Title: The cult of Draupadī
First published: 1988
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.
Subjects: Criticism, interpretation, Cult, Draupadī (Hindu mythology), Mahābhārata, Kult, Cults, Mythologie, Hinduismus, Draupadī (Mythologie hindoue), Culte, Geschichte, Critique, interprétation, Hindu cults, Mythology, indic
LC classification: BL1138.4.D72 H55 1988