Ritual Worship of the Great Goddess

Ritual Worship of the Great Goddess PDF Author: Hillary Rodrigues
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791488446
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 434

Get Book Here

Book Description
During a nine-day period every autumn, Hindus in India and throughout the world worship the Great Goddess, Durgā--the formidable deity who is loved like a mother. One of the most dramatic and popular of these celebrations is the Durgā Pūjā, a rite noted for its visual pageantry, ritual complexity, and communal participation. In this book, Hillary Peter Rodrigues describes the Bengali style of Durgā Pūjā practiced in the sacred city of Banaras from beginning to end. A romanization of the Sanskrit litany is included along with an English translation. In addition to the liturgical description, Rodrigues provides information on the rite's component elements and mythic aspects. There are interpretive sections on puja, the Great Goddess, women's roles in the ritual, and the socio-cultural functions of the ritual. Rodrigues maintains that the Durgā Pūjā is a rite of cosmic rejuvenation, of empowerment at both the personal and social levels, and a rite that orchestrates manifestations of the feminine, both Divine and human.

Ritual Worship of the Great Goddess

Ritual Worship of the Great Goddess PDF Author: Hillary Rodrigues
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791488446
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 434

Get Book Here

Book Description
During a nine-day period every autumn, Hindus in India and throughout the world worship the Great Goddess, Durgā--the formidable deity who is loved like a mother. One of the most dramatic and popular of these celebrations is the Durgā Pūjā, a rite noted for its visual pageantry, ritual complexity, and communal participation. In this book, Hillary Peter Rodrigues describes the Bengali style of Durgā Pūjā practiced in the sacred city of Banaras from beginning to end. A romanization of the Sanskrit litany is included along with an English translation. In addition to the liturgical description, Rodrigues provides information on the rite's component elements and mythic aspects. There are interpretive sections on puja, the Great Goddess, women's roles in the ritual, and the socio-cultural functions of the ritual. Rodrigues maintains that the Durgā Pūjā is a rite of cosmic rejuvenation, of empowerment at both the personal and social levels, and a rite that orchestrates manifestations of the feminine, both Divine and human.

The Linga and the Great Goddess

The Linga and the Great Goddess PDF Author: Swami Hariharānandasarasvatī
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Phallicism
Languages : en
Pages : 378

Get Book Here

Book Description
Swami Karpatri (1907-1982), a revered contemporary sannyasin of exceptional personality, was renowned for his deep scriptural knowledge, which he used in his many writings to light up the Hindu orthodox point of view. The two significant articles presented here deal with the meaning of the Linga and the nature of the Great Goddess. This bilingual edition (Hindi-English) presents a new translation - the fruit of a collective work - in the first book by Svami Karpatri published in English. Prefaced by H.H. Jagadguru Sankaracarya of Dvarakapitha and Jyotispitha, Svami Svarupananda Sarasvati, who was a close companion of Svami Karpatri, this book clarifies many fundamental thoughts of sanatana dharma related to Siva and Sakti.

The Goddess in Hindu-Tantric Traditions

The Goddess in Hindu-Tantric Traditions PDF Author: Anway Mukhopadhyay
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351063529
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Get Book Here

Book Description
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.

The Linga Purana Part 1

The Linga Purana Part 1 PDF Author: J. L. Shastri
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
ISBN: 8120838726
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 537

Get Book Here

Book Description


Skanda Purana: Avanti Khanda: 84 Lingas Mahatmya: English Translation only without Slokas

Skanda Purana: Avanti Khanda: 84 Lingas Mahatmya: English Translation only without Slokas PDF Author: Kausiki Books
Publisher: Kausiki Books
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 494

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Presence of Siva

The Presence of Siva PDF Author: Stella Kramrisch
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
ISBN: 9788120804913
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 602

Get Book Here

Book Description
One of the three great gods of Hinduism, Siva is a living god. The most sacred and most ancient book of India, "The Rg Veda," evokes his presence in its hymns; Vedic myths, rituals, and even astronomy testify to his existence from the dawn of time. In a lively meditation on Siva--based on original Sanskrit texts, many translated here for the first time--Stella Kramrisch ponders the metaphysics, ontology, and myths of Siva from the Vedas and the Puranas. Who is Siva? Who is this god whose being comprises and transcends everything? From the dawn of creation, the Wild God, the Great Yogi, the sum of all opposites, has been guardian of the absolute. By retelling and interweaving the many myths that keep Siva alive in India today, Kramrisch reveals the paradoxes in Siva's nature and thus in the nature of consciousness itself.

Ancient Indian Tradition & Mythology;: The Liṅga-purāṇa

Ancient Indian Tradition & Mythology;: The Liṅga-purāṇa PDF Author: Jagdish Lal Shastri
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : India
Languages : en
Pages : 544

Get Book Here

Book Description
Hindu mythological texts.

The Presence of Siva

The Presence of Siva PDF Author: S. Kramrisch
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691224226
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 560

Get Book Here

Book Description
One of the three great gods of Hinduism, Siva is a living god. The most sacred and most ancient book of India, The Rg Veda, evokes his presence in its hymns; Vedic myths, rituals, and even astronomy testify to his existence from the dawn of time. In a lively meditation on Siva--based on original Sanskrit texts, many translated here for the first time--Stella Kramrisch ponders the metaphysics, ontology, and myths of Siva from the Vedas and the Puranas. Who is Siva? Who is this god whose being comprises and transcends everything? From the dawn of creation, the Wild God, the Great Yogi, the sum of all opposites, has been guardian of the absolute. By retelling and interweaving the many myths that keep Siva alive in India today, Kramrisch reveals the paradoxes in Siva's nature and thus in the nature of consciousness itself.

The Myths and Gods of India

The Myths and Gods of India PDF Author: Alain Danielou
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
ISBN: 8120836383
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 506

Get Book Here

Book Description
This study of Hindu mythology explores the significance of the most prominent Hindu deities as they are envisioned by the Hindus themselves, Referred to by its adherents as the "eternal religion" Hinduism recognizes for each age and each country a new form of revelation-and for each person, according to his or her stage of development, a different path of realization. This message of tolerance and adaptability, the very heart of Hindu polytheism, resounds clearly throughout Alain Danielou's work. Photographic plates by Raymond Burnier further illustrate the many facets of Hindu teaching and grace the significance of the Gods of the Vedas, as well as Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Kali, Shakti, and other deities.

Art of Nepal

Art of Nepal PDF Author: Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520054073
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book Here

Book Description