Gayatri

The mantra known as Gyatr or Svitr (gveda III 62.10) is one of the most frequently recited texts of mankind. Over the course of time it has not only been personified as the mother of the Vedas the oldest religious literature of South Asia , but has even come to be venerated as a goddess. Today many consider it the most important, most efficacious, or holiest mantra of all. In "Gyatr: Mantra and Mother of the Vedas", Dominik A. Haas reconstructs the history of the Gyatr-Mantra for the first time, tracing it from 1000 BCE to 1000 CE. He shows how an inconspicuous verse became an emblem of Brahminical Hinduism and presents the processes that led to its deification. To this end, he not only subjects passages from more than one hundred source texts in Vedic and Sanskrit to philological-historical analysis, but also draws upon perspectives and insights from religious studies. The Gyatr-Mantra plays an important role in contemporary Hinduism as well as in modern yoga and alternative spiritual currents around the globe. This book therefore not only contributes to South Asian studies and religious studies, but is also of interest to a wider readership.

Autorentext
is a Researcher and Lecturer at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and at the University of Vienna