Contents: Foreword/R.C. Mishra. Prologue/Jawhar Sircar. Preface/Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty. Introduction/ArputhaRani Sengupta. I. Historical and Literary Tradition. 1. Kali in Bengali Popular Psyche: Continuity and Change/Sumanta Banerjee. 2. Astronomical Significance of the Iconography of Goddess Durga/Biman B. Nath. 3. Musical Goddesses in Buddhism/Lokesh Chandra. 4. Royal Symbolism of the Prajnaparamita of Ta Prohm/Lokesh Chandra. 5. Sabari/Sonal Mansingh. 6. The Evidence of a Goddess : The Cult of Tara, Trade and Patronage in Early Ladakh/Yashaswini Chandra. 7. The Journey of Goddess Tara: Adoption and Adaptation of a Buddhist Goddess in Hindu Tantric Worship/Madhu Khanna. 8. The Wonder that is Chinnamasta/Rita Sridhar. 9. Goddesses in Vietnam : A Study of Mahishasuramardini/Bachchan Kumar. 10. The Supreme is Female/C.L. Bharany. 11. Vedic Goddesses/R. Nagaswamy. 12. Goddess Varahi in Shaktism and Tantric Shaktism/Haripriya Rangarajan. 13. Raudra and Saumya Aspects of the Goddess : A Study of Two Icons from the Camba Valley/Seema Bawa. 14. Inversion of Feminine Beauty as an Expression of Terror : Orissan Images of Seated Camunda/Thomas Donaldson. 15. Mahishasuramardini/Alka Pande. 16. Goddess Durga in Indian Miniatures/Daljeet. 17. The Renaissance Madonna in Mughal Art : The San Diego Madonna and Child Attributed to Basawan/Ursula Weekes. 18. Gaja-Lakshmi : Coexisting Goddess in Buddhist Art and Culture/ArputhaRani Sengupta. II. Goddess in Folk Tradition. 19. Kadamkottu Makkam/Balan Nambiar. 20. Dancing in Circles : Representation of Radha in Rasalila Performance of Braj/Pallavi Sharma. 21. Divine Marriage of the Goddess/Choodamani Nandagopal. 22. Given to the Goddess : Cult of Yellamma/K.L. Kamat. 23. Sammakka Saralamma Jathara : Medaram Goddess Cult in Andhra Pradesh/J. Kedareswari. 24. Saptamatrika in Rural South India/Jayalakshmi Yegnaswamy. 25. Isaki Amman Worship in Southern Tamil Nadu/S. Simon John. 26. Durga Puja at the British Museum/ArputhaRani Sengupta. 27. Goddess Manasa and Behula-Lakhindar/Gurupada Chitrakar. 28. Bonabibi of Sundarbans/ArputhaRani Sengupta. 29. Folk Goddesses of Bengal/Asis K. Chakrabarti. 30. Cult of the Mother Goddess in North-East India/Birendranath Datta. 31. Goddesses in Orissa/G.C. Tripathi. 32. Bhudevi and : The Gaia Hypothesis : Revival of a Cult/Purnima Bakshi Kanwar. 33. Shalabhanjika : The Tree Goddess/B.L. Nagarch. III. Goddess in Contemporary Society. 34. Gender and Nation : From Bharati to Bharata Mata/Gayatri Sinha. 35. Mother India : Images of Woman and Nation/Pushpamala N. 36. Cult of the Goddess and Cult of the Public/Parul Dave Mukherji. 37. Goddess in Popular Culture/Bhavna Kakar. 38. The Goddess steps out of the iconographic frame/Sakti Maira. 39. Green Goddess/Arpana Caur. 40. Manushi Swaccha Narayani : Avatar of a Secular Goddess for Street Vendors/Madhu Kishwar. 41. Durga Puja : Goddess and Changing Mores/ArputhaRani Sengupta. Index.

This volume is comprised of forty-one well researched and illustrated papers on Cult of the Goddess. It tries to trace the origin and trajectory of the divine feminine force in art and culture for over a period of five millennia, which is a great achievement in itself. While exploring the living tradition of the Great Goddess, the book offers unique insight to the psyche of India and the Greater India.

In the multifaceted goddess cult, the goddess takes diverse forms in her role as a destroyer of demonic forces and a donor of boons to her devotees. The goddess is also the divine consort, creator of the universe, source of progeny, prosperity and immortality. In her numerous roles the goddess maintains the equilibrium and sanctity of the universe. In mythology, the Mother Goddess is worshipped as the earth, fish, snake, tree or the forest.

The book delves deep into the imagination and religious lives of the people to understand the meaning of rituals, philosophy and metaphysics. The enduring appeal of the goddess in folk traditions and in classic literary sources is discussed from various points of view. The span and the depth of research encompassing the goddess include the shifting changes in the present era and finds her manifestations in Bonabibi, Kadamkottu Makkam and Manushi Swaccha Narayani, in addition to the well-known concept of Parashakti, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Durga, Mahishasuramardini, Prajnaparamita, Hathor, Isis and Mother Mary.

This richly illustrated volume on Cult of the Goddess is a rare and priceless collection for art historians, researchers, students, and others interested in art, culture and religion.