Illustrated with seven miniatures

[Hinduism - Shaktism]. Devi Mahatmya [Glory of the Goddess].

€ 4.500,00

Glorifying the supreme goddess: a manuscript of the Devi Mahatmya, penned in Sanskrit and illustrated with seven finely painted miniatures. The goddess known as Mahadevi, among numerous other names, honorifics, and incarnations, is described in the Devi Mahatmya as the supreme power and creator of the Universe. This belief in Mahadevi as a profound universal goddess is of particular importance in the Hindu school of Shaktism, but the text and the goddess are important to the Hindu tradition as a whole. First composed in the middle of the first millennium (before 700 CE), the full text of the Devi Mahatmya comprises 700 verses arranged in thirteen chapters (though this manuscript is partial, wanting the beginning and end of the text), detailing a battle between good and evil, where Devi manifests as the goddess Durga in order to battle the demon Mahishasura. The work is considered of particular importance to scholars and Hindus alike for its role in the development of a female creator and universal deity.