Bloomsbury Goddesses in South Asia: Traditions and Transformations

Goddess traditions have for long fascinated scholars, believers, writers and artists across South Asia. In the academic field, the diversity and complexity of goddess worship, and indeed the conceptualization of the goddess, have been illuminated through interdisciplinary methodologies and broad frameworks. This volume comprising thirteen chapters presents original research across a wide chronological and regional span, drawing on a range of literary, epigraphical, visual, archaeological, archival and ethnographic sources. With a focus on major early Indian religious traditions—Vedic, Buddhist, Jaina, Puranic, Tantric—while also giving prominence to lesser-studied traditions, such as village goddesses and so-called minor deities," Goddesses in South Asia draws attention to the different temporal contexts that have a bearing on the prescriptions and practices around goddess worship. It also examines the interactions between goddess worship and other religious traditions, including Islam and Christianity, raising important questions about cross-religious engagements with the divine feminine. The book invites the reader to ask: Is goddess worship indicative of the status of women in society? What do the multiplicity of goddess forms and worship indicate? How do female deities’ function within patriarchal societies? How are goddess figures represented across literary, oral, and visual media? In what way have academic and public discourses around the goddesses contributed to our understanding of goddess worship? How do goddess traditions continue to influence gender roles and social structures? The role of royal and other patronage, the institutionalizing of ritual practices, the legitimation of authority, and the construction of normative social values have been closely examined to elucidate these questions. With its critical and interdisciplinary approach, the volume offers fresh perspectives and makes a significant contribution to the study of goddess traditions in South Asia."