Skip to main content
Taylor & Francis Group Logo
Advanced Search

Click here to search books using title name,author name and keywords.

  • Login
  • Hi, User  
    • Your Account
    • Logout
Advanced Search

Click here to search books using title name,author name and keywords.

Breadcrumbs Section. Click here to navigate to respective pages.

Book

The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth

Book

The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth

DOI link for The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth

The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth book

Ring Composition, Royal Power, and the Dharmic Double Helix

The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth

DOI link for The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth

The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth book

Ring Composition, Royal Power, and the Dharmic Double Helix
ByRaj Balkaran
Edition 1st Edition
First Published 2018
eBook Published 27 July 2018
Pub. Location London
Imprint Routledge
DOI https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429466120
Pages 178
eBook ISBN 9780429466120
Subjects Area Studies, Humanities, Language & Literature
Share
Share

Get Citation

Balkaran, R. (2018). The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth: Ring Composition, Royal Power, and the Dharmic Double Helix (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429466120

ABSTRACT

The Sanskrit narrative text Devī Māhātmya, “The Greatness of The Goddess,” extols the triumphs of an all-powerful Goddess, Durgā, over universe-imperiling demons. These exploits are embedded in an intriguing frame narrative: a deposed king solicits the counsel of a forest-dwelling ascetic, who narrates the tripartite acts of Durgā which comprise the main body of the text. It is a centrally important early text about the Great Goddess, which has significance to the broader field of Purāṇic Studies.

This book analyzes the Devī Māhātmya and argues that its frame narrative cleverly engages a dichotomy at the heart of Hinduism: the opposing ideals of asceticism and kingship. These ideals comprise two strands of what is referred to herein as the dharmic double helix. It decodes the symbolism of encounters between forest hermits and exiled kings through the lens of the dharmic double helix, demonstrating the extent to which this common narrative trope masterfully encodes the ambivalence of brāhmaṇic ideology. Engaging the tension between the moral necessity for nonviolence and the sociopolitical necessity for violence, the book deconstructs the ideological ambivalence throughout the Devī Māhātmya to demonstrate that its frame narrative invariably sheds light on its core content. Its very structure serves to emphasize a theme that prevails throughout the text, one inalienable to the rubric of the episodes themselves: sovereignty on both cosmic and mundane scales.

The book sheds new light on the content of the Devī Māhātmya and contextualizes it within the framework of important debates within early Hinduism. It will be of interest to academics in the fields of Asian Religion, Hindu Studies, Goddess Studies, South Asian Studies, Narrative Studies and comparative literature.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

chapter |5 pages

Introduction

Framing ascetics, framing kings

chapter 1|28 pages

Framing the framing

Focusing the study of the Devī Māhātmya

chapter 2|26 pages

Finding the forest hermit

Ascetic ideology in the Devī Māhātmya

chapter 3|28 pages

Mother of kings

Royal ideology in the Devī Māhātmya

chapter 4|36 pages

Reading the ring

Focusing the frame of the Devī Māhātmya

chapter 5|23 pages

Mother of power

Focusing the Goddess of the Devī Māhātmya

chapter |10 pages

Conclusion

Framing frontier
T&F logoTaylor & Francis Group logo
  • Policies
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Cookie Policy
  • Journals
    • Taylor & Francis Online
    • CogentOA
    • Taylor & Francis Online
    • CogentOA
  • Corporate
    • Taylor & Francis Group
    • Taylor & Francis Group
    • Taylor & Francis Group
    • Taylor & Francis Group
  • Help & Contact
    • Students/Researchers
    • Librarians/Institutions
    • Students/Researchers
    • Librarians/Institutions
  • Connect with us

Connect with us

Registered in England & Wales No. 3099067
5 Howick Place | London | SW1P 1WG © 2021 Informa UK Limited