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By Donna Marie Giancola
Suffolk University
The purpose of this presentation is to examine the role of justice
as it emerges in the early mythic and philosophical traditions of ancient Greece
and India. Specifically, my paper will focus on the relationship of justice to
the Great Mother as the Divine Creatrix and final judge of all Reality. It is my
thesis that there were really two notions of justice which began to emerge in
the ancient world. The older view (the one that we have almost forgotten) was
rooted in the early Goddess religions where Justice was seen as the avenging/mediating
force of the Great Mother. The other view developed later in the dominant
patriarchal Aryan culture of norms and laws, and provides the basis for our
modern day conception of justice as an abstract principle.
Before commenting on these various images of justice, it might be helpful to
outline its emergence and subsequent transformations. The notion of justice as a
dynamic, cosmic principle, alive and divine, and manifest in nature is part of
the great mythical and historical heritage of both ancient Greece and India. The
situation in the Aegean basin, the cradle of Greek thought, parallels in many
ways that of early India which, in the late Neolithic Age saw a migration of
semi-nomadic herding, androcratic-warrior Aryans into an area whose indigenous
population was primarily agricultural and gynocentric. But, as the modern
science of ethnology is revealing, indigenous cultures are not so easily
obliterated: the world-view and ways of a subjugated people, as preserved in
their art and religious rituals and especially their myths, is not so easily
erased.
We know that one the very earliest appearances of justice in ancient Greek
civilization was as a Goddess. Her function was to judge humans; either to
punish or reward conduct in relation to the Divine Principle. This may be called
the "religious face" of justice. We also know that quite a different notion of
justice became explicit in Classical times. It was centered in human law and
quite likely was first articulated by the mathematico-pragmatic (in contrast to
the religeo-mystical) wing of the Pythagoreans; certainly most clearly
articulated by Plato and Aristotle. This scientific-rational view of justice is
culminating today in the conception of humans as isolated observers of an
impersonal cosmos.
The earliest religion of the ancient Greeks was centered on the worship of a
single "Triple-Goddess," so called because of her three phases of maiden, nymph
and crone corresponding to the three seasons of spring, summer and winter. Since
the reproductive cycles of plants and animals are governed by these seasons, she
was also identified with Mother Earth. As W. K. C. Guthrie puts it: "The
Mother-Goddess is the embodiment of the fruitful earth, giver of life and
fertility to plants, animals and men." (1) While it is arguable whether or not
the tribe was ruled by a matriarch, it is fairly certain that a moon-priestess,
with her sister nymphs, presided over tribal worship. (2) This Neolithic
civilization, centered on agriculture with a corresponding gylanic (emphasizing
fertility) and peaceful culture, was subjected to a series of invasions,
beginning about 3,500 B.C., by herding peoples whose culture was basically
androcratic: patriarchal, patrilineal and militaristic. (3) Thus, from 3,500 B.C.
on, the history of this region can be viewed as the struggle of an indigenous
people to preserve their customs, religion, art and mythic lore in the face of
successive waves of invaders. For example, in relation to the Goddess Athene,
according to Robert Graves:
J. E. Harrison rightly described the story of Athene's birth from Zeus's
head as "a desperate theological expedient to rid her of her matriarchal
conditions. It is also a dogmatic insistence on wisdom as a male prerogative;
hitherto the Goddess alone had been wise." (4)
It would appear that the ancient cult of the Mother-Goddess (in her role as
Maiden) in Athens was tolerated by the Greeks at this price: she must be born of
Zeus alone, she must be "Zeus's obedient mouthpiece, and deliberately surpress
her [true] antecedents. She employs priests, not priestesses." (5) Originally,
all of the images of Athene were those of an unadorned woman whose peaceful
character, wisdom and nurturing heart were symbolized by the olive branch and
the owl. It was not until Phidias portrayed her as a warrior in the great
cult-statue which he made for the Parthenon at Athens (c. 430) that the
conventional image of Athene became that of a woman's head surmounted by a war
helmet, and not as the protectress, as was her original role. Thus, we can see
how the earliest Greek myths testify to the struggle of the Aryan patriarchal
culture to subdue the matriarchal elements of the indigenous tradition. (6)
Justice, in its earliest
religious-mythical origins was one the faces of the great Goddess. The oldest "recorded"
appearance of justice in ancient Greece is found in the Iliad and Odyssey of
Homer. Homer uses the Greek words ("dike ") and ("themis ") with which it is
associated, to designate "custom" or "way of behavior" that accords with what is
ordained by law, with emphasis on human decrees. (7) Thus, there is to be found
in Homeric mythology the notion of justice as a regulative principle or law
which encompasses the social and moral order of human affairs. At the same time,
however, Homer preserves the tradition of the primal Mother-Goddess under the
guise of "Fate." It is she who rules the universe and whose power binds both
humans and gods. The primal Mother-Goddess is still preserved in Homer. Her
power, if ignored or challenged, brings retribution. Thus, Themis/Dike
represents a force higher than the law, and higher even than the decisions of
the gods.
