The cult of Draupadī
By: Alf Hiltebeitel.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 1988
Place of publication: Chicago
Language: eng
Subjects: Mahābhārata -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Draupadī (Hindu mythology); Draupadī (Hindu mythology) -- Cult.
Description: 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Table of contents: title: 1. Mythologies; title: 2. On Hindu ritual and the goddess.