Customer Reviews

The Goddess in India: The Five Faces of the Eternal Feminine

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This book is basically a reworked, rearranged, Westernized version of "Devi, the Mother Goddess: An Introduction," by the same author, which is also easily available -- most readily through Marketplace sellers -- right here on Amazon.com.

The original "Devi: An Introduction" is a really useful guide -- but it was published in India, for Indians, and possibly this Western publisher feared it assumed more prior knowledge of the topic than most Western readers would likely bring to the table. If that's the case, I must disagree: Any interested, moderately educated general reader could pick up "Devi" and totally enjoy it.

"The Goddess in India," on the other hand, seems to be based on a reorganization principle that appears regrettably forced and artificial. The nature of this artifice is revealed in the book's subtitle, "Five Faces of the Eternal Feminine." Where do these "Five Faces" appear in the authentic Hindu Shakta tradition? Unless I've missed something big, they appear precisely nowhere.

I mean, I may have been miseducated, but I've never understood Sri Chakra as having a circle for "Dancing Nymphs," a circle for "Goddesses with Unbound Hair," or an apparent sort of non-smoker's section for a so-called "Cult of Chastity." (Apparently, neither did the author, since he mentioned *none* of these oddball categories in "Devi: An Introduction.")

My guess, though I hope I am wrong, is that the U.S. publisher decided that there was not a sufficient Western audience for an authentically Hindu presentation on the subject, and therefore dreamed up these so-called "Faces of the Feminine" to appeal to New Agers and Pagans and fit in more easily to the more vague and nebulous Goddess-revival cults of the West.

In doing so, they left us with a book that's pretty enough to look at, but one that is *far* inferior to the original "Devi, the Mother Goddess: An Introduction" as a reliable guide to authentic Hindu tradition.

I can't totally pan the book because much of the content is fine. But the misleading structure of this reissue forces me to redirect serious readers to the original version.

I found this to be a thorough-going textual analysis of the woman's place in Indian, and, specifically, Hindu/Brahmanical culture. The author begins by offering his very thoughtful and careful vision of the material he wants to present. This theme is later forgotten to some extent, but I found the anthology altogether informative, its thematic structure well-maintained. Pattanaik would have done well to add more pictures and representations to the myths and stories he presents, since I'm sure there are many works of art dedicated to these tales. In any case, I have few complaints.