Hindu gods. After his marriage,
Skanda contracts a “love-marriage”
with the tribal girl Valli. Skanda’s two
wives thus symbolize both sides of his
identity—Valli bears witness to his
connection with the land, and his ulti-
mate roots as a tribal deity, while
Devasena shows his assimilation into
the larger Hindu pantheon.
Devayajna
(“sacrifice to the gods”) One of the
Five Great Sacrifices (panchamahaya-
jna) that is prescribed in the texts on
religious duty (dharma literature).
These Five Great Sacrifices are pre-
scribed daily religious observances for
a “twice-born” householder, that is, a
householder who has been born into
one of the three twice-born groups in
Indian society—brahmin, kshatriya,
or vaishya—and who has received the
adolescent religious initiationknown
as the “second birth.” Each of the five
sacrifices (yajna) is directed toward a
different class of beings—from the
Absolute Reality down to animals—
and is satisfied by different actions.
The devayajna is directed toward the
gods and is satisfied by homa, the
offeringsof clarified butter into the
sacred fire. In the time since these
texts were composed, Hindu life has
undergone significant changes, and
since most Hindu homes no longer
maintain a sacred fire, this particular
rite has been largely omitted.
Devimahatmya
(“Greatness of the Goddess”) The
earliest and most important mythic
source for the cult of the Goddess as
the supreme divine power. The
Devimahatmyais itself a section of a
larger Sanskrit(sacred language) text,
the Markandeya Purana, and is gener-
ally accepted to have been composed in
the Narmada Riverregion in the fifth or
sixth century. The Devimahatmya is
most notable for its assertion that God is
female. This notion has no clear source
in the earlier Hindu tradition, in which
female deitiesexist but are insignificant.
This conviction must have existed at
some level, because it emerges fully
developed in the Devimahatmya, and
the idea must have spent some time
developing before its full fruition in
this text.
The Devimahatmyaitself is a text of
700 verses, hence its other common
name, the Durgasaptashati(“700 verses
to Durga”). The text begins with a frame
story, in which a king and a merchant,
each beset by worldly trials, seek refuge
in the peace of the forest. There they
meet a sage, who listens to each of their
stories, and explains that all of their
troubles are due to Mahamaya (an epi-
thet of the Goddess). This is an epithet
for the Goddess as the wielder of illu-
sion, who is the sole power behind the
universe. When pressed for further
details, the sage tells three mythic sto-
ries, each describing the salvific activity
of the Goddess. These three tales form
the bulk of the text and the basis for the
worshipof the Goddess.
The first story retells the myth of the
demons Madhuand Kaitabha, who are
born from the god Vishnu’searwax dur-
ing the period of cosmic dissolution
(pralaya). As the creation of the world
begins anew, a lotus sprouts from
Vishnu’s navel. It opens to reveal the cre-
ator-god Brahma, who is immediately
menaced by Madhu and Kaitabha. The
story of these two demons also appears
in the mythology connected with
Vishnu, but there are significant differ-
ences in this version. In all versions of
the myth, Brahma appeals for help, and
Vishnu eventually slays the demons. But
in the Devimahatmya, Brahma’s hymn
of praise is to the Goddess, who in her
form as Yoganidra(“sleep of yoga”) has
lulled Vishnu into a cosmic stupor,
rendering him unable to come to
Brahma’s aid. Pleased by Brahma’s
praise, the Goddess withdraws her
influence over Vishnu, he awakens and
slays the demons.
The second story centers around the
buffalo-demon Mahishasura, who is soDevayajna