When the world becomes female : guises of a South Indian goddess / Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Flueckiger, Joyce Burkhalter.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gangamma (Hindu deity)--Cult--India--Tirupati.

Gangamma (Hindu deity).

Worship (Hinduism).

Tirupati (India)--Religion.

Tirupati (India).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (334 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

During the goddess Gangamma's festival in the town of Tirupati, lower-caste men take guises of the goddess, and the streets are filled with men wearing saris, braids, and female jewelry. By contrast, women participate by intensifying the rituals they perform for Gangamma throughout the year, such as cooking and offering food. Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger argues that within the festival ultimate reality is imagined as female and women identify with the goddess, whose power they share. Vivid accounts by male and female participants offer new insights into Gangamma's traditions and the nature o

Contents:

Cover; CONTENTS; PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION; Introduction; Part One. Imaginative Worlds of Gangamma; 1. An Aesthetics of Excess; 2. Guising, Transformation, Recognition, and Possibility; 3. Narratives of Excess and Access; 4. Female-Narrated Possibilities of Relationship; 5. Gangamma as Ganga River Goddess; Part Two. Those Who Bear the Goddess; 6. Wandering Goddess, Village Daughter: Avilala Reddys; 7. Temple and Vesham Mirasi: The Kaikalas of Tirupati; 8. The Goddess Served and Lost: Tatayyagunta Mudaliars

9. Exchanging Talis with the Goddess: Protection and Freedom to Move10. "Crazy for the Goddess": A Consuming Relationship; Conclusion: Possibilities of a World Become Female; GLOSSARY; NOTES; REFERENCES; INDEX; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780253009609

025300960X

OCLC:

852158516