The Goddess and the Sun in Indian Myth : Power, Preservation and Mirrored Māhātmyas in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (Routledge Hindu Studies Series)

Balkaran, Raj

Routledge（2022/08発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 172 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9781032400174
• DDC分類 294.5925

Full Description

In analyzing the parallels between myths glorifying the Indian Great Goddess, Durga, and those glorifying the Sun, Surya, found in the Marka¿¿eya Pura¿a, this book argues for an ideological ecosystem at work in the Marka¿¿eya Pura¿a privileging worldly values, of which Indian kings, the Goddess (Devi), the Sun (Surya), Manu and Marka¿¿eya himself are paragons.

This book features a salient discovery in Sanskrit narrative text: just as the Marka¿¿eya Pura¿a houses the Devi Mahatmya glorifying the supremacy of the Indian Great Goddess, Durga, it also houses a Surya Mahatmya, glorifying the supremacy of the Sun, Surya, in much the same manner. This book argues that these mahatmyas were meaningfully and purposefully positioned in the Marka¿¿eya Pura¿a, while previous scholarship has considered this haphazard interpolation for sectarian aims. The book demonstrates that deliberate compositional strategies make up the Saura-Sakta symbiosis found in these mirrored mahatmyas. Moreover, the author explores what he calls the "dharmic double helix" of Brahmanism, most explicitly articulated by the structural opposition between prav¿tti (worldly) and niv¿tti (other-worldy) dharmas.

As the first narrative study of the Surya Mahatmya, along with the first study of the Marka¿¿eya Pura¿a (or any Pura¿a), as a narrative whole, this book will be of interest to academics in the field of Religion, Hindu Studies, South Asian Studies, Goddess Studies, Narrative Theory and Comparative Mythology.

Contents

Introduction: Goddess and King, Goddess and Sun

1. Synchronic Strategy

2. Mirrored Mahamtyas

3. The Story of Sa¿jña

4. Mapping Marka¿¿eya

Conclusion: Paragons of Preservation