Raj Balkaran Goddess and the Sun in Indian Myth

Annotation

In analyzing the parallels between myths glorifying the Indian Great Goddess, Durga, and those glorifying the Sun, Surya, found in the Markandeya Purana, this book argues for an ideological ecosystem at work in the Markandeya Purana privileging worldly values, of which Indian kings, the Goddess (Devi), the Sun (Surya), Manu and Markandeya himself are paragons.This book features a salient discovery in Sanskrit narrative text: just as the MA rkaa a eya PurA a a houses the DevA MA hA tmya glorifying the supremacy of the Indian Great Goddess, DurgA , it also houses a SA rya MA hA tmya, glorifying the supremacy of the Sun, SA rya, in much the same manner. This book argues that these mA hA tmyas were meaningfully and purposefully positioned in the MA rkaa a eya PurA a a, while previous scholarship has considered this haphazard interpolation for sectarian aims. The book demonstrates that deliberate compositional strategies make up the Saura-AsA kta symbiosis found in these mirrored mA hA tmyas. Moreover, the author explores what he calls the "dharmic double helix" of Brahmanism, most explicitly articulated by the structural opposition between prava tti (worldly) and niva tti (other-worldy) dharmas.As the first narrative study of the SA rya MA hA tmya, along with the first study of the MA rkaa a eya PurA a a (or any PurA a a), as a narrative whole, this book will be of interest to academics in the field of Religion, Hindu Studies, South Asian Studies, Goddess Studies, Narrative Theory and Comparative Mythology.