Vicissitudes of the Goddess - Reconstructions of the Gramadevata in India''s Religious Traditions

Drawing on archaeological, artistic, sculptural and inscriptional sources and participant/observer insights, Sree Padma reconstructs a history of goddess worship in India from ancient times (before the rise of Buddhism and bhakti) to contemporary cults of deified women.

About the author

Sree Padma is the executive director of the Inter-Collegiate Sri Lanka Education (ISLE) Program, a study abroad program in Sri Lanka. She also teaches at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, offering courses on the cultural history of south Asia. She has been a research associate in the Department of History and Archaeology at Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, where she completed her Ph.D. She has taught at Harvard University as a lecturer and research associate in women's studies and history of religions and at Bowdoin College as assistant professor of history. She is the author of Costume, Coiffure, and Ornament in the Temple Sculpture of Northern Andhra (Agama Kala Prakasan, 1991) and the co-editor of Buddhism in the Krishna River Valley of Andhra (State University of New York Press, 2008).

Summary

Drawing on archaeological, artistic, sculptural and inscriptional sources and participant/observer insights, Sree Padma reconstructs a history of goddess worship in India from ancient times (before the rise of Buddhism and bhakti) to contemporary cults of deified women.

Additional text

In this monumental book, Sree Padma traces the history of village goddess traditions in Andhra Pradesh, India from prehistoric to contemporary times. She engages an impressive array of textual, material, and ethnographic sources to explore both continuities and transformations in goddess cults. This book will change how scholars think about South Asian goddesses.

Product details

• Authors: Sree Padma
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 12.12.2013
• EAN: 9780199325023
• ISBN: 978-0-19-932502-3
• No. of pages: 384
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Other religions; Buddhismus, Hinduismus, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology of Religion, HISTORY / Asia / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, Religion - World Religions, RELIGION / Hinduism / General, RELIGION / Buddhism / General (see also PHILOSOPHY / Buddhist), RELIGION / Jainism, RELIGION / Hinduism / History, History of Religion, Hinduism, Asian History, Sociology & anthropology, Sociology and anthropology