Kalika Purana is a great work which was composed in the tenth century in Assam. This Purana contains about nine thousand stanzas and ninety-eight chapters. This Purana is the only work which is dedicated to the goddess Kali, wife of lord Shiva. This is one of the rare Hindu texts that mention the word Hindu.
As the name suggests Kalika Purana portrays the various forms of goddess Parvati or Durga or Kali. The different manifolds of Devi Durga are Girija, Devi, Bhadrakali, Kali and Mahamya. Kalika Purana belongs to the Sakta modification of Hindu belief, or the worship of the female powers of the deities. The power of this worship is described clearly in the very first pages of the work. It relates the incestuous passion of Brahma for his daughter Sandhya, in a strain that has nothing analogous to it in the Vayu, Linga, or Shiva Puranas.
Kalika Purana contains events and conditions from the remote past. The marriage of Shiva and Parvati is described, with the sacrifice of Daksha, and the death of Sati. The Purana clearly portrays Shiva's carrying the dead body of Parvati about the world and the body parts scattered all over the earth. The places where the body parts of the Devi fell, originated hundred and eight Pithasthanas.
This fable follows of the births of Bhairava and Vetala. Their devotion to different forms of Devi furnishes occasion to describe in great detail the rites and formula of which her worship consists.
This article is a stub. You can enrich by adding more information to it. Send your Write Up to content@indianetzone.com
(Last Updated on : 07-02-2011)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recently Updated Articles in Indian Religion
|
|
|
• | Varna System in Ancient India Varna System in Ancient India formed the basic structure of Hindu society. It is among the world’s oldest forms of surviving social stratification. Varna system divided the society into four major sections based on the occupation of the people.
| | • | Nadar Caste One of the most renowned castes of Tamil Nadu is the Nadar caste. The Nadar community is a mixture of sub-castes and classes of different origins, which came under one banner of Nadar caste gradually.
| | • | Concept of Ultimate Reality Concept of Ultimate Reality in Bhagavad Gita states that Brahman is ground of existence and all realities. As per the Concept of Ultimate Reality, Brahman is all-embracing, uncreated and infinite. Brahman is the reason and objective of all that exists in the world..
| | • | Elements of Vastu Vastu Shastra is traditional Indian systems of architecture originating in India. Elements of Vastu are Earth, Water, Air, Space and Fire.
| | • | Sati Sati is the wife of Lord Shiva and the Hindu goddess of marital felicity and longevity. She is known to have immolated herself unable to tolerate foul words for her husband, spoken by her father Daksha.
| | |
|
|
|
|