Devī Māhātmya

2022 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Narrative Text ◽  
Spiritual Practice ◽  
Great Goddess ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Cosmic Order ◽  
Theological Authority ◽  
One And Many ◽  
Feminine Divine ◽  
The Universe

The Sanskrit narrative text Devī Māhātmya—“The greatness of the Goddess” (also known as Durgā Saptaśatī and Caṇḍī Pāṭha, henceforth DM)—extols the tripartite triumphs of the all-powerful Goddess (Devī, Ambikā, Caṇḍikā, Durgā) over the universe-imperiling demons. Devī manifests for the protection of the gods, and cosmic order as a whole, in times of dire need. These exploits of this formidable feminine power constitute the first articulation of a Great Goddess within the Indian subcontinent. While the DM equates supreme reality with the feminine Hindu concepts of maya (illusion, magic), śakti (power, force, energy), and prakṛti (material nature), it posits no systematic theory. As only narrative can, the DM instead masterfully interweaves these philosophical strands, along with preexisting feminine faces within the Vedic fold, into the figure of a feminine divine whose greatness surpasses that of the Vedic pantheon, and even that of the cosmic Trimurti comprised of the “Great Gods” Brahma, Vishnu [Skt. Viṣṇu], and Shiva [Skt. Śiva]. The DM serves not only to exalt the Goddess as supreme, but also celebrates her paradoxical nature: she is both one and many, immanent and transcendent, liminal and central, gentle and fierce, motherly and martial. Yet there is no ambiguity in her status as all-powerful. She is utterly invincible. While power is something the gods possess, power is something the Goddess is. It is she, then, who ultimately creates, preserves, and destroys the universe and all beings within it. Variously dated between the 4th and 8th century ce, the DM finds a home as part of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, comprising chapters 81–93 thereof. Far from a textual relic, the DM is recited as liturgy in goddess temples, during individual daily spiritual practice, and at temples and homes especially during the autumnal navaratra (“nine nights”) Hindu Goddess festival, commonly known as Durgā Pūjā. The DM independently circulates not only within this rich liturgic life, but as a standalone mythological, philosophical, and theological authority on the Hindu Goddess. In this respect, it is not dissimilar from the Bhagavad Gita’s circulation independent of the Mahābhārata in which it is couched. The DM’s recitation is considered beneficial for listeners and reciters alike. As exemplified and overtly stated in the DM, engaging the glories of the Goddess invariably secure her protection and benediction.

Mammai Mataji

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-126
Author(s):  
Peter Maddock
Keyword(s):  
Social Values ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Western India ◽  
Right Action ◽  
Great Goddess ◽  
The World ◽  
Feminine Divine

The theological and sociological implications associated with the existence (or non-existence) of ancient Great Goddess religions have been hotly debated for more than half a century, even prior the rise of recognizable feminist approaches to Archaeology and Religious Studies. This rare, if not unique, ethnographic account of such a theology as practised today is therefore a significant intervention, hopefully putting some clothes on otherwise naked speculation. The Sorathiya Rabari pastoralists of Saurastra, western India, hold Mammai Mataji as their Godhead. Mammai Dharma (religion) provides their path to salvation and a guide to right action in the world. It is a vital ingredient of Sorathiya Rabari identity and offers a structure for intra-caste political organization. Like most other Hindus, Rabari social values are unambiguously patriarchal, so how this coexists with belief in an omnipotent feminine Divine is explored throughout the article.

scholarly journals Universe and Inner Self in Early Indian and Early Greek Thought

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Origin ◽  
Greek Thought ◽  
Indian Thought ◽  
Inner Self ◽  
Cosmic Order ◽  
Socio Economic Development ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Universe

This book focuses from various perspectives on the striking similarities (as well as the concomitant differences) between early Greek and early Indian thought. In both cultures there occurred at about the same time the birth of 'philosophy', the idea of the universe as an intelligible order in which personal deity is (at most) marginal and the inner self is at the centre of attention. The similarities include a pentadic structure of narrative and cosmology, a basic conception of cosmic order or harmony, a close relationship between universe and inner self, techniques of soteriological inwardness and self-immortalisation, the selflessness of theory, envisaging the inner self as a chariot, the interiorisation of ritual, and ethicised reincarnation. Explanations for the similarites are a shared Indo-European origin, parallel socio-economic development, and influence in one direction or the other.

