ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects upon the vision of divine power artfully personified within The Greatness of the Goddess (DM). Much scholarship on the DM falls prey to the binary trope of Hindu female deities existing as either beneficent "goddesses of the breast" versus maleficent "goddesses of the tooth." According to Ramanujan's original typology, Durga of the DM might be described as an independent breast goddess who bares her teeth in times of need. The Goddess's vivid wrath—from her maniacal laughter, to the tumult she causes, to her martial barrage, to her unparalleled rage—function within the context of protecting the imperiled gods. There are two perceptible faces to Durga, to be sure: the fierce face of the royal warrior, and the gentle face of the contented mother. The dynamism innate to the Goddess readily associates her with the locus, fluctuations, and predilection of pravrtti religion.
