Devi Mahatmyam vs. book of Esther

[Guest guest]

By devi _bhakta

 

All right, our Dakinic_Monk has now turned his attention to the Devi

Mahatmyam, essentially dismissing that scripture as a bunch of hokum

that's based on the Book of Esther in the Judeo-Christian

Old Testament.

 

For our many members who may be surprised or offended by this

revelation, please be advised that it is an old, generally discredited

British Raj-era theory, once (and possibly still) used by

missionaries

to convert indigenous Indian goddess worshipers to Christianity.

 

First some background: The scripture known as Devi Mahatmyam

("Glorification of Goddess") holds a special place of honor for Hindu

Shaktas (Goddess worshippers), as it is the first scripture to

be committed to writing in Sanskrit that explicitly describes the

Supreme Divine Principle (God, if you will) as Feminine.

 

Devi Mahatmyam was first put into writing around 500 CE, but scholar

Thomas Coburn -- a leading expert on the scripture -- traces its oral

tradition back to at least 2,500 BCE, and the Goddess-oriented

religion of India's pre-Aryan Indus Valley Civilization.

 

The scripture consists of three episodes. The second and third are of

particular importance here. The second is the famous story of

Mahishasura Mardini -- Goddess Durga's defeat of the Buffalo Demon,

a pervasive Indian folktale of the Goddess that long predates its

recording in the Devi Mahatmyam.

 

The third episode, much longer, tells another tale -- Durga's defeat

of two more powerful foes, the demonic brothers Shumbha and

Nishumbha.

This story too, notes Coburn, is an ancient "tale from the mythology

of the non-Aryan peoples of north India."

 

In this tale, the demon brothers have kicked all the gods out of the

heavens, hurling the universe into cosmic disorder. One brother hears

about a gorgeous goddess (Devi as Parvati) living in the Himalayas,

and send sends his henchmen to get Her. First he tries charming Her,

promising Her wealth and power if She agrees to be his Queen. She

refuses. He gets furious, and commands that She be dragged by the

hair

to his feet.

 

 

Various of his armies go forth to capture Devi, and each is

utterly vanquished. After a huge and bloody battle, the story ends

with an epic one-on-one showdown between Devi and the last surviving

brother. Devi wins, the gods and goddesses (all of whom are merely

Her

lesser manifestations) return to heaven, and cosmic order is restored.

 

In Part 2 of this post, I'll look at the Book of Esther. Although Monk

states that this book is the source of the second (Buffalo Demon)

myth, the parallel is actually with the third (Shumbha and Nishumbha)

myth. What is that parallel? Just this: In Esther, a king orders a

queen to appear before him and she refuses. That's the full extent of

the parallel (there is no mention of the king having a buffalo hat).

In Esther, the queen is not propositioned by the king; she is already

his wife - one of many wives, in fact. And her refusal to obey him

leads to no epic battlein which she triumphs; the disobedient queen

is

simply kicked out and replaced.

 

For those of you who may be interested, here is the biblical story of

Esther, which commences at least 2,000 years after Devi's oral

tradition in India began:

 

In around 600 BCE, the Babylonians (based in modern-day Iraq) were

a regional Middle-Eastern superpower. The Book of Esther notes that

its subject king, Ahasuerus, "reigned from India [northern regions now

located in Afghanistan and Pakistan] even unto Ethiopia, over

an hundred and seven and twenty provinces."

 

One of those "provinces" was the kingdom of Judah, centered upon

modern-day Jerusalem. That kingdom had ill advisedly sided with Egypt

in a war against Babylon, and -- in retaliation -- was utterly wiped

out in a series of battles between 597-582 BCE. Both Jerusalem itself

and the First Temple were completely destroyed; thousands of Judeans

werekilled, thousand more carried off to Babylon as prisoners and

slaves.

 

The Book of Esther is part of the Bible's story of how the Jews

gradually recovered from this disaster. It takes place in Babylon

sometime between 570-540 BCE, preceding the return of the exiled

Jews to Jerusalem and their building of the Second Temple in about 520

BCE.

 

To celebrate three years on the throne, our good King Ahasuerus

is throwing a party. He invites all the kings and princes of his

conquered and rival territories and puts on a huge, elaborate feast

to

show off his wealth and power. Seven days into the bash, Ahasuerus --

rip-roaringdrunk and bragging about his gorgeous wives -- "commanded

[his] seven chamberlains … to bring Vashti the queen before the

king

with the crown royal, to show the people and the princes her beauty:

for she was fair to look on."

 

Queen Vashti -- in accordance with contemporary customs of feminine

modesty, and probably offended at her husband's drunken command --

refused to appear. Embarrassed in front of his guests, the king

commanded her once more (this time in stronger terms) to come and

diplay herself to his guests immediately, but again Vashti refused.

 

 

At this point, the king had to save face. And his guests were

concerned that if Vashti were allowed to get away with this

impertinence, their women might also start getting uppity: "For [if]

this deed of the Queen shall come abroad unto all women, … they

[too]

shall despise their husbands."

 

So the king swiftly punished Vashti: She is disinherited of all her

property, tossed out of the harem, and promptly disappears from the

narrative -- no doubt into a life of penury and humiliation.

 

Meanwhile, the party ends and King Ahasuerus replaces Vashti with an

exceptionally beautiful and charming Jewish exile girl named Hadassah

(whose name, for some reason, comes into English as "Esther").

Hadassah quickly becomes a beloved and popular figure around the

palace, her step-father becomes the king's right-hand man, and the

king -- realizing that the Jews aren't such bad sorts after all --

issues some decrees that improve their lot in Babylon, and pave the

way for their eventual return to Israel.

 

It's an interesting story, I agree. But it has nothing to do with Devi

Mahatmyam.

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe