Devī Mahātmya (Part of Mārkhaṇḍeya Purāṇa)

The text is Devī Mahātmya also known as Durgā Saptaśatī which is a devotional stotra consisting of 13 adhyāya (chapters) which places Devī as the supreme reality and all supreme female deities Sarasvatī, Lakśmi and Kālī as the manisfestation of the same devine power which is the basis for Śaktism philosophy. The text is part of the Mārkhaṇḍeya Purāṇa a major purāṇic text adhyāya 81–93 in precise also mentioned in the intermediate colophon. Adhyāya 1 – f.(1–4), Adhyāya 2 – f. 4–6, Adhyāya 3 – f. 7–18, Adhyāya 4 – f. 21–25, Adhyāya 5 – f. 25–31, Adhyāya 6 – f. 31–33, Adhyāya 7 – f. 33–35, Adhyāya 8 – f. 35–40, Adhyāya 9 – f. 40–43, Adhyāya 10 – f. 43–45, Adhyāya 11 – f. 52–54, Adhyāya 12 – f. 54–55, Adhyāya 13 – f. 55–56. The manuscript is mostly complete and in good candition. However folios 46–51 are missing and on some folios there are red bordered blank rectangles present in the middle of the text which probably were meant for illustrations of deities since Newari manuscripts are known for their coloured illustrations. The manuscript is dated Saṃvat 1854 Caitra Śudhi.