Legends of Devi is a captivating narration of the various legends and folktales that surround the revered goddesses of India. The goddesses not only epitomize the forces of good fighting over evil, but also the source of wordly wellbeing. This book features symbolically rich and breathtaking illustrations by Ramananda Bandapadhyay. Line drawings on every page and sixteen colour plates enrich the book. Specially commissioned for this edition, these illustrations constitute a storehouse of information on mythological iconography.
A comprehensive dictionary of blues lyrics invites listeners to interpret what they hear in blues songs and blues culture, including excerpts from original interviews with Dr. John, Bonnie Raitt, Hubert Sumlin, Buddy Guy, and many others.
The Great Goddess, in her various puranic and tantric forms, is often figured as sitting on a corpse which is identified as Shiva-as-shava (God Shiva, the consort of the Devi and an iconic representation of the Absolute without attributes, the Nirguna Brahman). Hence, most of the existing critical works and ethnographic studies on Shaktism and the tantras have focused on the theological and symbolic paraphernalia of the corpses which operate as the asanas (seats) of the Devi in her various iconographies. This book explores the figurations of the Goddess as corpse in several Hindu puranic and Shakta-tantric texts, popular practices, folk belief systems, legends and various other cultural phenomena based on this motif. It deals with a more intricate and fundamental issue than existing works on the subject: how and why is the Devi – herself - figured as a corpse in the Shakta texts, belief systems and folk practices associated with the tantras? The issues which have been raised in this book include: how does death become a complement to life within this religious epistemology? How does one learn to live with death, thereby lending new definitions and new epistemic and existential dimensions to life and death? And what is the relation between death and gender within this kind of figuration of the Goddess as death and dead body? Analysing multiple mythic narratives, hymns and scriptural texts where the Devi herself is said to take the form of the Shava (the corpse) as well as the Shakti who animates dead matter, this book focuses not only on the concept of the theological equivalence of the Shava (Shiva as corpse) and the Shakti (Energy) in tantras but also on the status of the Divine Mother as the Great Bridge between the apparently irreconcilable opposites, the mediatrix between Spirit and Matter, death and life, existence-in-stasis and existence-in-kinesis. This book makes an important contribution to the fields of Hindu Studies, Goddess Spirituality, South Asian Religions, Women and Religion, India, Studies in Shaktism and Tantra, Cross-cultural Religious Studies, Gender Studies, Postcolonial Spirituality and Ecofeminism.
Tulasi, Or The Incomparable One, Has Been Worshipped For Thousands Of Years In India As An Embodiment Of The Divine Mother On Earth. This Book Explores Tulasi's Vast Medicinal Applications In Ayurveda And Modern Medicine, Cultivation In Diverse Climates Around The World, Ancient Legends, Traditional Worship, And Personal Experiences. Additionally, It Offers Insights Into The Significance Of Tulasi In The Journey Of Reawakening A Harmonious Relationship With Mother Nature. Published By The Disciples Of Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, Affectionately Known As Mother, Or Amma The Hugging Saint.
The Devi Bhagavatam is said to have been composed in Bengal in the sixth century CE, in twelve Parvas and 18,000 slokas. The text is only available in Bengali, with Hindi commentaries. It is replete with references to and legends from an obviously pre-Vedic religion of the Goddess. The Devi Bhagavatam is a Shakta Purana. It is for the Shakta what the Bhagavata Purana is for the Vaishnava: his or her most sacred book. The Shaktas worship Shakti, the Eternal Feminine, in all her forms. Devi is Kali and Durga; she is Saraswati, Mahalakshmi and Parvati; she is Sati, Sita and Radha. She is the Mother of the Universe; without her animating power, Shiva becomes shava, a corpse. This book is an abridged literary rendering of the Devi Bhagavatam. It retells all the major legends of the Goddess, as well as some other, less known tales.
The theme of this book is the evolution, patterning and socio-cultural perceptions of status and power relations in this region since the creation of state structure during late medieval times. History and legend are recorded in this book through documents and oral narratives as well as the manner in which the past is encapsulated institutionally in society, myth and ritual.