By way of contrast, the Homeric notion of justice as law or judicial decree
finds its philosophical expression in Plato and Aristotle as universal ideal and
standard of virtue. Their world-view, however, stands in contrast with the
earlier indigenous culture worship of the "Great Mother" and which, according to
Guthrie, "was utterly different from the masculine, Homeric relationships
between man and god and its shadowy, bloodless life and death." (8) Thus, along
with "justice" as an abstract law or ideal there was another justice, very much
alive, and so much part of the character of the Mother-Goddess that it was not
until very late that she was separated-out and perceived as a distinct identity.
[...]
It is evidently with Solon that the laws of the king/state first become
codified and objective; justice, thereby, is no longer seen as aspect of the
living earth Mother-Goddess, but as the superimposition of human law. Dike comes
to be seen in the workings of human affairs within the context of law, as
universally applied equality. (12) However, as Martin Heidegger has pointed out,
if Dike is taken for the modern abstract term "justice," i.e., as moral or
judicial, it misses the original metaphysical sense of that ancient Greek word.
(13)
[...]
In Parmenides, we find that the thoroughly feminine symbolism of his poem (especially
the person of the Goddess) attests that he is a defender of the values of the
Neolithic subculture which were in danger of being further eclipsed by the
recent scientific outlook being propagated by the Pythagorean movement. (17) It
is the oneness/unity of Being which Dike as the face of the Great Mother-Goddess
must ensure. The ancient conception of justice as maternal measure, as the law
of life, stands in contrast to our modern separation of society and nature. Dike
, then, originally encompassed the whole order of living things and was the very
measure of Being. As Heidegger points out, "Dike is the overpowering Order."
(18)
It is this mystical notion of measure and harmony that we find in the Eastern
tradition of the Vedas in the concept of Rta, as "what is adjusted, fitted
together." (19)
[...]
It should be remembered that the gods/goddess of Vedic myths and hymns, like
those in Homeric Greece represented a superhuman/cosmic order, and were the
recipients of prayers, rituals, and sacrifices. (21) In India, however, the
notion of the gods/goddess as separate and different deities representing the
manifold aspects of the universe developed into an understanding of the one
deity that subsumed the various aspects of polytheistic deities into a
comprehensive unity. The personification of Justice as a separate deity does not
exist in early Vedic mythology. Justice is seen as a function within the role
and symbolism of the Great Mother traditions.
The early pre-history of India corresponds in many ways with that of ancient
Greece, where, again, the Aryans ("the people of sky") invaded the early
matriarchal gynocentric culture of the Dravidians which can be traced back as
early as 3,000 B.C. Here we can see the similarities in terms of their
matriarchal beliefs and rituals in their Paleolithic caves and mounds. The
earliest Great Mother cults of Asia were earth-centered, focusing on fertility
and life-giving energy. Their rituals included celebrations of nature and the
offering of plants and herbs to the source of creation. With the conquest of the
Aryans, the religious focus shifted from that which was immanent in nature to
the transcendent sky gods with rituals involving fire and smoke. The early
Goddess religions attempted to assimilate the patriarchal gods into their
culture and, for some time after the initial invasion, the Goddess was
worshipped as one of the primary deities. Yet, as was the situation in ancient
Greece, this adaptation soon gave way to the superimposition of patriarchal gods
and conception of Brahman as ultimate reality. With the conquest of the Aryans,
Rta as the way of nature became subsumed under the law of karma.
