Sanskrit Manuscripts : Devīmāhātmya

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Sanskrit Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Consisting in 13 chapters of the <i>Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa</i>, probably written in the early second half of the first millennium CE, the <i>Devīmāhātmya</i> is one of most important witnesses of the mytholgy and worship of the Goddess in South Asian religions. The text narrates how Devī in her different embodiments (most famously, Durgā, Kālī and the Mātṛkās) performs righteous and often bloody deeds, mainly aimed at variously rescuing the world, among which the slaying of many terrible demons (Madhu, Kaiṭabha, Mahiṣāsura, Raktabīja, Śumbha and Niśumbha). This illuminated black-paper manuscript from Nepāl is tentatively dated to 1583 CE, i.e. 703 Nepāla Saṃvat, according to the date give in the colophon with the <i>bhūtasaṃkhyā</i> system as it was interpreted by Wright and the Paṇḍits who helped him. The mansucripts is protected by quite remarkable brass covers, finely chiseled with episodes narrated in the text. </p>