the emaciated, devouring goddess of the cremation grounds. Another deity associated with jackals is Kali, who inhabits the cremation ground and is surrounded by millions of jackals. According to the Tantrasara scripture, when offered animal flesh, Kali appears in the form of a jackal. The goddess Shivaduti is depicted with a jackal's head. The goddess Durga was often linked to the jackal. Jackals are considered to be the vahanas (vehicles) of various protective Hindu and Buddhist deities, particularly in Tibet."
The idea of a animal sacred to Tantrikas roaming free and wild in Lapland is, I admit, immensely appealing. And so very Tantric! However, I suspect the local Laps (and their reindeer flocks) might have a different opinion on the matter...
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| Jaså, du har ändrat dig nu, din jävel? Tur för dig, man muckar inte med morsan! |
Jag tar tillbaka mina angrepp på guldschakalerna i förra inlägget. Enligt Wiki så är guldschakalen ett heligt djur inom vissa tantriska traditioner. Ja, det är gudinnan Kalis djur. Moder Kali sägs visa sig som en schakal när man offrar kött till Henne...
Ett Kali-helgat djur i Lappland år 2021? Okej, det låter väldigt tantriskt!
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| Vaddå, ni trodde väl inte att ni skulle få vara ifred? Credit: Prabukumar84 |
Absolut knäppaste nyheten i år...