The concept of Rta as the unity of nature/order was instrumental in providing
the early Vedic thinkers with a regulative principle of cosmic order and
righteousness that later would merge into a comprehensive morality. The role of
Rta as regulative moral principle came to be symbolized in the recurrent
activities of man and nature, where "the river flows Rta," "the year is the path
of Rta," "the gods themselves are born of Rta," and "the sun is called the wheel
of Rta." The wheel best symbolizes the regular reoccurrence of the order and
right of Rta. (22) Thus, we can see the importance of Rta for the ethical
formulation of the dharma, as "what holds together." (23)
In Indian philosophy, the Vedic and early Buddhist schools have much the same
notion of as that of the ancient Greeks where justice, as dharma/karma, is a
living-ethical force inherent in the structure and creation of the universe. In
the Eastern schools of Non-dualism, Maya is traditionally understood as illusion,
as unreality. However, Maya is identical to Brahman, understood as manifesting
(as well as partially revealing) various "levels" of Being. Maya also has the
connotation of discrimination or measure. As Zimmer explains "Maya from the root
ma, 'to measure, to form, to build." (24) In Maya, we find the image of the
World-Mother as the cosmic "second" which conceals and reveals all divine
experience. As the "Mother of all Life energy," she is the discerner and judge
as to whether the one seeking enlightenment is deserving of the full truth.
There are innumerable manifestations of this play of Maya as the World Mother.
[...]
In Tibetan Buddhism we find the notion of the "Mother of the Buddhas" (Prajna
Paramita) "Womb of the Tathagata." One of the more meaningful points that has
arisen from the feminist analysis of Buddhism has been the emphasis on the
interconnectedness and dynamic of all reality. Here, the Earth-Mother is seen as
essential emptiness which is the basis for all identity and relation. While the
Buddhists would readily recognize that the basic ground is neither male nor
female, the symbolism is meant to refer to the feminine principle of creativity
and birth, or perhaps more specifically as pure potentiality or empty space. As
Tsultrim Allione claims:
The essential emptiness is the primary matrix of existence and is therefore
called the 'Mother of Creation.' It is the basic space that permeates
everything and undermines the ego. Voidness is an expression of space. The
Great Mother principle is the space that gives birth to the phenomenal world.
(30)
[...]
It should be noted that, as Maya is not mere illusion, the primordial mother
of Tantra Buddhism is not mere emptiness. As Anne Klein states: "here the
ultimate empty nature itself is filled with positive potential." (32) Emptiness
is the ground of all possibilities, of enlightenment, of life, of
interdependence. All things are the "active play of the female creative
principle." (33)
The Womb of the Tathagata, or as Anne Klein asserts, "the womb that is
reality," (34) is the measure of all life. In Tantric thought, she continues, "creation
is time- the Goddess in her function of 'measurer' (maya: mens: moon) weaves the
substance of events." (35) One may recall the Hindu goddess Kali who rules death
and "all devouring time." The Great Mother principle is considered through her
symbolism (the downward pointing triangle) and her creative powers to be the
source of all dharmas. (36) As such, she not only creates good and evil, but is
their very manifestation. Her's is not only the "gate of birth," but also the
dharma gate of enlightenment itself, the perfection of "profound cognition."
(37) The principle of judgment based on primordial emptiness/fullness of Being
is present within the essence of the great-mother. In the Great Cosmic Mother,
Monica Sj?? states that "this form of the Goddess is always the law giver, the
order of time, the judge of dead, the eternal source of wisdom and ecstasy."
(38) As the primordial mother of all life energy, her justice, like that of the
ancient Greeks, is organic and alive.
[...]
If we trace the roots of Justice to its early mythical Indo-European sources,
we find the face of the Triple-Goddess in both traditions. The pre-historical
sources confer that one of the functions of the great Cosmic-Mother is as the
guardian/manifestation/mediator of Being. This is where I believe the concept of
measure occurs in both traditions. It has been suggested, although I doubt that
it has been taken very seriously, that women were the first to deal with numbers
and astronomy by counting menstrual cycles and charting the path of the moon in
correspondence with their biological calendar.
[...]
As we have also seen, the great Mother Goddess is portrayed in both cultures
as the "gate keeper," to truth, enlightenment, being and non-being. She is the
giver of life, and as such the law-giver. Her law is the law of creation and
cannot be superimposed as an objective standard, indeed, her law is beyond
convention, where Dike is the avenging force of Fate, and Kali wears a necklace
of human skulls to remind us of the didactic power of creation. In ancient
Greece, the ordinance of the Goddess superseded even Zeus, and in India, it was
Earth Mother herself who sanctioned the Buddha's enlightenment.
