Sweetening and Intensification : Currents Shaping Hindu Practices.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Allocco, Amy L.

Contributor:

Zeiler, Xenia.

Series:

SUNY Series in Hindu Studies

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (356 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, 2025.

Summary:

Explores how these two currents are shaping the contours of contemporary Hindu worship, myth, and visual and material culture in contemporary South Asia and its diasporas.This volume focuses on two alternately converging and diverging currents that increasingly shape Hindu traditions--namely, sweetening and intensification.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Introduction: Sweetening and Intensification Processes in Hindu Traditions

The Study of Sweetening and Intensification of Hindu Traditions

The Structure and Content of This Volume

References

Part 1: Temples, Localities, and Deities

Chapter 1: A Divine Dust-Up: Diverging Trajectories of Local Gods in Garhwal

A Divine Conflict

Territorial Deities

Rival Deities and Their Contested Seat

Uttarkashi's Maagh Mela

Traces of Historical Conflict

An Elephant Parade

Makar Sankranti 2020

Alternate Narratives

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 2: Your Friendly, Neighborhood Bhairava: Understanding the Role of a Terrifying God in the Form of an Adorable Little Boy (Batuk)

Varanasi and the Kamaccha Batuk Temple

Investigative Interlocution

The Writing on the Wall

Considering a Foundation Story

Spatial Analysis and the Spectrum of Bhairava

Transposition of the Goddess: Conclusion and Further Speculations

Chapter 3: This Is a Place Where Shakti Dances: Intensifying the Goddess's Power in Michigan

The Parashakthi Temple: Setting Context

Matter and Power at the Parashakthi Temple

So Why Did the Goddess Destroy Her Own Temple?

Rising from the Fire

Part 2: Ritual and Possession Performances

Chapter 4: Insistence, Persistence, and Resistance in Tamil Hindu Rituals to Call the Dead

What Do the Dead Want?

The Ritual Context

Inviting Murugan

When the Dead Will Not Be Denied

Chapter 5: Developing Danda: Aspirations and Transformations of Divine Presence in Uttarakhand

Nagaraja as a Jagar Deity

Developing Danda

Highway, Countryside … and Town

References.

Chapter 6: Feral Gods: Inklings of a Mercurial Sacrality in Village Tamil Nadu

Kin and Deity: Co-Constituting and Cohabiting

Prescriptions and Prohibitions: Manifesting Preferences and Making Personae

Between Feral Roaming and Tamed Dwelling: Manifesting Sovereignty

Between Devotees' Aspirations and Deities' Willfulness: Divine Agency

Conclusion: Uncanny Deities, Unsettling Explanations

Part 3: Pilgrimage and Festival Practices

Chapter 7: The Changing Flavors of Gogaji Worship

A Model of Continuous Religious Transformation

Intensifying Flagstaff Processions

Sweetening Gogaji Worship

Proportion and Manner of Assembly

Chapter 8: Sleep Sweetly, Fierce Goddess: Rituals of Intensification and Sweetening of the Goddess Chamundeshwari of Mysore in Navaratri/Dasara and Her Mahotsava

Chamundi Becomes Chamundeshwari: The Mythological Sweetening of a Fierce Goddess

Intensity and Sweetening in Chamundi's Seventeen-Day Ritual Cycle

Navaratri and Dasara: Unleashing the Intensity of the Goddess

Mahotsava: Sweetening the Goddess

Rathotsava: Victory Laps

Snanotsava/Teppotsava: Cleansing and Cooling

Shayanotsava: Sleep Sweetly, Fierce Goddess

Mahabhisheka: Anointing the Queen

Mudiyutsava: Crowning the Queen of the Universe

Chapter 9: The Sweetening of Bhairav as a Merchants' Miracle Deity

Bhairav, Unsweetened to Sweetened Miracle Deity

Rajasthan as a Marwari Ancestral Homeland

Not Just Jain but Also Marwari Patronage

Bhairav as a Hindu Marwari Miracle Deity

Nakoda Bhairav's Sweetening

Part 4: Narrative and Visual Spaces

Chapter 10: Envisioning Kameshvari and the Mahavidyas in Women's Nam of the Kamakhya Temple and Pilgrimage Site.

The Kameshvari Nam and the Kalika Purana

The Sati-Mahavidya Nam

The Sati-Mahavidya Nam and the Deodhani Festival

Chapter 11: Sanskritizing and Saffronizing the Rabies Goddess: Sweetening and Intensification in the Folklore of Hadkai Mata

Dogs, Death, Dalits, and Devipujaks

The Sattvik Hadkai Mata of Folklore

Saffronizing Hadkai in Shahpur

Chapter 12: Sensational Poetics: The Modern Visual Contextualities of Tiruvalluvar's Tirukkural

Establishing Context from Translations and Commentaries

National Sculptures as Context: Dravidian Monuments of the Tirukkural

Religious Illustrations as Context: Painted Pictures of the Tirukkural

Film as Context: Onscreen Imagery of the Tirukkural

Conclusion: Sensing Devotion in Modern Tirukkural Imagery

Websites

Chapter 13: Kali in a Time of Hurt Sentiments

The Scandal of Manimekalai's Kaali

"What Does Bengal Have to Do with Ayodhya?" Durga, Kali, and the West Bengal Elections

The Internet, a Majoritarian Sensibility, and the "Industry of Hurt"

Conclusion: Who Will Burn Whose Hands? The Reciprocal Wounding of Offense

List of Contributors

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

979-88-558-0407-2

OCLC:

1537940622