The Devi Gita

by C. Mackenzie Brown

• ISBN13: 9780791439401
• ISBN10: 0791439402
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1998-09-11
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (SUNY Press)

Summary

Following the rise of several male deities to prominence, circa 6th century C.E., a new theistic movement began in which the supreme being was envisioned as female. First appearing violent & blood loving, the Great Goddess gradually evolved into a more benign figure, a compassionate World-Mother & bestower of salvific wisdom. It is in this beneficent mode that the Goddess appears in the Devi Gita.

Author Biography

C. Mackenzie Brown is Professor of Religion at Trinity University

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
A Note on the Translation	p. 31
Navasloki Devi Gita: The Essential Devi Gita in Nine Verses	p. 41
The Appearance of the Great Goddess Before the Mountain King Himalaya and the Gods	p. 45
The Goddess as the Supreme Cause of Creation	p. 85
The Goddess Reveals Her Cosmic Body (The Viraj)	p. 111
Instruction in the Yoga of Knowledge	p. 137
Instruction in the Eight-limbed/Kundalini Yoga	p. 161
The Goal of the Yogas: Knowledge of Brahman	p. 203
Instruction in the Yoga of Devotion	p. 219
Further Instruction in the Yoga of Devotion: The Sacred Sites, Rites, and Festivals of the Goddess	p. 237
Vedic and Internal Forms of Goddess Worship	p. 263
The Tantric Form of Goddess Worship and the Disappearance of the Great Goddess	p. 285
Afterword	p. 319
Verse Index of the Epithets and Names of the Goddess	p. 325
Sanskrit Text	p. 335
Bibliography	p. 357
Index	p. 375
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