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The roots of Shaktism – a Hindu denomination that focuses worship upon Shakti or Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother – penetrate deeply into India's prehistory. The Devi's earliest known appearance in Indian Paleolithic settlements is believed to go back more than 8000 years ago.
Shaktism as it exists today began with the literature of the Shankara Age, further evolved during the formative period of the Hindu epics, reached its full flower during the Khmer period, (1000CE) and continued to expand and develop thereafter.[1] Devi Mahatmya, an important text in Shaktism, was composed around tenth or eleventh century CE.[2] Here, for the first time, "the various mythic, cultic and theological elements relating to diverse female divinities were brought together in what has been called the 'crystallization of the Goddess tradition.'"[3] Other important texts include the Lalita Sahasranama,[4] the Devi Gita,[5] Adi Shankara's Saundaryalahari[6] and the Tantras.[7]
Recent developments related to Shaktism include the emergence of Bharat Mata ("Mother India") symbolism, the increasing visibility of Hindu female saints and gurus,[8] and the prodigious rise of the "new" goddess Santoshi Mata following release of the Indian film Jai Santoshi Maa ("Hail to the Mother of Satisfaction") in 1975.[9]
- ^ Bhattacharyya 1996.
- ^ Greenberg, Yudit Kornberg (2008), Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions, ABC-CLIO, p. 255, ISBN 978-1-85109-980-1
- ^ Brown 1991, p. ix.
- ^ Dikshitar 1999, ch. 1–2.
- ^ Brown 1998, p. [page needed].
- ^ Bhattacharyya 1996, p. 124
- ^ Bhattacharyya 1996, p. 154.
- ^ Pechilis 2004, p. 3.
- ^ Hawley in Hawley & Wulff 1996, p. 4, "The Goddess in India".