Jyotirliṅga Tradition: Pilgrimage, Myth, and Art

Hinduism ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin J. Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Pine Forest ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Light Form

A jyotirliṅga (“liṅga of light”) is one of the foremost ways that the deity Śiva has been represented in mythology and art. It is an important sub-type of the deity’s liṅga (mark, sign, phallus). A well-known example is the network of twelve pilgrimage sites spread across the Indian subcontinent. In their related mythology each site accounts for a theophany of Śiva in light form, descending from heaven and remaining at the pilgrimage center in the form of a liṅga. The development and growth of this pilgrimage network within the sacred topographies of Śiva is relatively understudied, but new scholarship in the Purāṇas and Śaivadharma traditions as well as the archaeology of individual sites connected to these texts are helping to alleviate this paucity. Beginning in roughly the 10th century, fire and light imagery is integrated into different forms of Śaiva ritual, myth, and art as part of a strategy to popularize Śaivism. While the theme ‘God is light’ (numen lumen) is ubiquitous across religious traditions, its integration within Śaivism occurred for particular historical, theological, and sectarian reasons. One is the development of mythic themes related to light and fire as seen through the liṅgodbhavamūrti (form arising from the liṅga) and Devadāruvana (Pine Forest) mythemes. The earliest example of the liṅgodbhavamūrti likely dates to the 7th century, while the Devadāruvana can be traced to the Mahābhārata (Book 10.17). A second reason for the development of fire and light imagery is seen through the Śaiva encounter with Gupta period images of the Buddha’s fiery form and Buddhist commentarial literature. In addition, Śaiva encounters with universalizing tendencies within Islam, especially seen through the rise of Viśveśvara (Lord of the Universe) in Vārāṇasī, informed this developing tradition. Scholarship and sources about jyotirliṅgas can be structured around three major categories: the network of twelve jyotirliṅgas, the liṅgodbhavamūrti, and the Devadāruvana. Each of these categories has a diverse body of textual, inscriptional, art historical, and archaeological sources.

scholarly journals The feminine image of Russia in the religious and philosophical writings by Russian thinkers at the turn of the 20th century

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 ◽  
pp. 01041
Author(s):  
Arcady G. Sadovnikov ◽  
Alina E. Korzheva ◽  
Farrukh Begidjon Khudoidodzoda
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Silver Age ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Philosophical Writings ◽  
The Universe

The article looks at the versions of the feminine image of Russia in the religious and philosophical reflections of the Russian thinkers who worked during the Silver Age (the period of Russian culture covering approximately 1890–1917): Vladimir Solovyov, Nikolai Berdyaev, and Sergei Bulgakov. Special attention is paid to the balance between the male and female principles, which are endowed with certain characteristics in different works by Russian thinkers, not only from the perspective of human nature but also in terms of the nature of Russian culture and mentality, as well as the cosmic nature of the universe. Analysis of the religious and philosophical pursuit of the Silver Age relating to the feminine image of Russia allows the authors to specify the ideas of the characteristics of femininity engrained in the Russian culture and clarify the role of this pursuit in the development of the reflexive Russian thought directed towards becoming aware of these characteristics. The belief about the salvatory mission carried out by the feminine aspect of the human and cosmic nature distinctively identified in the religious and philosophical writings by the Russian thinkers belonging to the Siver Age requires further study. The research has been conducted within the framework of the symbolic direction of cultural studies with the help of comparative analysis, the method of theoretical reconstruction, and problematic-logical, functional, and systemic approaches. These methods allowed the authors to specify the problematic field of the research and define the main concepts to examine the statements about the feminine aspect of Russian culture by different authors as a unified system of forms aimed at the comprehension of the value and symbolic foundation of the national ethnic culture.

