Episode 10 | Devi Mahatmya: The Stories of the Great Goddess

Durga Slaying the Buffalo-Demon Mahisha (Mahishasuramardini), 9th century

From Kota, Rajasthan, at LACMA

Mahishasuramardini (Details)

Manuscript covers depicting Devi as the eight mothers, c. 18th century

From Nepal, at the San Diego Museum of Art

Kali, Durga, Chanda, and Munda, Kangra style painting, c.1800-1820

From Guler, Rasathan, at Victoria and Albert Museum

REFERENCES:

Brown, Cheever Mackenzie. 1990. The triumph of the goddess: the canonical models and theological visions of the Devī-Bhāgavata Purāṇa. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Coburn, Thomas B. 2002. Devī-Māhātmya: the crystallization of the Goddess tradition. Delhi: M. Banarsidass.

Dehejia, Vidya, and Thomas B. Coburn. 1999. Devi: the great goddess : female divinity in South Asian art ; [published on the occasion of the exhibition]. Washington: Sackler.

Hiltebeitel, Alf, and Kathleen M. Erndl. 2002. Is the goddess a feminist?: the politics of South Asian goddesses. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Punzo, Joanne Mary. 1967. The Devi Mahatmya: a critical study of a devotional text. Chambersburg, Pa: Wilson College.

SHOW NOTES:

Is she the great illusion or the gravest ignorance? Is she the destroyer of Mahisha or the avenger of the demonic twins Shumbha and Nishumbha? Is she Ambika, or Chandika, or Kali, or Parvati, or Mahamaya, or Durga? Who is Devi, the Great Goddess? Why did she drink alcohol and get inebriated? Did she eat people? In this episode, the different forms of the great goddess within Hinduism is explored through the telling of the stories contained in the sixth-century scripture, Devi Mahatmya.