[INDOLOGY] Devipurana (2)

[Bihani Sarkar]

Dear Mr. Rosati,

I have the Bengali edition of the *Devīpurāṇa* you are referring to. The
verse 39.6 fully quoted runs thus (without removing the doubled consonants
used by the editor):

*sarvvakāmasusiddhyarthaṃ rājati vedaparvvate |*
*yajed bhaumātjamjo devīṃ kāmākhye girikandare ||*

The reference to the sacred site of Kāmākhyā in Assam is embedded in a
longer descriptive enumeration of various sacred sites of goddesses
contained within 39.2-39.21 ('*brahmaṇā puṣkare devī….plavā helā
prakīrtitāḥ*') of the Bengali edition. I do not have the Devanāgarī
edition, hence I am unable to check if this rather interesting little
passage on what seem to be important Śākta* pīṭha*s of the time is included
in it. If it is not, let me know and I can scan the passage from the
Bengali edition for you.

I would interpret Bhaumātmaja as "a descendent of [king] Bhauma", in which
Bhauma, according to royal genealogical myths of Kāmarūpa from the fourth
to the twelfth centuries CE, seems to refer to the alternative name of
Naraka, the mythical first king of Prāgjyotiṣa. The second half of the
verse means accordingly: "A [--by extension, 'any'--] descendent of Bhauma
[the first king of Kāmarūpa] must worship the goddess in the mountain cave
Kāmākhyā". For a description of the myth of the first king of Kāmarūpa, the
genealogies of that kingdom and the Kāmarūpa kings' loyal patronage of the
site of Kāmākhya for the authorization of their political power, see
J.E.Shin, "Changing Dynasties, Enduring Genealogy: A Critical Study on the
Political Legitimation in early Mediaeval Kāmarūpa". I attach the article
herewith.

I do hope this may be of some help.

With best wishes,
Bihani Sarkar BA, M.Phil, D.Phil (Oxon),
British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sanskrit
Christ Church College
Oriental Institute,
Oxford University

On Tue, Feb 7, 2017 at 1:16 PM, Paolo Eugenio Rosati via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear list,
>
> I am looking for a couple of references from the *Devipurana*.
>
> I found---throughout secundary literature---some references that probably
> derived from this edition:
>
> *Devīpurāṇa*, ed. with a Bengali translation by Pancanana Tarkaratna.
> Calcutta, 1928.
>
> while I have got (thanks to the list!) this edition:
> *Devīpurāṇa*. Kumar, Sharma P. (ed.) 1976. *Devī Purāṇam*. New Delhi: Sri
> Lal Bahadur Shastri Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth.
>
> Actually I do not know if the two eds are based on different mss, but I
> was unable to find out verse (39.6) that should says:
>
> *yajed ... devIM kAmAkhye girikandare *(Van Kooij 1972, 32n3---based on
> Bengali trans.)
>
> although some scholars wrote that in this verse should also be a reference
> to the son of Bhumi (earth goddess) and cited the Kumar ed. (v.
> 39.6b)---but in Kumar ed. there is the verse that speak of Kamakhya neither
> it speak about a "Bhauma".
>
> The second part that I am looking for is a so-called* Appendix 1 list 7*
> (cit. in Dehejia 1986, Yogini Cult and Temples), although in her
> bibliography it is not cited any *DP *ms or edition. Thus, I imagine this
> appendix was somewhere through the Kumar ed. (or maybe not) or perhaps she
> confused with another text?!
> Dehejia wrote that in this list were enumerated 64 devi-pithas from which
> depend on the two *yogini *lists of the *Kalikapurana *(Chs. 54 and 63,
> in B. Shastri [1991] 2008).
>
> I wish someone could help in find out the verse and the appendix that I
> was unable to find out from Kumar ed. of *DP*.
>
> Best wishes,
> Paolo
>
> --
> Paolo E. Rosati
> Oriental Archaeologist
> PhD candidate in "Civilizations of Asia and Africa"
> South Asia Section
> Dep. Italian Institute of Oriental Studies/ISO
> 'Sapienza' University of Rome
> *https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/
> <https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/>*
> paoloe.rosati at uniroma1.it
> paoloe.rosati at gmail.com
> Skype: paoloe.rosati
> Mobile: (+39) 338 73 83 472
>
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