scholarly journals For hendes ansigt skinnede som solen

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Britt Istoft
Keyword(s):  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Hildegard Of Bingen ◽  
Central Figure ◽  
Spiritual World ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
The World ◽  
Anima Mundi ◽  
Feminine Divine

The Gernman abbess and mystic Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) developped a richly nuanced theology of the feminine. At the heart of her spiritual world stands the numinous figure she called Sapientia or Caritas: Wisdom or Love, a theophany of the feminine aspect of the divine. In Hildegard's visionary work De operatione Dei, "The Book of Divine Works", written between 1163-1173, Caritas/Sapientia plays an important part. She is the central figure in five out of the ten visions, that comprises De operatione Dei. The first two visions picture Caritas as Anima Mundi, the world soul - the divine presense in the cosmos - and Creatrix, who creates the world by existing in it as an eternal, circling motion. The eighth vision presents Caritas/Sapienta as the "living fountain", that both quickens and reflects all creatures, and inspires the prophets, including Hildegard herself. The theme of the ninth vision is "Wisdom's vesture". Because Wisdom is both a cosmic and a microcosmic figure, her garb can represent the workmanship og either God or man. In the tenth vision Caritas rests in the center of the wheel of eternity and history, and is presented as the eternal archetype of the Virgin Mary. Besides being a theological necessity as mediator of creation, incarnation and salvation Hildegard's feminine divine also serves as a model for women, particularly consecrated virgins, who represent the feminine divine on earth.

scholarly journals "Imago expandit splendorem suum". Hildegard of Bingen’s Visio-Theological Designs in the Rupertsberg Scivias Manuscript

Eikon / Imago ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-68
Author(s):  
Nathaniel M. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Hildegard Of Bingen ◽  
Salvation History ◽  
Visual Markers ◽  
Original Manuscript ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Theological Discourse ◽  
Color Scheme ◽  
Feminine Divine ◽  
The Church ◽  
Significant Point

A significant point of  contention within  studies of  the twelfth-century visionary saint and Doctor of the Church, Hildegard of Bingen, is the question of her role in the production of the illuminated Scivias manuscript known as the Rupertsberg Codex. While current German scholarship has tended to preclude Hildegard’s hand, pre-war German scholars, who had access to the original manuscript before it was lost, and most modern Anglophone scholars have argued more or less strongly for  Hildegard’s influence on the design. This paper argues for Hildegard’s direction of the images based on their function as a theological discourse refracting the text. The images are not ancillary to or derivative of the work; they are integral to it. A key area of the manuscript design that reveals these authorial interventions is the color scheme. The use of certain colors, such as green and red, that have particular meanings in Hildegard’s symbolic vocabulary—even when at odds with the colors described in the recorded vision text—reveals the theological place of each image within Hildegard’s perception of salvation history. Furthermore, the extensive use of silver, gold, and blue in the manuscript can be understood both through Hildegard’s likely use of actual jewelry that contained enamel work and those metals, and through the theological meanings with which Hildegard imbues the metallic pigments. Such visual markers invested with theological significance thus argue for Hildegard’s design of the manuscript and aid the viewer- reader in interpreting the complex visual allegories at work in  Hildegard’s  often  enigmatic  visions. Finally, they reveal the dynamic ways in which Hildegard used the images to emphasize her theological insights into the feminine divine and its connection especially to her and her community  as  virgin members of a virgin Church.

Between One and Many: Multiples, Multiplication and the Huayan Metaphysics

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsueh-Man Shen
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Visual Language ◽  
Buddhist Doctrine ◽  
Multiple Copies ◽  
One And Many ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Universe

Modern art history practice often treats Buddhist icons or ritual objects as unique objects, focusing on their originality and uniqueness. This text investigates how the paradoxical Buddhist doctrine of ‘the one and the many’ was translated into visual language through manipulation of the relationship between copies and the original. It analyses the different tactics and strategies formulated around given socio-historical frameworks to visualise the notion of infinity, and ultimately the structure of the universe, and suggests that multiple copies of a single design were more potent a vehicle than single objects in expressing ideas related to the Buddhist metaphysics.

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