Markandeya Purana

One of the eighteen traditional puranas,
the sectarian compendia of mythic
stories and sacred lore that are among
the most important sources for modern
Hinduism. Markandeya is said to have
been an ancient sage, but he was not
intimately connected with any particular deity. In this respect, the
Markandeya Purana is different from
most of the others, which have a clear
sectarian bias. This purana is noted
for one of its subsections, the
Devimahatmya. Describing the ultimate power behind all things as female,
the Devimahatmya is the earliest
and most important textual source
for the mythology of the Goddess.
Scholars contend that although
this text is the first place that this
theological conviction appears, it must
426
Marichi
have existed earlier, since it appears in
this text fully developed.