Sakti
(ˈʃæktiː)
Also 9 Sacti; Shakti and with small initial.
[a. Skr. śakti power, divine energy, f. śak to be able.]
In Hindu religion, the female principle, esp. when personified as the wife of a god, as Durgā is the Sakti of Siva, etc.; supernatural energy embodied in the principle.
| 1810 E. Moor Hindu Pantheon 10 All the principal, and several of the secondary deities..have wives assigned to them, who are called Sacti. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 67/1 That thou, united with thy Sakti, dost in sport create the universe from thy own substance. 1862 Mrs. J. B. Speid Our Last Yrs. in India vii. 174 Seresvati, the goddess of letters, &c., Lackshmi, of prosperity, and Kali or Parvati, of destruction... These three goddesses, under the name of the Sactis, sometimes receive an exclusive worship. 1871 J. Garrett Classical Dict. India 540 The Sakti is said to have originated in God, the Supreme Being... There are many special forms of Sakti-worship. 1918 J. Woodroffe Shakti & Shâkta 49 According to Shâkta doctrine each man and woman contains within himself and herself a vast latent magazine of Power or Shakti. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 499 It has been said by one: beware the left, the cult of Shakti. 1937 M. Covarrubias Island of Bali x. 339 Every Balinese believes that his body, like an electric battery, accumulates a magic energy called sakt{iacu} that enables him to withstand that attacks of evil powers... This sakt{iacu} is not evenly divided; some people are born with a capacity to store a higher charge of magic than others; they become the priests, witch-doctors, and so forth, endowed with supernatural powers. 1962 A. Huxley Island xiii. 213 Paintings of tropical animals, Bodhisattvas and their bosomy Shaktis. 1968 A. Warhol A 421 He doesn't have any bhakti it's all shakti. 1972 D. Bloodworth Any Number can Play xviii. 184 In thirty times thirty years will come one with the ears of the Buddha and with the sakt{iacu}... Supernatural power. 1977 N.Y. Times Mag. 4 Dec. 144 Joya's famous shakti, or spiritual energy. |