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Lädt ... Encountering the Goddess: A Translation of the Devī-māhātmya and a Study of its Interpretationvon Thomas B. Coburn
   Keine Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch.  Saraswati_Library | Feb 16, 2010 |    ) Crowyhead | Sep 20, 2006 | Zeige 2 von 2 keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
Coburn provides a fresh and careful translation from the Sanskrit of this fifteen-hundred-year-old text. Drawing on field work and literary evidence, he illuminates the process by which the Devi-Mahatmya has attracted a vast number of commentaries and has become the best known Goddess-text in modern India, deeply embedded in the ritual of Goddess worship (especially in Tantra). Coburn answers the following questions among others: Is this document "scripture?" How is it that this text mediates the presence of the Goddess? What can we make of contemporary emphasis on oral recitation of the text rather than study of its written form? One comes away from Coburn's work with a sense of the historical integrity or wholeness of an extremely important religious development centered on a "text." The interaction between the text and later philosophical and religious developments such as those found in Advaita Vedanta and Tantra is quite illuminating. Relevant here are the issues of the writtenness and orality/aurality of 'scripture, ' and the various ways by which a deposit of holy words such as the Devi-Mahatmya becomes effective, powerful, and inspirational in the lives of those who hold it sacred. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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 Google Books — Lädt ...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)294.5Religions Other Religions Religions of Indic origin HinduismKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt: (4)
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1
Devi Mahatmyam is also known as the Durgā Saptashatī (ढुर्गासप्तशती) or simply Saptashatī, Caṇḍī (चण्डी) or Caṇḍī Pāṭha (चण्डीपाठः) - where pāṭha – "reading" – refers to the act of ritual reading. The text contains 700 (saptashata - "seven hundred") verses, arranged into 13 chapters. By far the most important text of Shaktism, the text has a central place in Shakta ritual.
Devi Mahatmyam is seen as an attempt to unify the Vedic male pantheon with the pre-existing mother goddess cult possibly dating to the 9th millennium BCE, and an attempt to define divinity as a female principle. The text synthesizes a number of pre-existing Mother goddess myths of Aryan and non-Aryan origin, skillfully integrated into a single narrative. The position of the Goddess as Shakti, power itself, beyond the patriarchal position as consort of an eclipsing male deity, is an important transition in Hindu mythology. Also, there are links to aspects of Samkhya philosophy in the narrative.
For ritual reading purposes a number of subsidiary texts are appended before and after. A ritual reading of this text is part of the Navaratri celebrations in honour of the Goddess.