Durgā: de la timpul mitologic la contemporaneitatea indiană
Durgā: From Mythological Time to Contemporary India

Summary/Abstract: This paper presents the evolution of the myth of Durga, the famous Indian goddess, outlining a circular trajectory: it begins with the present-day festival organized to venerate the Goddess, then it undertakes a short journey into the past to unravel some mysteries of history and the legend of Durga in the cultural context, and lastly it revisits the tumultuous contemporary India bringing the gift of the old Sanskrit ślokas that live in splendid glory even today. Durga embodies the feminine energy of the universe and, as this article purports to emphasize, she has appeared over the years in various figures (murti) entailing different meanings, symbols and aesthetic values determined by the social change and the historical events; also, the festival has become a sort of modern tradition. This essay foregrounds just a few, and the most important, of the innumerable forms and manifestations the Goddess has in Indian culture.

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