Feeding a Thousand Souls

Women, Ritual, and Ecology in India- An Exploration of the Kolam

Vijaya Nagarajan (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

336 Seiten

2019
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
978-0-19-085807-0 (ISBN)

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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.

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.

Dedication
Acknowledgements
Note on Diacritics and Transliterations
List of Figures
Introduction

Chapter 1- Beginnings
Chapter 2- Following Lines of Beauty
Chapter 3- Rituals
Chapter 4- Thresholds
Chapter 5- Antal
Chapter 6- Designs
Chapter 7- Embodied Mathematics
Chapter 8- Competitions: From Village to City
Chapter 9- Embedded Ecologies and the Earth Goddess
Chapter 10- Marrying Trees and Global Warming
Chapter 11- Feeding a Thousand Souls: A Ritual of Generosity
Chapter 12- Endings

Erscheinungsdatum	30.10.2018
Zusatzinfo	107
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	234 x 155 mm
Gewicht	544 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Hinduismus
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie ► Volkskunde
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-10	0-19-085807-9 / 0190858079
ISBN-13	978-0-19-085807-0 / 9780190858070
Zustand	Neuware