The Devi Gita

The Song of the Goddess: A Translation, Annotation, and Commentary

C. Mackenzie Brown

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 1998
• Print ISBN: 9780791439401, 9780791439395
• eBook ISBN: 9780791497739
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

This book provides a translation, with introduction, commentary, and annotation, of the medieval Hindu Sanskrit text the Devi Gita (Song of the Goddess). It is an important but not well-known text from the rich SAakta (Goddess) tradition of India. The Devi Gita was composed about the fifteenth century C.E., in partial imitation of the famous Bhagavad Gita (Song of the Lord), composed some fifteen centuries earlier. Around the sixth century C.E., following the rise of several male deities to prominence, a new theistic movement began in which the supreme being was envisioned as female, known as the Great Goddess (Maha-Devi). Appearing first as a violent and blood-loving deity, this Goddess gradually evolved into a more benign figure, a compassionate World-Mother and bestower of salvific wisdom. It is in this beneficent mode that the Goddess appears in the Devi Gita. This work makes available an up-to-date translation of the Devi Gita, along with a historical and theological analysis of the text. The book is divided into sections of verses, and each section is followed by a comment explaining key terms, concepts, ritual procedures, and mythic themes. The comments also offer comparisons with related schools of thought, indicate parallel texts and textual sources of verses in the Devi Gita, and briefly elucidate the historical and religious background, supplementing the remarks of the introduction.

Table of contents

• The Devi Gita: The Song of the Goddess: A Translation, Annotation, and Commentary
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• A Note on the Translation
• Navasloki Devi Gita: The Essential Devi Gita in Nine Verses
• Chapter 1: The Appearance of the Great Goddess Before the Mountain King Himalaya and the Gods
• Chapter 2: The Goddess as the Supreme Cause of Creation
• Chapter 3: The Goddess Reveals Her Cosmic Body (The Viraj)
• Chapter 4: Instruction in the Yoga of Knowledge
• Chapter 5: Instruction in the Eight-limbed/Kundalini Yoga
• Chapter 6: The Goal of the Yogas: Knowledge of Brahman
• Chapter 7: Instruction in the Yoga of Devotion
• Chapter 8: Further Instruction in the Yoga of Devotion: The Sacred Sites, Rites, and Festivals of the Goddess
• Chapter 9: Vedic and Internal Forms of Goddess Worship
• Chapter 10: The Tantric Form of Goddess Worship and the Disappearance of the Great Goddess
• Afterword
• Appendix: Verse Index of the Epithets and Names of the Goddess
• Bibliography
• Index