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Mountain Goddess: Gender and Politics in a Himalayan Pilgrimage
Every few decades, thousands of Hindu villagers in the Central Himalayas of North India carry their regional goddess Nandadevi in a bridal palanquin to her husband Shiva's home, walking barefoot over icebound mountain passes to a lake surrounded by human bones. This Royal Pilgrimage of Nandadevi is a ritual dramatization of the post-marital journeys of married women from their natal homes to their husbands' homes. Mountain Goddessis an anthropological study of this pilgrimage and the cult of Nandadevi, especially as they relate to local women's lives. The author shows how Nandadevi's appeal stems from the fact that her mythology parallels the life-courses of the local peasant women, and that her ritual procession imitates their annual journey to the village of their birth. Drawing on formal Indian theories, verbal commentaries, songs, interviews, articles, propaganda, legends, pan-Indian Sanskrit liturgies, historical documents, and the author's remarkable personal account of
the pilgrimage, this gripping narrative is a unique resource for courses in the anthropology of religion, Hinduism, and folklore, ritual, and gender studies.
the pilgrimage, this gripping narrative is a unique resource for courses in the anthropology of religion, Hinduism, and folklore, ritual, and gender studies.
- GenresIndia
256 pages, Paperback
First published November 28, 1991
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November 22, 2017
"Always Coming Home"
I've got to admit that for thorough research, William Sax deserves more than five stars. This is a helluva job. Not only did he learn a seldom-studied dialect of Hindi, but he translated long songs in it, even became able to sing them to incredulous locals. If you say that, well, most anthropologists learn the local language---it's more or less a requirement---then perhaps the weeks-long pilgrimages over rough terrain, in often bad weather, will impress you. Was there any detail of the two major pilgrimages in the mountainous Uttarakhand region of Uttar Pradesh, India (now a separate state, by the way), that he failed to record ? If you want to know what, why, and how pilgimage occurs, how it's related to place, people, and tradition, this is the book you are looking for. It's erudite and thoughtful with links to the work of many other specialists on pilgrimage, religion and India.
Is it an easy read ? That's a different question. Unless you really need incredible detail--the whole ten yards--then this study of how women and men relate to gods and places that are involved in the pilgrimages of Nandadevi, a form of the Hindu mother goddess, may prove a bit too much for you. Though I read the book with a great deal of interest, at times I did ask, "do I really need to know this ?"
Though "All the Mothers Are One" as Stanley Kurtz pointed out in his book of that name, each representation of Durga, Parvati, Kali, Shantadurga, Adishakti, Maya et.al, has her own features. Some goddesses are fearsome or terrible, but there is a tendency for them to be domesticated and made safer. Such forms are represented as being like brides, "quite literally bound..." with rings, bangles, and other things that enclose them, make them more accessible to Man. Just as brides in this Himalayan society, and to some extent all over India, commonly make regular visits to their natal homes, so do goddesses. If they live far away or in the company of god-husbands on snowy peaks, they should be welcomed home from time to time in procession, brought in a palanquin by the faithful who welcome and worship their returning goddess in fine style. Different styles of marriage among the people of Uttarakhand create different problems and have different statuses. Human brides often face tribulations in their marital abodes. The songs about the returning goddesses sung at pilgrimages reflect such tribulations.
Other issues and patterns are discussed in depth, for example, the reason for the custom of buffalo sacrifice, the idea that pilgrimage often delineates the territory of a kingdom, a tribe, or a political unit, and that `tradition' constantly changes and is constantly subject to political rivalries and contests. He notes that men and women in this society (but by inference, in many other societies) have separate mental models of place and person. And finally, in a secular, modern India, where religious or traditional royal authority has been discredited or abolished, but religious identity remains strong, the politicization of religion is inevitable. If any of these subjects interest you, then I can recommend MOUNTAIN GODDESS. It is a fine piece of research, but the detail may overwhelm you.
I've got to admit that for thorough research, William Sax deserves more than five stars. This is a helluva job. Not only did he learn a seldom-studied dialect of Hindi, but he translated long songs in it, even became able to sing them to incredulous locals. If you say that, well, most anthropologists learn the local language---it's more or less a requirement---then perhaps the weeks-long pilgrimages over rough terrain, in often bad weather, will impress you. Was there any detail of the two major pilgrimages in the mountainous Uttarakhand region of Uttar Pradesh, India (now a separate state, by the way), that he failed to record ? If you want to know what, why, and how pilgimage occurs, how it's related to place, people, and tradition, this is the book you are looking for. It's erudite and thoughtful with links to the work of many other specialists on pilgrimage, religion and India.
Is it an easy read ? That's a different question. Unless you really need incredible detail--the whole ten yards--then this study of how women and men relate to gods and places that are involved in the pilgrimages of Nandadevi, a form of the Hindu mother goddess, may prove a bit too much for you. Though I read the book with a great deal of interest, at times I did ask, "do I really need to know this ?"
Though "All the Mothers Are One" as Stanley Kurtz pointed out in his book of that name, each representation of Durga, Parvati, Kali, Shantadurga, Adishakti, Maya et.al, has her own features. Some goddesses are fearsome or terrible, but there is a tendency for them to be domesticated and made safer. Such forms are represented as being like brides, "quite literally bound..." with rings, bangles, and other things that enclose them, make them more accessible to Man. Just as brides in this Himalayan society, and to some extent all over India, commonly make regular visits to their natal homes, so do goddesses. If they live far away or in the company of god-husbands on snowy peaks, they should be welcomed home from time to time in procession, brought in a palanquin by the faithful who welcome and worship their returning goddess in fine style. Different styles of marriage among the people of Uttarakhand create different problems and have different statuses. Human brides often face tribulations in their marital abodes. The songs about the returning goddesses sung at pilgrimages reflect such tribulations.
Other issues and patterns are discussed in depth, for example, the reason for the custom of buffalo sacrifice, the idea that pilgrimage often delineates the territory of a kingdom, a tribe, or a political unit, and that `tradition' constantly changes and is constantly subject to political rivalries and contests. He notes that men and women in this society (but by inference, in many other societies) have separate mental models of place and person. And finally, in a secular, modern India, where religious or traditional royal authority has been discredited or abolished, but religious identity remains strong, the politicization of religion is inevitable. If any of these subjects interest you, then I can recommend MOUNTAIN GODDESS. It is a fine piece of research, but the detail may overwhelm you.
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