Mother Goddess Caṇḍī
Author: Sibendu Manna
Publisher:
Published: 1993
Total Pages: 348
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKStudy with special reference to West Bengal, India.
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The Goddess
Author: Mandakranta Bose
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2018
Total Pages: 363
ISBN-13: 0198767021
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book explains how Hindus think about divinity in its feminine aspect, as the supreme creative energy of the cosmos. That energy is a single abstract idea but manifests itself in many forms, each imagined as a goddess with particular powers and functions.
The Indian Mother Goddess
Author: Narendra Nath Bhattacharyya
Publisher: Manohar Publishers and Distributors
Published: 1999
Total Pages: 388
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis Study, An Acclaimed Work On The Subject, Correlates The Cult Of Indian Mother Goddess With Similar Cults Found In Different Parts Of The World. It Reveas Intersting Historical Processes Working Behind The Origin And Development Of The Cult. It Further Highlights Its Popularity Among The Masses Specially Among The Lower Order, Its Functional Role In Space And Time And Its Entry Into The So Called Higher Forms Of Religious Systems Of India And Abroad.
Buddhist Goddesses of India
Author: Miranda Shaw
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2015-08-25
Total Pages: 586
ISBN-13: 0691168547
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"The Indian Buddhist world abounds with goddesses--voluptuous tree spirits, maternal nurturers, potent healers and protectors, transcendent wisdom figures, cosmic mothers of liberation, and dancing female Buddhas. Despite their importance in Buddhist thought and practice, these female deities have received relatively little scholarly attention, and no comprehensive study of the female pantheon has been available. Buddhist Goddesses of India is the essential and definitive guide to divinities that, as Miranda Shaw writes, "operate from transcendent planes of bliss and awareness for as long as their presence may benefit living beings." Beautifully illustrated, the book chronicles the histories, legends, and artistic portrayals of nineteen goddesses and several related human figures and texts. Drawing on a sweeping range of material, from devotional poetry and meditation manuals to rituals and artistic images, Shaw reveals the character, powers, and practice traditions of the female divinities. Interpretations of intriguing traits such as body color, stance, hairstyle, clothing, jewelry, hand gestures, and handheld objects lend deep insight into the symbolism and roles of each goddess. In addition to being a comprehensive reference, this book traces the fascinating history of these goddesses as they evolved through the early, Mahayana, and Tantric movements in India and found a place in the pantheons of Tibet and Nepal."--Publisher's website.
Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls
Author: June McDaniel
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2004-08-05
Total Pages: 368
ISBN-13: 0190290560
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Indian state of West Bengal is home to one of the world's most vibrant traditions of goddess worship. The year's biggest holidays are devoted to the goddesses Durga and Kali, with lavish rituals, decorated statues, fireworks, and parades. In Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls, June McDaniel provides a broad, accessibly written overview of Bengali goddess worship. McDaniel identifies three major forms of goddess worship, and examines each through its myths, folklore, songs, rituals, sacred texts, and practitioners. In the folk/tribal strand, which is found in rural areas, local tribal goddesses are worshipped alongside Hindu goddesses, with an emphasis on possession, healing, and animism. The tantric/yogic strand focuses on ritual, meditation, and visualization as ways of experiencing the power of the goddess directly. The devotional or bhakti strand, which is the most popular form, involves the intense love and worship of a particular form of the goddess. McDaniel traces these strands through Bengali culture and explores how they are interwoven with each other as well as with other forms of Hinduism. She also discusses how these practices have been reinterpreted in the West, where goddess worship has gained the values of sexual freedom and psychological healing, but lost its emphases on devotion and asceticism. Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls takes the reader inside the lives of practicing Shaktas, including holy women, hymn singers, philosophers, visionaries, gurus, ascetics, healers, musicians, and businessmen, and offers vivid descriptions of their rituals, practices, and daily lives. Drawing on years of fieldwork and extensive research, McDaniel paints a rich, expansive portrait of this fascinating religious tradition.
Mom Candy
Author: Jena Pincott
Publisher: Random House Reference
Published: 2016-04-26
Total Pages: 402
ISBN-13: 0375426299
DOWNLOAD EBOOKSweet, satisfying and calming, Mom Candy is the perfect pick-me-up gift for mothers of all ages. With 1,000 quotes, reflections, and insights Mom Candy gets at the heart of motherhood—from the anticipation of pregnancy and the arrival of a new baby, through the early years and the school days, to the lifelong bond that women have with their children. With thoughts from Hillary Clinton, Madeleine L'Engle, Michelle Obama, Kate Winslet, Reese Witherspoon, Erica Jong, Jodi Picoult, and many others. Being a mom has made me so tired. And so happy.— Tina Fey, actress, writer, and producer
Mother Goddess in Indian Art, Archaeology & Literature
Author: Mahesh Chandra Prasad Srivastava
Publisher:
Published: 1978
Total Pages: 280
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKMaking Virtuous Daughters and Wives
Author: June McDaniel
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2012-02-01
Total Pages: 145
ISBN-13: 0791487652
DOWNLOAD EBOOKExploring the folk religion of India and the role of girls and women within it, author June McDaniel focuses on the brata (vrata) ritual in which moral lessons are taught and goddesses are revealed. Bratas are performed to gain such goals as a healthy family, a good husband, and a happy life. They are also performed so that the performers (bratinis) develop such virtues as devotion, humility, and compassion.This book presents data from fieldwork, along with brata stories, songs, poems, and ritual activities. It discusses Bengali folk religion, offers an example of ritual worship in folk Hinduism, and surveys a variety of bratas. The author analyzes the similarities and differences among these rituals in low-caste village life and in high-caste Hindu tradition, and notes that the development of these rituals involves a form of continuing divine revelation with women as the primary transmitters. Bratas act to maintain traditional Hindu values, but also emphasize the power of women, whose virtues can save their husbands from hell worlds and their families from disasters.
Motherhood in India
Author: Maithreyi Krishnaraj
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2012-04-27
Total Pages: 364
ISBN-13: 1136517790
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book presents an overview of the varied experiences and representations of motherhood in India from ancient to modern times. The thrust of the arguments made by the various contributors is that the centrality of motherhood as an ideology in a woman’s life is manufactured. This is demonstrated by analysing various institutional structures of society – language, religion, media, law and technology. The articles in this book are chronologically arranged, tracing the different stages that motherhood as a concept has traversed in India – from goddess worship to nationalism, to being a vehicle of reproduction of the sexual division of labour and the inheritance of property via the male-line. Underlying these stages are the dialectics between them that have been facilitated by agents such as the state – the ultimate controller of a woman’s reproductive powers. The feminist critique of ‘essentialising’ the role of a woman has been employed to deconstruct and humanise the experiences and lives of mothers. This anthology therefore attempts to initiate a meaningful and ‘sensitive’ engagement with issues pertaining to a woman’s autonomy over her body and her role also as a mother.
Reflections on the Tantras
Author: Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Published: 1978
Total Pages: 122
ISBN-13: 9788120806917
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe brochur touches upon all the principal precepts of Tantra, especially the esotric practices. an account of the Sakta pithas has also been given in the background of the ethnological divisions of India. New light has been thrown on the origin of bija, mantra and gayatrt occurring in Tantric works. The study may be regarded as a new one, since scientific discussion of Tantricism has not yet progressed so far satisfactorily, especially from the point of view of the Tantrics themselves.
