Deep Reflections

Deep Reflections

A tribute to the mirror symbolism in Devi worship

The mirror is a symbol of physical and spiritual reflection in cultures across regions. In India, especially in Kerala and West Bengal, why do devotees place metallic mirrors behind images of Kali and Durga?

The people of Bengal believe that it is inauspicious to look directly at Kali during invocation of the deity. In Kerala, the mirror becomes the subject of veneration when it is associated with Goddess Bhagavati. Consecration rituals are identical for both the kannati-bimbam, or the mirror-image, and the idols, which are thereafter considered divine representations. In the Shinto faith of Japan, the metal mirror symbolises the mother goddess.

Kannati Bimbam explores the mother goddess rituals of Kerala. The installations are inspired by the use of val-kannati or mirror with long handle, an auspicious object used in rituals that are part of Vishu, the day when farmers sow the first paddy of the season or when the auspicious mirror is held by girls during the coming-of-age ceremony, weddings, pregnancy rites, and the naming ceremony of girl children.

“Venerating the kannati-bimbam is one of the highest forms of worship in northern Kerala. It is the visible symbol of ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ — ‘I am Brahmn’ — and this state of realisation is achieved through dedication and intense contemplation. The seeker looks at the kannati-bimbam, observes his own image reflected in the mirror, and meditates upon it. Traditionally, a val-kannati is cast in a bronze alloy, about 15 to 20 cm in diameter, with a long handle of the same length, with its round-edged, flat surface polished to a mirror finish. The artist quotes from the Svetasvatara Upanishad:
‘Even as a mirror stained by dust, Shines brilliantly when it has been cleansed, So the embodied one, on seeing the nature of the Self, Becomes unitary, his end attained, from sorrow, free’

Om Namah Shivay.