Seeking Mahadevi: Constructing the Identities of the Hindu Great Goddess

by Tracy Pintchman

While Hindus recognize and revere a variety of different goddesses, they also tend to speak of one Great Goddess, Mahadevi, as a singular divine being who is the unity underlying all female deities. In this book, ten scholars reflect on both the diverse depictions of Mahadevi found in textual and devotional environments and the ways that the singularity and multiplicity of the divine Hindu feminine are negotiated. Seeking Mahadevi covers various geographical locations, from the Punjab and Bengal in North India to Kerala and Tamilnadu in the South, and makes use of evidence from ancient texts and contemporary interviews, male-authored documents and women's possession experiences, myth, ritual, and folklore. Arguing that Mahadevi has multiple, context-dependent identities that are constructed through human interpretive activity, this book highlights the great diversity of ways that those who worship Mahadevi conceive of and portray her.

“The creativity of these essays, as well as their ability to point to possible future paths of study, will be greatly welcome to general scholars of Indology as well as those interested in gender and religion and South Asia. After reading them, one wants to continue to seek Mahadevi in all her changing forms.” — Journal of the American Oriental Society

"I like the way the book addresses the issue of unity and diversity (is there one Goddess or several) which is done explicitly in a few chapters and implicitly in others." -- David Kinsley, author of The Goddesses' Mirror: Visions of the Divine from East and West

"There is great popular and scholarly interest in the topic of the imaging of feminine divinity in general, and Hindu goddesses in particular. Many of the contributors present material on contemporary religious practices, as well as 'images,' and such material is always welcome in the field of the study of Indian religion." -- Leslie C. Orr, author of Donors, Devotees, and Daughters of God: Temple Women in Medieval Tamilnadu

Contributors include C. Mackenzie Brown, Sarah Caldwell, Thomas Coburn, Elaine Craddock, Kathleen M. Erndl, Jeffrey J. Kripal, Usha Menon, Tracy Pintchman, Andhra Pradesh, and Mark Edwin Rohe.

Tracy Pintchman is Associate Professor of Hindu Studies at Loyola University Chicago. She is the author of The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition, also published by SUNY Press.

Genres: Hinduism

268 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2001

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This scholarly compilation aims at understanding, explaining, and reasonably defining what we, the Indians, mean by 'Mahadevi'. Apart from an invaluable 'Introduction'— which stands tall on its own as a thesis— the book contains ten essays, followed by Index and Bibliography/References.
Those essays do a seminal work in making us understand, what a Herculean task had befallen the Puranic writers when they were trying to stich all the various ideas and notions regarding the Mother Goddess prevailing throughout the country into a reasonably coherent structure. As we get to know the regional myths and variations, Campbellian order of terrible mother followed by benevolent mother makes sense, and also collapses in places.
One chapter dedicated to Maa Sharada throws light on the recognition of a human being as the Divine Mother without performing a single miracle or asking for anything.
Several chapters deal with the notion of Goddess and what exactly we mean as well as expect from a persona upon whom that title is imposed or conferred.
My favourite pieces were~
1. 'The Tantric and Vedantic Identity of the Great Goddess in the Devi Gita of the Devi-Bhagabata Purana' by C. Mackenzie Brown;
2. 'The Goddess as Fount of the Universe: Shared Visions and Negotiated Allegiances in Puranic Accounts of Cosmogenesis' by Tracy Pintchman;
3. 'Goddesses and the Goddess in Hinduism: Constructing the Goddess through Religious Experience' by Kathleen M. Erndl.
But the other seven works were lucid, informative, reasonably unbiased and logical as well.
Overall, I consider this work as an invaluable addition to the works aimed at understanding Indian religion. Highly recommended.