Every few decades, thousands of Hindu villagers in the Central Himalayas of North India carry their regional goddess Nandadevi in a bridal palanquin to her husband Shiva's home, walking barefoot over icebound mountain passes to a lake surrounded by human bones. This Royal Pilgrimage of Nandadevi is a ritual dramatization of the post-marital journeys of married women from their natal homes to their husbands' homes. Mountain Goddessis an anthropological study of this pilgrimage and the cult of Nandadevi, especially as they relate to local women's lives. The author shows how Nandadevi's appeal stems from the fact that her mythology parallels the life-courses of the local peasant women, and that her ritual procession imitates their annual journey to the village of their birth. Drawing on formal Indian theories, verbal commentaries, songs, interviews, articles, propaganda, legends, pan-Indian Sanskrit liturgies, historical documents, and the author's remarkable personal account of the pilgrimage, this gripping narrative is a unique resource for courses in the anthropology of religion, Hinduism, and folklore, ritual, and gender studies.
1. INTRODUCTION A Note on the Songs 2. CREATION Songs for Women 3. THE SMALL PILGRIMAGE Jats as Pilgrimages Birth and Marriage Place and Person in Garhwal The Male Model Separation and Reunion The Secret of Rupkund The Whole Village Bride-price A Female Perspective on Residence 4. THE GODDESS AND THE DEMON Devi and the Buffalo Demon The Sacrifice The Social Effects of Ritual 5. RAJ JAT History The Goddess and the Media The Background of Rivalry The Royal Pilgrimage of the Goddess Shri Nanda (1987) Ritual, Regionalism, and Politics Conclusion Appendix: Transliterated Texts Bibliography Index
![Mountain Goddess Gender and Politics in a Himalayan Pilgrimage [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/3/5/4/2_872961.jpg "Mountain Goddess Gender and Politics in a Himalayan Pilgrimage [Paperback] xxx")