The festival of Indra : innovation, archaism, and revival in a South Asian performance / Michael C. Baltutis.
| Author/creator | Baltutis, Michael C., 1975- author. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | Albany : State University of New York Press, [2023] |
| Copyright Date | ©2023 |
| Description | xiii, 270 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Subjects |
| Uniform title | Festival of Indra |
| Series | SUNY series in Hindu studies SUNY series in Hindu studies. ^A378297 |
| Contents | Introduction: The Archetypal Indra Festival -- Chapter One. The Early Medieval Indra Festival -- Chapter Two. The Journey from the Forest -- Chapter Three. Preparing, Entering, and Establishing the City -- Chapter Four. Nepali Chronicles and the Living Goddess Kumari -- Chapter Five. The Construction of the Indra Festival in Nineteenth-Century Kathmandu -- Chapter Six. Sacrificing (to) Bhairav: The Resurrection of a Local Himalayan King -- Chapter Seven. Tantra, the Mahābhārata, and the Iconography of Indra -- Conclusion: Violence, Politics, Danger, and Ritual Change. |
| Abstract | "Details the textual and performative history of the South Asian festival of Indra and its role in the development of classical Hinduism"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Abstract | The Festival of Indra details the textual and performative history of an important South Asian festival and its role in the development of classical Hinduism. Drawing on various genres of Sanskrit textual sources--especially the epic Mahābhārata--the book highlights the innovative ways that this annual public festival has supported the stable royal power responsible for the sponsorship of these texts. More than just a textual project, however, the book devotes significant ethnographic attention to the only contemporary performance of this festival that adheres to the classical Sanskrit record: the Indrajatra of Kathmandu, Nepal. Here, Indra's tall pole remains the festival's focus point, though its addition of the royal blessing by Kumari, the "living goddess" of Nepal, and the regular presence of the fierce god Bhairav show several significant ways that ritual agents have re-constructed this festival over the past two thousand years--back cover. |
| General note | Outgrowth of the author's thesis (doctoral)--University of Iowa, 2008, under the title: Festival of Indra : the construction of a South Asian urban celebration. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-255) and index. |
| Genre/form | History. |
| LCCN | 2022041859 |
| ISBN | 9781438493336 (hardcover ; alk. paper) |
| ISBN | 1438493339 (hardcover ; alk. paper) |
| ISBN | electronic book |
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