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9780195187304

The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York Breaking Convention and Making Home at a North American Hindu Temple

by
  • ISBN13:

    9780195187304

  • ISBN10:

    019518730X

  • Format: Paperback
  • Copyright: 2005-12-15
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press

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Summary

The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York is a profile of a flourishing Hindu temple in the town of Rush, New York. The temple, established by a charismatic nonbrahman Sri Lankan Tamil known as Aiya, stands out for its combination of orthodox ritual meticulousness and socioreligious iconoclasm. The vitality with which devotees participate in ritual themselves and their ready access to the deities contrasts sharply with ritual activities at most North American Hindu temples, where (following the usual Indian custom) ritual is performed only by priests and access to the highly sanctified divine images is closely guarded. Drawing on several years of fieldwork, Dempsey weaves traditional South Asian tales, temple miracle accounts, and devotional testimonials into an analysis of the distinctive dynamics of diaspora Hinduism. She explores the ways in which the goddess, the guru, and temple members reside at cultural and religious intersections, noting how distinctions between miraculous and mundane, convention and non-convention, and domestic and foreign are more often intertwined and interdependent than in tidy opposition. This lively and accessible work is a unique and important contribution to diaspora Hindu Studies.

Author Biography


Corinne G. Dempsey is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. Her first book, Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India (OUP, 2001), won the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies award for best monograph in Hindu-Christian studies, 2000-2002.

Table of Contents

Note on Transliteration xiii
Introduction: A Temple Trip 3(12)
PART I Encounters with Divinity: Ritual Power and Miracles
Temple Entryways
15(18)
Perspectives on Ritual Power: The Cost, Science, and Grace of Divinity
33(24)
Visions and Versions of the Miraculous
57(26)
PART II The Work of a Guru: Bridge Building and Boundary Breaking
Maverick Guru with a Cause
83(22)
The Changing Faces of Temple Worship: The Young, the Women, and the Rest
105(24)
A Fine Balance: The Give and Take of Religious Discipline
129(20)
PART III Temple Inhabitants: Making Home in a World of Impermanence
Grounding the Sacred: Traveling Deities and Sanctified Terrain
149(20)
Expanding Turf for Racial and Religious Others
169(22)
Making Home at the Sri Rajarajeswari Pitham
191(18)
Conclusion: A Good Place to Start 209(6)
Glossary 215(6)
Notes 221(24)
Bibliography 245(10)
Index 255

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The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

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