Vicissitudes of the Goddess

Abstract

Gramadevatas discussed in this book correspond to different dimensions and spiritual strategies of popular Hindu religious sentiment and magic. Some of those are associated with powers of fertility and the outbreak of disease. The others are those goddesses who are clearly deified women whose lives came to an abrupt or unseemly end. The study shows that these two are not exclusive. The book traces the historical vicissitudes of the first category of goddesses to see how they influenced various religious traditions and how gender became a factor in qualifying the religious meaning of various Indian religious traditions. This study also shows the resilience and survival of gramadevata cults in the face of their transformation into brahmanic Hindu deities. Through the study of second category of deified women, the book examines how feminine power has been imagined, symbolized and thus conceptualized in Hindu religious tradition. The book also traces the origins of goddesses of Buddhist, Jaina, Saiva, and Vaishnava traditions to the gramadevata in her ancient form.