The Cult of Draupadi

by Hiltebeitel, Alf

• ISBN13: 9780226340456
• ISBN10: 0226340457
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1988-04-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

List of Maps

List of Plates

List of Tables

Preface

Acknowledgments

Conventions

From Gingee

Introduction: Invocatory Songs to Draupadi, ""The Lady Who Resides in Gingee""

The Draupadi Cult: Its Historical and Regional Settings

The History of Gingee

The Core Area

Social Background, Diffusion, Variation, and Change

Vanniyars, Konars, and Velalar Mutaliyars

Parameters of Diffusion

The Case of Dindigul

The Sources of the Gingee Kingdom: The Living River and the Tree of Gold A. T

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