Do we know our religion enough? Are we sure about origin of our cultural and religious believes? Before answering YES, you should take a look at a small alter discovered amidst forests and hills of Bindhya mountain, far away from our modern world. This seemingly insignificant alter has changed our age old narratives to pose a question: Which is older? Human civilization or our religious beliefs?
Well, the question may seem worthless because by default we think religion is procreated by peoples of ancient civilization, more or less at the time of microlithic and chalcolithic era. But Baghor Kali shrine, a sandstone alter discovered amidst archeological site of paleolithic era, indicates towards a tradition of worshipping Mother goddess that is still continuing uninterrupted from 9000 BC to 21st Century.
Excavation and Discovery: The Mother Goddess and the Esoteric ritual
Since 1980, repeated excavations of archeological teams led by G.R. Sharma, J.D. Clark, J.N. Pal and J.M. Kenoyer have unearthed one of the oldest paleolithic settlements of India, by the ancestors of local Bagra tribes of Dravidian origin. Team led by Kenoyer in 1982 first discovered the shrine with fragments of a 65x65x15 mm triangular colourful stone kept with reverence. After extensive search to understand its significance, Kenoyer and team got to know that similar shrines with triangular stones are worshipped locally by Bagra tribe as Mother goddess Kali. That typical geometric shape of stone with concentric triangles over the surface is considered as her manifestation, which as per Kenoyer, is the symbol of Yoni (vagina); that gives birth to every living soul. Thus that typical stone became one of the earliest esoteric symbol of Kali 12000 years ago, when none of the ancient civilizations started their journey. Surprisingly, till today, the yantra of Kali is drawn as nothing but 5 concentric triangles.
Just a few km away from Baghor Kali, is another shrine with similar stone, called Karao ki Mata. A headless idol of mother goddess is also worshipped there as Angara mata (Mother of Fire). Together they represent Goddess Candi. This signifies that Baghor Kali is none but a 12000 old aniconic form of Mother goddess worshipped by one of earliest tribes of India.
A history beyond civilization:
Long before civilization and society, when our consciousness was crawling with all animalistic instincts, even then we had a sense of worshipping the Mother who gives birth. We understood all the world as a womb of cosmic prime mother and enshrined her with such alters. Shrine of Baghor Kali still stands amidst modern world to remind us those prehistoric days we left behind.
