Revelry, Rivalry, and Longing for the Goddesses of Bengal : The Fortunes of Hindu Festivals

Rachel Fell McDermott

ISBN 10: 023112919X / ISBN 13: 9780231129190

Published by Columbia University Press Mai 2011, 2011

About this Item

Neuware - Annually during the months of autumn, Bengal hosts three interlinked festivals to honour its most important goddesses: Durga, Kali, and Jagaddhatri. This book recounts the history of these festivals and their revelry, rivalry, and nostalgic power.

Seller Inventory # 9780231129190

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Revelry, Rivalry, and Longing for the Goddesses of Bengal : The Fortunes of Hindu Festivals
• Publisher: Columbia University Press Mai 2011
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 023112919X
• ISBN 13: 9780231129190
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 228W x 152H x 21D millimeters 228 millimeters width by 152 millimeters height by 21 millimeters depth
• Weight: 526 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Annually during the months of autumn, Bengal hosts three interlinked festivals to honor its most important goddesses: Durga, Kali, and Jagaddhatri. While each of these deities possesses a distinct iconography, myth, and character, they are all martial. Durga, Kali, and Jagaddhatri often demand blood sacrifice as part of their worship and offer material and spiritual benefits to their votaries. Richly represented in straw, clay, paint, and decoration, they are similarly displayed in elaborately festooned temples, thronged by thousands of admirers.

The first book to recount the history of these festivals and their revelry, rivalry, and nostalgic power, this volume marks an unprecedented achievement in the mapping of a major public event. Rachel Fell McDermott describes the festivals' origins and growth under British rule. She identifies their iconographic conventions and carnivalesque qualities and their relationship to the fierce, Tantric sides of ritual practice. McDermott confronts controversies over the tradition of blood sacrifice and the status-seekers who compete for symbolic capital. Expanding her narrative, she takes readers beyond Bengal's borders to trace the transformation of the goddesses and their festivals across the world. McDermott's work underscores the role of holidays in cultural memory, specifically the Bengali evocation of an ideal, culturally rich past. Under the thrall of the goddess, the social, political, economic, and religious identity of Bengalis takes shape.

About the Author

Rachel Fell McDermott is professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures at Barnard College. Her books include Singing to the Goddess: Poems to Kali and Uma from Bengal and Encountering Kali: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West.