The Cult of Draupadi, Volume 2: On Hindu Ritual and the Goddess

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University of Chicago Press, 1988 - Religion - 556 pages
This is the first volume of a projected three-volume work on the little-known South Indian folk cult of the goddess Draupadi and on the classical epic, the Mahabharata, that the cult brings to life in mythic, ritual, and dramatic forms. Draupadi, the chief heroine of the Sanskrit Mahabharata, takes on many unexpected guises in her Tamil cult, but her dimensions as a folk goddess remain rooted in a rich interpretive vision of the great epic. By examining the ways that the cult of Draupadi commingles traditions about the goddess and the epic, Alf Hiltebeitel shows the cult to be singularly representative of the inner tensions and working dynamics of popular devotional Hinduism.
 

Contents

I Introduction
1
2 Draupaudi Temples and Their Ritual Officiants
9
3 The Ritual Cycle and The Temple Icons
35
4 Offering Sprouts
53
5 Flag Hoisting and Type of Kappu
79
6 Posts Altars and Demon Devotees
117
7 Rituals of Battle
166
Arjunas Artifacts
208
12 Thighs and Hair
381
13 Effigies and Forts
399
14 Timiti the Firewalk
439
15 Closures
476
Appendix Sri Tiraupatatevi Manmiyam The Glorification of Draupaudi
483
Abbreviations
491
Bibliography
493
General Index
515

9 Aravan s Battlefield Sacrifice to Kill
283
10 Patukalam Sequence
320
11 Death and Revival
339

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About the author (1988)

Alf Hiltebeitel is a professor of religion and director of the Human Sciences Program at The George Washington University. He is the author or editor of numerous books including the two-volume Cult of Draupadi and Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

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