Sweetening and intensification : currents shaping Hindu practices / edited by Amy L. Allocco and Xenia Zeiler.
| Other author | Allocco, Amy L., editor. |
| Other author | Zeiler, Xenia, editor. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, [2025] |
| Copyright Date | ©2025 |
| Description | vii, 346 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm |
| Subjects |
| Series | SUNY series in Hindu studies SUNY series in Hindu studies. ^A378297 |
| Partial contents | A divine dust-up : diverging trajectories of local gods in Garhwal / Brian K. Pennington -- Insistence, persistence, and resistance in Tamil Hindu rituals to call the dead / Amy L. Allocco -- Kali in a time of hurt sentiments / Rachel Fell McDermott. |
| Contents | Introduction: Sweetening and Intensification Processes in Hindu Traditions / Xenis Zeiler, Amy L. Allocco -- Temples, localities, and deities-- A Divine Dust-Up: Diverging Trajectories of Local Gods in Garhwal / Brian K. Pennington – Your Friendly, Neighborhood Bhairava: Understanding the Role of a Terrifying God in the Form of an Adorable Little Boy (Batuk) /Seth Ligo -- This Is a Place Where Shakti Dances: Intensifying the Goddess's Power in Michigan / Tracy Pintchman -- Ritual and Possession Performances -- Insistence, Persistence, and Resistance in Tamil Hindu Rituals to Call the Dead /Amy L. Allocco -- Developing Danda: Aspirations and Transformations of Divine Presence in Uttarakhand / Aftab S. Jassal -- Feral Gods: Inklings of a Mercurial Sacrality in Village Tamil Nadu / Indira Arumugam -- Pilgrimage and Festival Practices -- The Changing Flavors of Gogaji Worship / Carter Hawthorne Higgins -- Sleep Sweetly, Fierce Goddess: Rituals of Intensification and Sweetening of the Goddess Chamundeshwari of Mysore in Navaratri/Dasara and Her Mahotsava / Caleb Simmons -- The Sweetening of Bhairav as Merchants Miracle Deity / R. Jeremy Saul -- Narrative and visual spaces -- Envisioning Kameshvari and the Mahavidyas in Eomen's Nam of the Kamakhya Temple and Prilgrimage Site / Patricia Dold -- Sanskritizing and saffronizing the Rabies Goddess: sweetening and intensification in the folklore of Hadkai Mata / / Darry Dinnell -- Sensational poetics : the modern visual contextualities of Tiruvalluvar's Tiukkural / Amy-Ruth Holt -- Kali in a time of hurt sentiments / Rachel Fell McDermott. |
| Abstract | "Explores how these two currents are shaping the contours of contemporary Hindu worship, myth, and visual and material culture in contemporary South Asia and its diasporas"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Abstract | "This volume focuses on two alternately converging and diverging currents that increasingly shape Hindu traditions—namely, sweetening and intensification. Sweetening is understood here to include the softening of deities' iconographies, the standardization of religious narratives, and the sanitization of ritual practices. Alongside this current exists intensification, which is understood as an insistence on the continuing relevance of rigorous, visceral, and frequently stigmatized practices and beliefs, often in response to new circumstances and challenges. This volume emphasizes an inclusive approach by bringing these two currents into sustained conversation. As Hindu traditions are increasingly expanding into new settings, including but not limited to new diaspora and new media contexts, the long-established yet ever changing scale of sweet/neutral/spicy unfolds in new ways, as well. The essays in this volume delineate these developments across diverse Hindu geographic, linguistic, ethnic, and social contexts; textual and theological traditions; and ritual and media formats. Indeed, the volume's multidisciplinary approach shows how these processes intersect with and even drive contemporary (re)negotiations, (re)interpretations, and (re)constructions of Hindu deities, practices, narratives, and symbols" -- Publisher, page 4 of cover. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| LCCN | 2025007900 |
| ISBN | 9798855804058 |
| ISBN | (electronic book) |