This article was published in the St. Nina Quarterly, Volume 1, No. 4. It is the first part of a paper by the author and was reprinted with permission from Woman in Prism and Focus: Her Profile in Major world Religions and in Christian Traditions, ed. Prasanna Vazheeparampil, CMC (Rome: mar Thoma Yogam [The St. Thomas Christian Fellowship], 1996). The second part, Holy Images, will be included in Vol. 2, No. 3.