Foreign Literature Studies ›› 2020, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (1): 99-109.

• Studies on the Literature of the Nations along the Belt and Road • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Transmutation of the Nuptial Practice of “Marrying Goddess” in Ancient Indian Literature

Chi Mingzhou   

  • Online:2020-02-25 Published:2021-02-26
  • About author:Chi Mingzhou is a lecturer and postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology, Beijing University of Science and Technology(Beijing 100083, China). His primary research interest is the medieval culture of South Asia. Email: sanyechi@163.com
  • Supported by:
    “Fine Arts and Literary Theories in Classical Sanskrit Literature: The Translation of and Studies on Fundamental Works” (18ZDA286) sponsored by National Social Science Fund of China

Abstract: In the history of ancient Indian literature, the nuptial practice of “marrying goddess” has gone through a long history of development and evolution, which could be largely divided into three -- embryonic, fledgling and maturing -- stages. Such a practice had already been embryonic during the Vedic period (1500-500 BC), laying the foundation of the marital bond between king and goddess. During the Epic period (400 BC-300 AD), the practice was at its fledgling stage, incorporating the ritual of “marrying goddess” into king's marriage. It became formally defined during the classical period of Sanskrit literature (100-1200 AD), hence establishing the king's marital relationship with the goddess of earth and the goddess of fortune. Thanks to the modification and improvement by Aśvagho?a and Kālidāsa, this practice has become a major writing formula in the classical Sanskrit literature, especially in “heroic comedy” works. Since then, the Sanskrit literary works and inscriptions related to imperial biographies or romances have carried on this nuptial practice all along. The feminization of the kingship and the imagination of the king's disposition metaphorized by the practice of “marrying goddess as wife” corresponded to the myths, legends, religious beliefs, views of kingship, and aesthetic tastes of the Indian ancestors.

Key words: Ancient Indian literature, "marrying goddess", nuptial practice, worship of kingship, literary transmutation

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