Mother of Compassion, Mother of Wrath: Reflections of the Hindu Goddess in Mirrored Māhātmyas
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- Catalogue identifier
- kali-0076
- Alternate titles and import identifiers
- KALI-0076; doi:10.1007/s11407-023-09342-5
- Author or attribution
- Raj Balkaran; Noor van Brussel
- Record type
- Article
- Language
- English
- Date / edition
- 2024; first online 2023
- Source / repository
- Springer Nature / International Journal of Hindu Studies
- Access
- Open access
- Subjects
- Kali Library Research Catalogue; Academic Research and Peer-Reviewed Articles; Philosophy, Theology, and Comparative Religion
Description and curator notes
Compares the Devī Māhātmya with Kerala’s Bhadrakāḷī Māhātmya to question a rigid division between nurturing and violent goddesses. Balkaran and van Brussel argue that wrathful episodes in both texts belong within an ultimately compassionate portrayal of the goddess. Their reading of the regional text is supplemented by fieldwork on Bhadrakali worship in Kerala. The article is useful for tracing the relationship between pan-Indian goddess literature and a later local māhātmya, and for reconsidering interpretive binaries in modern scholarship. The verified complete PDF is hosted on coauthor Raj Balkaran’s website; it is copyrighted rather than openly licensed.
KALI-0076 — Kali Library Research Catalogue.
Access and reliability assessments below are supplied by the curator's 4–5 November 2026 research release, not a new independent verification.
Author / attribution: Raj Balkaran; Noor van Brussel
Publication: Springer Nature / International Journal of Hindu Studies · 2024; first online 2023
International Journal of Hindu Studies 28, 341–359; DOI first-online article accepted 8 August 2023
Format / language: Journal article · English
Identifier: doi:10.1007/s11407-023-09342-5
Kali relevance: Direct comparison involving Bhadrakali and the Devī Māhātmya.
Context: Kerala; textual comparison; compassion and wrath.
Subjects: Academic Research and Peer-Reviewed Articles; Philosophy, Theology, and Comparative Religion
Evidence / reliability: Peer-reviewed scholarly journal
Access / rights: Complete text checked 2026-11-04. Author-hosted complete published article. Copyright: authors under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. (2023); no open licence. Link only unless permission obtained.
Source and alternate access links:
Read complete text: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e225ae1fb3e614a44138d46/t/64f0ec0dd75e1f4c3454f33d/1693510670169/Mother%2Bof%2BCompassion%2C%2BMother%2Bof%2BWrath.pdf
Source record: https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/01H9FG43KGT0JP9T7J557VSN1V
Source access
Read or locate the original source at Springer Nature / International Journal of Hindu Studies
Rights and reading conditions
Complete text checked 2026-11-04. Author-hosted complete published article. Copyright: authors under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. (2023); no open licence. Link only unless permission obtained. This library links to the source and does not reproduce its full text.
Citation
Raj Balkaran; Noor van Brussel. Mother of Compassion, Mother of Wrath: Reflections of the Hindu Goddess in Mirrored Māhātmyas. Springer Nature / International Journal of Hindu Studies · 2024; first online 2023.
This page supplies catalogue metadata and links. It does not reproduce the underlying source text. Historical, religious, healing and interpretive claims belong to the cited sources, not to an independent verification by this catalogue.