Goddesses in Ancient India

Goddesses in Ancient India
Author: P. K. Agrawala
Publisher: Abhinav Publications
Total Pages: 192
Release: 1983
Genre:
ISBN: 8170171849

Dr. Agrawala S Present Work Largely Represents His Ph.D. Thesis (Approved By The Banaras Hindu University) In A Revised Up-To-Date Form. He Has Brought Out A Most Comprehensive And Thorough Analysis Of The Material On The Worship Of Goddesses In The Proto-Historic And Vedic Periods Of India. A Vast Amount Of Archaeological Evidence Is Carefully Sifted And Analysed By Him In A Truer Cultic Perspective As Throwing New Light On The Role Of Mother-Goddesses In The Protohistoric Cultures Ranging From Small Agricultural Communities Of Baluchistan Foothills To The Highly Developed Harappans. Dr. Agrawala Has Also Identified And Discussed In A Systematic Manner Varied Motifs And Concepts Of Fertility Cultus In The Rgveda And Later Vedic Texts Which Were Subsequently Formulated Into Definite Images, Personifications And Attributes. He Has Marshalled In A Fully Objective Treatment All Those References In The Vedic Literature That Go Now To Reveal Numerous Fresh Aspects Of This Hitherto Unexplored Subject. One Is Able Indeed To See Through The Present Work How The Rgvedic Goddesses,Mostly Abstractions, Later On Assumed Mythical Definitions In The Pantheon And How The Folk Culture Of India Exercised Its Far-Reaching Influences On Higher Priestly Religion Not Only By Contributing Its Own Share Of Goddesses But Also Through Their More Concrete Identification With The Already Existing Ones In Myths And Cult Rituals.

Hindu Goddesses

Hindu Goddesses
Author: David Kinsley
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Total Pages: 296
Release: 1998
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9788120803947

Hindu Goddesses is a valuable sourcebook and reference work for students and scholars of Hindu goddesses and of Hinduism in general. Each goddess is dealt with as an independent deity with a coherent mythology, theology and, in some cases, cult of her own. Within the complex, diverse, and rich goddess traditions of Hinduism, one can find suggestions of nearly every important theme in the Hindu religion. In many ways, this book is as much a study of the Hindu tradition itself as it is a study of one aspect of that tradition. No other living religious tradition has displayed such an ancient, continuous, and diverse history of goddess worship.

Encyclopedia of Hinduism

Encyclopedia of Hinduism
Author: Constance Jones
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
Total Pages: 593
Release: 2006
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0816075646

An illustrated A to Z reference containing more than 700 entries providing information on the theology, people, historical events, institutions and movements related to Hinduism.

A Study of Deities of Rig Veda (with the Help of Science)

A Study of Deities of Rig Veda (with the Help of Science)
Author: Shanti Swarup Gupta
Publisher: Abhinav Publications
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2006
Genre: Gods, Hindu
ISBN: 8170174481

This Is Probably For The First Time That A Serious Study Of Deities Of Rig Veda Has Been Made With The Help Of Modern Research Methodology And Science To Find Out What The Rishis Had Said, A Few Thousand Years Back, About The Deities. Efforts Were Also Made To Identify These Gods. It Is A Finding Of Great Importance That What Rishis Had Said About These Gods Is Being Corroborated By The Western Science Today. Dr. Gupta Has Grouped These 33 Gods Of Rig Veda In Three Categories: (I) Natural Phenomena Gods Sky, Earth, Fire, Air And Water. All The Material Things Are Produced By Their Permutations And Combinations. These Five Natural Phenomena Gods Have Their Sub-Gods Also. For Example, Agni Has Surya Agni (Nuclear Energy), Apan Napat Agni (Agni In The Sky Like Lightning), Davanal (Agni On Earth), Badvanal (Agni In The Oceans Or Water) And Jathragni (Agni In The Body); (Ii) Gods Connected With Soul Energy Such As Vishnu (Can Be Compared With A Modern Generating Station), Brahama, Who Induces The Tiny, Invisible, Weightless Particles Of Soul Energy In All The Living Beings To Give Them Life, Shiva, Who, At An Interval Of Time, Takes Out This Particle Of Soul Energy From All The Living Beings And They All Become Dead, And Yama, Who And Whose Assistants Take These Tiny Particles Of Soul To A Place Called Yama Loka; (Iii) Craftsmen Gods Such As Vishvakarma, Tvastha And Ribhugan Who Assemble And Mix The Five Basic Elements In Different Proportions To Create Structures Or Forms So That Soul-Particles Can Be Introduced In Them; And (Iv) Miscellaneous Gods Such As Rishis And Other Men, Animals (Cow, Frog, Etc.) Raised To Godhood, And Other Important Things Like Meaning Of Prayer, Does Rig Veda Give History Etc.

The Religion of the Veda

The Religion of the Veda
Author: Hermann Oldenberg
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Total Pages: 390
Release: 1988
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9788120803923

Samkhya and Yoga systems of religious thought.

Gods, Sages and Kings

Gods, Sages and Kings
Author: David Frawley
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Total Pages: 412
Release: 1993
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9788120810051

The book comprises two parts part I deals with the socio-historical aspects of family of the Vedic Seer Bharadvaja and Part II discusses the significant contribution the family has made to the various fields of Indian culture.

The Rigveda

The Rigveda
Author: Joel P. Brereton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2020
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0190633360

The Rigveda is a monumental text in both world religion and world literature, yet outside a small band of specialists it is little known. Composed in the latter half of the second millennium BCE, it stands as the foundational text of what would later be called Hinduism. The text consists of over a thousand hymns dedicated to various divinities, composed in sophisticated and often enigmatic verse. This concise guide from two of the Rigveda's leading English-language scholars introduces the text and breaks down its large range of topics--from meditations on cosmic enigmas to penetrating reflections on the ability of mortals to make contact with and affect the divine and cosmic realms through sacrifice and praise--for a wider audience.