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Every day millions of Tamil women in southeast India wake up before dawn to create a new kolam, an ephemeral but highly elaborate ritual design made with rice flour, on the thresholds of homes, businesses, and temples. This thousand-year-old ritual welcomes and honors the goddesses Lakshmi and Bhudevi. The first comprehensive study of the kolam in English, Feeding a Thousand Souls is the culmination of Vijaya Nagarajan's many years of research and
writing on this exacting ritual practice.
About the author
Vijaya Nagarajan is an associate professor in the Department of Theology/Religious Studies and in the Program of Environmental Studies at the University of San Francisco and writes about Hinduism, gender, and ecology. She is active in the American Academy of Religion and in the environmental movements in the United States.
Summary
Every day millions of Tamil women in southeast India wake up before dawn to create a kōlam, an ephemeral ritual design made with rice flour, on the thresholds of homes, businesses and temples. This thousand-year-old ritual welcomes and honors Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and alertness, and Bhudevi, the goddess of the earth. Created by hand with great skill, artistry, and mathematical precision, the kolam disappears in a few hours, borne away by passing footsteps and hungry insects.
This is the first comprehensive study of the kōlam in the English language. It examines its significance in historical, mathematical, ecological, anthropological, and literary contexts. The culmination of Vijaya Nagarajan's many years of research and writing on this exacting ritual practice, Feeding a Thousand Souls celebrates the experiences, thoughts, and voices of the Tamil women who keep this tradition alive.
Additional text
Vijaya Nagarajan ... refers to the belief in Hindu mythology that Hindus have a "karmic obligation" to "feed a thousand souls," or offer food to those that live among us. By providing a meal of rice flour to bugs, ants, birds, and insects, she writes, the Hindu householder begins the day with "a ritual of generosity," with a dual offering to divinity and to nature.
