Elements of Hindu Iconography v3.c19.203

v3.c19.203

Such is the explanation of the functions of these goddesses. The very large variety of the goddesses herein noticed cannot but be striking. Their number is indeed even more. Hindu theology and philosophy account for their variety and numerousness by endeavouring to evolve them as representative powers out of fundamental philosophical principles. But a student with the historical turn of mind cannot fail to see in the very numerousness and variety of these goddesses a striking proof of the gradual affiliation of non-Āryan deities of all sorts to the institutions of expanding Hinduism.