Devi Mahatmya: Hindu manuscript glorifying the Great Goddess - Lot 90

Devi Mahatmya: Hindu manuscript glorifying the Great Goddess Durga and the demon Mahishasura North India, 19th CENTURY Ink and watercolor in vivid polychrome on paper, consisting of 526 ff., 6 lines per page. Sanskrit text illustrated with eight illuminated miniatures, depicting the goddess Durga with the great gods of the pantheon or battling demons. Bound in leather and paper. Spotting and dampening, repairs, some pages missing, folios consolidated at beginning and end. Text: 9 x 5 cm; Page: 13.2 x 8.7 cm Durga is one of the avatars of Pravati, wife of the god Shiva. The Devi Mahatmyam describes a historic battle between good and evil, in which the goddess Durga defends the forces of good against the demon Mahishasura. The goddess wins against the forces of evil (Tracy Pintchman, Seeking Mahadevi: Constructing the Indentities of the Hindu Great Goddess, State University of New York Press, 2001, pp. 191-192).