About 16 centuries ago, an unknown Indian author or authors gathered together the diverse threads of already ancient traditions and wove them into a verbal tapestry that today is still the central text for worshippers of the Hindu Devi, the Divine Mother. This spiritual classic, the Devimahatmya, addresses the perennial questions of the nature of the universe, humankind, and divinity. How are they related, how do we live in a world torn between good and evil, and how do we find lasting satisfaction and inner peace? These questions and their answers form the substance of the Devimahatmya. Its narrative of a dispossessed king, a merchant betrayed by the family he loves, and a seer whose teaching leads beyond existential suffering sets the stage for a trilogy of myths concerning the all-powerful Divine Mother, Durga, and the fierce battles she wages against throngs of demonic foes. In these allegories, her adversaries represent our all-too-human impulses toward power, possessions, and pleasure. The battlefields symbolize the field of human consciousness on which our lives' dramas play out in joy and sorrow, in wisdom and folly. The Devimahatmya speaks to us across the ages of the experiences and beliefs of our ancient ancestors. We sense their enchantment at nature's bounty and their terror before its destructive fury, their recognition of the good and evil in the human heart, and their understanding that everything in our experience is the expression of a greater reality, personified as the Divine Mother. "A brilliant, heartfelt translation that has retained with great sensitivity the poignancy of the original. A must for all who love the Goddess."—Priya Mookerjee, Artist and author of Pathway Ikons, the Wayside Art of India "Devadatta Kali’s translation of the Devimahatmya is a welcome text for Westerners doing lectio in wisdom birthed in the Hindu tradition. Our yearning heart is ever-inclined to name the felt desire that is ever-nourished, never satiated. His work is just in time for this lifetime!" —Mary Margaret Funk, Executive Director of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue "Few aspects of India's timeless spiritual tradition have been as misunderstood in the West as the worship of the Divine Mother. David Nelson's splendid edition of the Devimahatmya, In Praise of the Goddess, will go a long, long way toward setting things straight. It is a wonderful thing when the warmth of a real devotee fuels the passion for accuracy and the sheer lucidity that characterize the best sort of scholarly work, and this is exactly what the author has given us."—Carol Lee Flinders, author of Rebalancing the World and Enduring Grace. "Devimahatmya is the fundamental text of the Shakta Tantric tradition manifest in its most vibrant form. Devadatta Kali's effort to bring an authentic translation fulfills the needs of an increasing number of devotees of the Mother for an accurate manual for practice. His presentation of one of the most ancient cultures of the goddess worship illuminates an essential primary source for the growing scholarship on Tantric studies and provides a lucid analysis that ably meets scholarly purposes. With reliable translation, English transliteration, and the original Sanskrit text in the beautiful Devanagari font on one hand, and with his commentary full of insight and rigorous scholarship directed towards specific textual issues on the other, Devadatta Kali's In Praise of the Goddess bridges practice and scholarship in unassailable form."—Sthaneshwar Timalsina, Lecturer, Dept. of Asian & Near-Eastern Languages & Literature, Washington Univerity St. Louis Devadatta Kali (David Nelson) began his long association with Hinduism in the 1960's and has been a lifelong adherent and promoter. He is a member of the Vedanta Society and worked for years as part of Vedanta Press. Kali also founded an import company, Records International, and is an acknowledged specialist in the field of rare musical repertoire. He has published many articles in popular and scholarly publications and is the author of In Praise of the Goddess . He travels widely as a frequent lecturer and lives in Santa Barbara, California.