[...]
It should go without saying that, traditionally understood, the origin of law
has been  patriarchy. Cosmic law codes are firmly established in all of the
meta-cosmic religions and their cultures. They are, by authority, eternal,
immutable, and not subject to human will. Their violation results in moral/karmic
consequences. They are said to be based on a sense of cosmic harmony. Justice
thereby becomes a set of standard universalized abstract rational principles.
They are, in fact, androcentric principles. As Rita Gross states: "to a greater
of lesser degree, most religions include a complex code of behavior considered
to be divinely revealed or cosmically given that regulates daily life, including
gender relationships." (39)
[...]
The feminist objection to patriarchal conceptions of law is based on the
androcentric insistence of universality of the male, the disregard of emotions
and the supremacy of abstract principles over notions of relations and
interconnections. The face of the Earth Mother in both traditions stands prior
to such patriarchal articulations. The pre-patriarchal nature of justice, we
find in the Great Mother (Triple Goddess), is not androcentric, not universal,
not abstract. Her judgment is not so much about principle, but about concrete
relations, relations of humans to each other, to animals, to plants to the
reality of nature. Today, feminist philosophers are attempting to reconstruct a
new vision of global community, global ethics and eco-justice. But, as many are
discovering, this is problematic within the present paradigm. Rosemary Radford
Ruether in her work on Gaia and God, calls for a new vision for understanding
human relations and nature, for eco-justice. She states:
"If dominating and destructive relations to the earth are interrelated with
gender, class and racial domination, then a healed relation to the earth
cannot come about simply through technological "fixes." . . . In short it
means that we must speak of eco-justice, and not simply of domination of the
earth as though that happened unrelated to social domination." (41)
With all the work being done in the ancient Goddess religions and feminist
spirituality, the idea of the angry, the energetic, the avenging aspect of the
goddess is still a taboo. In reconstruction of the role and symbols of the Great
Mother, modern day literature has tended to focus more on her positive nature,
wisdom/compassion, creation and interconnection, Hence, to a certain extent they
have perpetuated the false dichotomy of opposites. Again to quote Ruether; "ecofeminist
theology and spirituality has tended to assume that the goddess we need for
ecological well-being is the reverse of the God we have in Semitic monotheistic
traditions. . ." (42) The Great Mother is not the polar-opposite of the
patriarchal god. She is, in principle, beyond all opposites, containing them
with herself. Her justice demands that we take the duality of nature as
primordial emptiness or unity. Part of her triple function is as the avenging
force of creation and destruction, and good and evil, life and death. Her
function as Justice is severe and horrific. This is the "dark side" of the
Mother. This dark side of the Great Mother is veiled, hidden, concealed she is
not referred to as dark to indicate color or evil, but rather to stress the
primal nature of her being, that which is unmanifested. She is the force which
adjusts internal relations to the external world. In the Indo-European origins
of both ancient Greece and India we find this notion of the "dark side of the
Mother." Today, Justice no longer stands as an autonomous figure as a divine
face of the Great Mother. In India one may still finds traces of her avenging
nature. For example, according to the Hindu tradition of time, we are in cycle
of Kali Yuga or age of destruction.
In both ancient Greece and India the message is clearly articulated that
Justice is the way of Being. As an original manifestation of the Great Mother
her role was to stress the non-duality of what is. Her presence indicates that
Justice is not seen as separate from reality, nor as imposition but indeed as
the necessary limit/measure of creativity, not fragmented as part of a social
construction, but as the whole embodiment of energy. This idea runs through all
the earliest manifestations of Indo-European pre-history and indigenous
religions. Further, as we have seen her role as the avenging Goddess is to
ensure the dynamic of Being, as the initiator of judgment. Her pronouncements
ensure not just cosmic order but meta-cosmic relations, indeed in the unity
which encompasses all opposites. Justice itself is beyond the duality of good
and evil, beyond that which is manifested and concealed. As the embodiment of
the creative of principle it is not only centered on existence, but mediates
that which is beyond existence and non-existence, including pure potentiality.
She covers the expanse of discriminating and non-discriminating awareness, as
something which we can barely recollect, what one might call, Non-dualistic
Justice.
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Source:
This is an excerpt of the fascinating original article you can find
here.
All sources and literature are also on this website. I highly recommend to read
the whole work of Donna Marie Giancola!
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