The Presence of Siva (Mythos)
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: January 11, 1994
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 560
ISBN-13: 9780691019307
Subjects: Hinduism; Religion - World Religions; Religion; Buddhism - General; Hinduism - General; Asian and Asian American Studies; Mind, Body, Spirit; Religion / Buddhism; Religion / Hinduism; Religion-Buddhism - General
First sentence: His name is not uttered.
Description: One of the three great gods of Hinduism, Siva is a living god. The most sacred and most ancient book of India, The Rg Veda, evokes his presence in its hymns; Vedic myths, rituals, and even astronomy testify to his existence from the dawn of time. In a lively meditation on Siva--based on original Sanskrit texts, many translated here for the first time--Stella Kramrisch ponders the metaphysics, ontology, and myths of Siva from the Vedas and the Puranas. Who is Siva? Who is this god whose being comprises and transcends everything? From the dawn of creation, the Wild God, the Great Yogi, the sum of all opposites, has been guardian of the absolute. By retelling and interweaving the many myths that keep Siva alive in India today, Kramrisch reveals the paradoxes in Siva's nature and thus in the nature of consciousness itself. -- Back cover.