From magic to deity, matter to persona: the exaltation of Māyā
The first chapter of the Devīmāhātmya, a collection of myths about the warrior goddess Durgā, mentions a mysterious figure of magic and causal power, the goddess Mahāmāyā who is the personified sleep of Viṣṇu. Though tightly enmeshed with Durgā, Mahāmāyā is charged with a complex symbolism distingui...
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| Format: | Book section |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford University Press
2018
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| _version_ | 1797112048056795136 |
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| author | Sarkar, B |
| author2 | Bose, M |
| author_facet | Bose, M Sarkar, B |
| author_sort | Sarkar, B |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The first chapter of the Devīmāhātmya, a collection of myths about the warrior goddess Durgā, mentions a mysterious figure of magic and causal power, the goddess Mahāmāyā who is the personified sleep of Viṣṇu. Though tightly enmeshed with Durgā, Mahāmāyā is charged with a complex symbolism distinguishing her from Durgā. Focusing on Mahāmāyā, this chapter turns from myth to classical Indian philosophy to probe her origin and to trace her further development and exaltation from a metaphysical concept into a deity of worship. It assesses the notion of māyā as magic, illusion and the principle of active material causation in metaphysics preceding the Devīmāhātmya, from which Mahāmāyā as a religious icon drew her varied signification It is particularly within the cosmogonic speculations of Sadyojyotiḥ and Bhaṭṭa Rāmakaṇṭha, early writers of the Śaiva Siddhānta, that Māyā is turned into a central figure in the understanding of how reality is formed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:18:53Z |
| format | Book section |
| id | oxford-uuid:8cdb998b-06d9-4158-ab98-ee28aa632d74 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:18:53Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:8cdb998b-06d9-4158-ab98-ee28aa632d742024-01-12T16:49:16ZFrom magic to deity, matter to persona: the exaltation of MāyāBook sectionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843uuid:8cdb998b-06d9-4158-ab98-ee28aa632d74EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordOxford University Press2018Sarkar, BBose, MThe first chapter of the Devīmāhātmya, a collection of myths about the warrior goddess Durgā, mentions a mysterious figure of magic and causal power, the goddess Mahāmāyā who is the personified sleep of Viṣṇu. Though tightly enmeshed with Durgā, Mahāmāyā is charged with a complex symbolism distinguishing her from Durgā. Focusing on Mahāmāyā, this chapter turns from myth to classical Indian philosophy to probe her origin and to trace her further development and exaltation from a metaphysical concept into a deity of worship. It assesses the notion of māyā as magic, illusion and the principle of active material causation in metaphysics preceding the Devīmāhātmya, from which Mahāmāyā as a religious icon drew her varied signification It is particularly within the cosmogonic speculations of Sadyojyotiḥ and Bhaṭṭa Rāmakaṇṭha, early writers of the Śaiva Siddhānta, that Māyā is turned into a central figure in the understanding of how reality is formed. |
| spellingShingle | Sarkar, B From magic to deity, matter to persona: the exaltation of Māyā |
| title | From magic to deity, matter to persona: the exaltation of Māyā |
| title_full | From magic to deity, matter to persona: the exaltation of Māyā |
| title_fullStr | From magic to deity, matter to persona: the exaltation of Māyā |
| title_full_unstemmed | From magic to deity, matter to persona: the exaltation of Māyā |
| title_short | From magic to deity, matter to persona: the exaltation of Māyā |
| title_sort | from magic to deity matter to persona the exaltation of maya |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sarkarb frommagictodeitymattertopersonatheexaltationofmaya |