Wendy Doniger
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199360079
- eISBN:
- 9780199377923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199360079.003.0017
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter examines the Skanda Purana, the longest of all the Puranas, and one of its books, the Kedara Khanda. The Kedara Khanda, the first book of the first section, the Maheshvara Khanda, of the ...
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This chapter examines the Skanda Purana, the longest of all the Puranas, and one of its books, the Kedara Khanda. The Kedara Khanda, the first book of the first section, the Maheshvara Khanda, of the Skanda Purana, seems to have an intellectual agenda: its stories deal with abstract themes, rather than a concrete person or a place. One such theme is that of the “undeserving devotee” or “accidental devotee” of the lingam. Of the dogmas that the Kedara Khanda shares with many other Shaiva Puranas is that Shiva subsumes Vishnu within him. The chapter also considers feminism and the deconstruction of Shiva in the Kedara Khanda.Less
This chapter examines the Skanda Purana, the longest of all the Puranas, and one of its books, the Kedara Khanda. The Kedara Khanda, the first book of the first section, the Maheshvara Khanda, of the Skanda Purana, seems to have an intellectual agenda: its stories deal with abstract themes, rather than a concrete person or a place. One such theme is that of the “undeserving devotee” or “accidental devotee” of the lingam. Of the dogmas that the Kedara Khanda shares with many other Shaiva Puranas is that Shiva subsumes Vishnu within him. The chapter also considers feminism and the deconstruction of Shiva in the Kedara Khanda.
