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This book provides a detailed history of Hindu goddess traditions with a special focus on the local goddesses of Andhra Pradesh, past and present. The antiquity and the evolution of these goddess traditions are illustrated and documented with the help of archaeological reports, literary sources, inscriptions and art. Tracing the symbols and images of goddess into the brahmanical (Saiva and Vaisnava), Buddhist, and Jaina religious traditions, the book argues effectively how and with what motivations goddesses and their symbolizations were appropriated and transformed. The book also examines the evolution of popular Hindu goddesses such as Durga and Kali, discussing their tribal and agricultural backgrounds. It also deals extensively with how and in what circumstances women are deified and shows how these deified women cults share characteristics with the village goddesses.
List of contents
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1. Goddess Explained - Perspectives From the West
- 2. Contextualizing the Fertility Goddess and the Gramadevata
- 3. Fertility Symbols of the Goddesses:
- Historical Renderings and Contemporary Practices
- 4. Profiles of Anthropomorphic Goddesses in Myth, Ritual, and History
- 5. Bala Perantalu:
- Auspicious Virgin Mothers
- 6. Perantalu:
- Auspicious Wives
- 7. Deifying Victimized Women:
- Sacrifices and Murders
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
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.
