Padmavati

[Erik Sand]

Dear list-members,

In Pandharpur there is a temple of the goddess Padmavati. The same is the
case near Tirupati. She seems, however, to be a somewhat mysterious figure
and I have been able to come up with very little literature about her.
Ghurye has a few lines about her in his book Gods and Men, taking her,
along with Laksmi, to be a sakti of Visnu. Sontheimer also has a passage
about her in his book on pastoral deities taking her to be a tribal goddess
of the forest, and, finally, Shulman in his Tamil Temple Myths deals with
her in connection with Tirupati. I will surely appreciate, if anyone knows
of any more detailed treatment of this goddess? I am aware of a Devi Kosha
in Marathi which might have a paragraph about her, but it is out of print
and not available to me. If anyone should have access to a copy of this
work, please let me know. Thank you.

Erik Reenberg Sand