This book explores the rise of the Great Goddess by focusing on the development of sakti (creative energy), many (objective illusion), and prakrti (materiality) from Vedic times to the late Puranic period, clarifying how these principles became central to her theology…. The first two chapters of this study clarify the historical background from which the relevant associations emerge. Chapter one explores the mythology of the Vedas, in which different goddesses are associated with cosmogonic and cosmological notions of power and materiality, although such associations are not articulated formally. Chapter two turns to the early philosophical schools and explores the relevant philosophical conceptions with respect to systematic formulations of cosmogony and cosmology. This chapter also explores some of the ways in which relevant philosophical and mythological themes come together in certain environments. The third chapter of this study focuses on the Puranas. In the Puranas, different goddesses come to be identified with the cosmogonic and cosmological principles prakrti, sakti, and maya. This chapter examines diverse accounts of creation in several different Puranas and details both the essential cosmogonic patterns that are articulated and the variable elements that are introduced according to the unique perspective of the individual texts. The notion of a Great Goddess who is prakrti/sakti/maya emerges in these materials as a synthesis of concepts already present in the different strands of the tradition explored in the first two chapters. The conclusion summarizes the observations made in this study before exploring the larger implications of the material as a whole and assessing in particular some of the historical, political, and interpretive issues that emerge from the date.
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