Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book proposes that the goddesses evolved in South Asian Hindu, Buddhist and multiple local traditions can be categorized in terms of Grace. After the categorization of the goddesses in different dominant kinds, it concentrates on how such modes at times are functional and provisional, plural and overlapping. Since the Kathmandu valley traditional art represents the goddesses in various kinds of paintings, the book presents an analytical survey of the deities. It concentrates on the association of the deities with knowledge in more elaborate ways. The book talks about the South Asian cultural practices of myriad naming of the supernaturals, especially the goddesses. It focuses on the metaphorical attributes of the goddesses in terms of nature and the role of the supernaturals as represented in the arts and rituals of the valley in particular and South Asia and India in general.