Goddess, woman or both? This powerful photo series address Indian society's double standards

While we talk about religion, we also talk about gods and goddesses. When we choose to talk about goddesses, we talk about all the wealth and prosperity she brings along. We arrange for religious ceremonies and call these ladies home, because they’re Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth and beauty), and Saraswati (the goddess of knowledge and art), which means they’re holy souls. However, as a complete anti-thesis to how we worship our goddesses, let’s take a look at the way women in our society are treated today. Rape, along with being a heinous crime, has become  popular culture: A 10-month-old baby gets raped, and we’re still debating the length of our skirts. As women, we still have to “cover ourselves up” before boarding public transport (or before stepping out of our house) or brace ourselves for the evergreen — “aajkal ki ladkiyon mein toh tameez naam ki cheez hi nahi hai” dialogue (mostly doled out when women “laugh too much” or have an opinion). We also have to keep a check on our drinking, smoking, and how we live our lives because “acchi ladkiyan yeh sab nahi karti”. Because rules are rules for women, and men are born to break them. Right? Wrong. To question such stereotypes, a Mumbai-based conceptual photographer, Victoria Krundysheva, has released a photo-series with designer Paarul Bhargava, that compares the state of Indian women with that of our goddesses, and is called “Lost Indian Goddesses"   The series challenges the way India treats its women, and after movies like Pink and Parched, we definitely needed this. Krundysheva’s photo-series starts with a Facebook post that reads: “This series wasn’t inspired by a particular incident but daily incidents every woman goes through. The hypocrisy of worshiping goddesses yet degrading women around you struck me in the recent years. So much power is given to women in mythology and vedas, yet in life, they are frowned upon for taking any decision for themselves. It hasn’t been a sudden insight – more of a journey towards a boiling point. I believe Indian Goddesses (whether we take religious side of it or take it as a metaphor) were meant to reflect the significance and internal light of every woman, which is being reduced to merely an accessory now.” Talking about her series, the Russian photographer said, “I cannot say that this series was inspired by a particular incident, but rather by daily incidents that every woman goes through. In lights of it, it struck me – the hypocrisy of worshiping goddesses yet degrading women around you.” She added that even though so much power is given to women in mythologies, in reality they are frowned upon for taking any decisions. She believes that Indian goddesses were meant to reflect the significance and internal light of every woman, the power each of them has and different sides to each of them. Krundysheva spoke about how all of that glory is being reduced to merely an accessory. Check out the photo-series here:

  You can follow Victoria’s work on her official Facebook and Instagram pages.