By John Stratton Hawley
Numerous years in the past in Rajasthan, an eighteen-year-old girl was once burned on her husband's funeral pyre and hence turned sati. ahead of ascending the pyre, she was once anticipated to bring either benefits and curses: advantages to protect her kin and extended family for plenty of generations, and curses to avoid a person from thwarting her wish to die. Sati additionally ability blessing and curse in a broader experience. to those that revere it, sati symbolizes final loyalty and self-sacrifice. It usually figures close to the center of a Hindu id that feels embattled in a contemporary global. but to those that deplore it, sati is a curse, a contravention of each woman's womanhood. it really is homicide mystified, and as such, the emblem of accurately what Hinduism aren't be.
In this quantity a gaggle of best students think about the numerous meanings of sati: in India and the West; in literature, paintings, and opera; in faith, psychology, economics, and politics. With participants who're either Indian and American, it is a really binational, postcolonial dialogue. members comprise Karen Brown, Paul Courtright, Vidya Dehejia, Ainslie Embree, Dorothy Figueira, Lindsey Harlan, John Hawley, Robin Lewis, Ashis Nandy, and Veena Talwar Oldenburg.
Read or Download Sati, the blessing and the curse: the burning of wives in India PDF
Best hinduism books
Myth = Mithya: Decoding Hindu Mythology
Put up 12 months word: First released in 2006
------------------------
A interpreting of Hindu mythology Hindus have one God. additionally they have 330 million gods: male gods; girl gods; own gods; relatives gods; family gods; village gods; gods of house and time; gods for particular castes and specific professions; gods who live in timber; in animals; in minerals; in geometrical styles and in man-made gadgets. Then there are an entire host of demons. yet no satan.
In this groundbreaking e-book Dr Devdutt Pattanaik; one among India's most well-liked mythologists; seeks a solution to those obvious paradoxes and unravels an inherited fact approximately existence and demise; nature and tradition; perfection and risk. He retells sacred Hindu tales and decodes Hindu symbols and rituals; utilizing a different sort of observation; illustrations and diagrams. we find why the villainous Kauravas went to heaven and the virtuous Pandavas (all other than Yudhishtira) have been despatched to hell; why Rama regardless of leaving behind the blameless Sita is still the version king; why the blood-drinking Kali is one other type of the milk-giving Gauri; and why Shiva wrenched off the 5th head of Brahma.
Constructed over generations; Hindu myths function home windows to the soul; and supply an figuring out of the area round us. the purpose isn't really to outgrow fable; yet to be enriched and empowered via its historic; effective and nonetheless correct language.
Anandamath, or The Sacred Brotherhood
It is a translation of a traditionally very important Bengali novel. released in 1882, Chatterji's Anandamath helped create the ambience and the symbolism for the nationalist move resulting in Indian independence in 1947. It comprises the well-known hymn Vande Mataram ("I revere the Mother"), which has develop into India's legitimate nationwide track.
Abhinavagupta: A Trident of Wisdom
It is a lengthy statement on a quick Tantra. essentially the most authoritative and honored texts in Kashmir Shaivism, it bargains with the character of final fact and with equipment of consciousness concentrating on the idea and perform of Mantra. Abhinavagupta offers his metaphysics of language, of the area (Vak), and its relation to awareness.
Myths of the Asanas: The Stories at the Heart of the Yoga Tradition
Practitioners all over the world acquire the actual advantages of yoga, assuming poses and often calling them through their Sanskrit names. whereas many comprehend that hanumanasana is termed for the deity Hanuman, few comprehend why this can be the case. in the back of every one asana and its corresponding pursuits is an old tale a few god, sage, or sacred animal, very similar to Aesop’s fables or eu folktales.
- The Upanishads
- Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey
- Encyclopedia of Religion
- Saivism in Philosophical Perspective: A Study of the Formative Concepts, Problems and Methods of Saiva Siddhanta
Extra resources for Sati, the blessing and the curse: the burning of wives in India
Sample text
Tolaram moves into a trance state and, as the voice of the satimata, assures them that all is well. From this point on, the satimata remains with Nathu and his family as they move through the ritual experience. People ask questions of her: When will the rains come? Will my son pass his examinations? My son is away; when will he come back? How is he? My friend had some pain in her The Iconographies of Sati 39 stomach and rubbed bhibhut (ashes left over from the fire kindled in front of the satimata's image) onto it.
A lesser-known shrine (and for that reason perhaps somewhat more typical) is the one devoted to another Narayani Satimata, located in a hilly, fairly wild area adjacent to the Seriska National Forest, in Ajmer District, in the state of Rajasthan. The temple itself sits between a large tree and a tank fed by an underground spring. The patronage for this Narayani Satimata is drawn from the Nai or barber caste, although its temple priests (pujaris) are members of the Mina or herding caste. Inside the temple is a stone slab, carved in Hindi, telling visitors the story of Narayani Satimata.
For example, the goddess Rani Satimata (also known as Narayani Satimata), a seventeenth-century Rajput woman who became deified through her sati, is associated with a large temple in the city of Jhunjhunu, in northeast Rajasthan. This goddess is worshipped mainly by members of the Agarwal caste of merchants, who have become successful businessmen throughout north India. Their success has spread her fame, and their prosperity is often attributed to her protection. Rani Satimata shrines may now be found in Bombay, Delhi, Varanasi, Calcutta, and many other cities across India.
