Conceiving the Goddess 

Transformation and Appropriation in Indic Religions

Edited by Jayant Bhalchandra Bapat and Ian Mabbett

‘This wonderful volume brings together substantial new contributions to the burgeoning scholarship on goddesses in South Asia. Jayant Bapat and Ian Mabbett, along with the other contributors, deepen our understanding of the dynamics of Indic goddess traditions.’ 
— Anne Feldhaus, Distinguished Foundation Professor of Religious Studies, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA

Conceiving the Goddess is a multidisciplinary exploration of goddess cults in South Asia focusing on the theme of appropriation – when one religious group adopts a religious belief or practice not formerly its own.

What are the motivations behind religious appropriation? Is this appropriation an attempt to dominate – or perhaps it is to resist the domination of others? Is is about adapting to changing social circumstances? Or is it simply to enrich the religious experience of a group’s members?

Conceiving the Goddess explores these questions while examining a variety of South Asian goddesses and situations: a Jain goddess lurking in a Brahminical temple; a village goddess who became the patroness of the powerful Peshwa lords; the millennia-long story of the goddess Ekveera who was adopted by a fishing community; the mythology of Pārvatī, consort of the great god Śiva; the fraught relationship between the humble Camār caste and the river goddess Gaṅgā; the changing political roles of Durgā in the annual celebrations of her cult; the mutual appropriation of disciple and goddess in the tantric exercises of Kashmiri Śaivism; and the alarming self-decapitation of the fierce goddess Chinnamastā.

A rich study, this book will appeal to scholars and students of South Asian religions and all those interested in goddess worship.

Contents

1. On Appropriation and Transformation
   I.W. Mabbett and Jayant Bhalchandra Bapat

2. Crowns, Horns and Goddesses: Appropriation of Symbols in Gandhāra and Beyond
   Angelo Andrea Di Castro

3. The Appropriation of the Goddess into the Purāṇic Narrative: Integration/Appropriation in the Vāmanapurāṇa
   Greg Bailey

4. The Yakṣiṇī Devī of Mangaon: Appropriation of a Jain Goddess by Brāhminic Hinduism
   Jayant Bhalchandra Bapat

5. Appropriating the Inappropriate
   John R. Dupuche

6. Ravidās and the Gaṅgā: Appropriation or Contestation?
   Peter Friedlander

7. The Goddess Chinnamastā’s Severed Head as a Re-Appropriation of the Cosmic Sacrifice
   Ian Mabbett

8. The Appropriation of Durgā
   Pratish Bandopadhayay

9. From a Śaktipīṭha to Kuladaivata: The Appropriation of Goddess Jogāī of Ambe
   Madhavi Narsalay

10. The Female Protector of Yolmo’s Hidden Land
    David Templeman

11. Ekveera Devi and the Son Kolis of Mumbai: Have the Kolis Appropriated the Karle Buddhist Chaitya?
    Marika Vicziany, Jayant Bhalchandra Bapat and Sanjay Ranade

12. Modern Appropriations of Devī
    Martin Hříbek

About this book