Sanskrit Manuscripts : Devīmāhātmya

Sanskrit Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>A 17th-century illuminated multi-text paper manuscript containing: the <i>Kavaca</i> (possibly preceded by other texts lost in the three initial missing folios), the <i>Devīmāhātmya</i> and the <i>Indrākṣīstuti</i>. 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). </p>