Devi
Sign in to savethumb|A sculpture of the goddess Lakshmi Devī (; ) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is Deva. Devi and Deva mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are gender-specific terms for deity in Indian religions.
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"Devi" is the Sanskrit word for goddess, used in Indian religions to refer to divine female deities, while the masculine equivalent is "deva." The term carries broader meanings of "heavenly" or "divine," making it a fundamental concept for understanding how goddesses are named and conceptualized across Hindu, Buddhist, and other Indian religious traditions.
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Article
17 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- History
- Hindu goddesses
- Parvati
- Lakshmi
- Saraswati
- Durga and Kali
- Tridevi
- Sita
- Radha
- Mahadevi
- Tantra and Devis
- Matrikas
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
thumb|A sculpture of the goddess Lakshmi Devī (; ) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is Deva. Devi and Deva mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are gender-specific terms for deity in Indian religions.
Reverence for the divine feminine in Hinduism appears in the Vedas, composed around the 2nd millennium BCE. Though the goddesses did not play a vital role in that era, goddesses such as Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, Parvati, Radha, Saraswati, and Sita have continued to be revered into the modern era. The medieval era Puranas witnessed a major expansion in mythology and literature associated with Devi, with texts such as the Devi Mahatmya, wherein the goddess is revered as the ultimate truth and supreme power. The goddess centric tradition within Hinduism, namely Shaktism, is centred around Devi. Further, Devi is considered a central figure in the Hindu tradition of Shaivism. In Indian religions, the concept of Shakti explores the idea of divine feminine, and women are regarded as manifestations of Devi, as seen in the Kumari worship.