The Devi-Mahatmya is well-known to both devotees and scholars of the Indian Great Goddess. The central task in this study is to explore how an anonymous Sanskrit text articulates a view of ultimate reality as feminine when there is virtually no precedent in the Sanskrit for such a view. To accomplish this task, an appropriate method of scriptural analysis is developed. This involves an examination of Hindu understanding of the Puranas and of the Devi-Mahatmya...