Author: Vijaya RamaswamyPublisher: Indian Institute of Advanced StudyYear: 1997Language: EnglishPages: 257ISBN/UPC (if available): 8185952396
Description
This book maps the spiritual history of women in the context of societal structures through historical time and space. The study looks at the issues of gender inequalities in the context of dominance and power and the debates over female sexuality and salvation.This book maps the spiritual history of women in the context of societal structures through historical time and space. The study looks at the issues of gender inequalities in the context of dominance and power and the debates over female sexuality and salvation. In the process spirituality emerges as a powerful form of women's self-expression.This book maps the spiritual history of women in the context of societal structures through historical time and space. The study looks at the issues of gender inequalities in the context of dominance and power and the debates over female sexuality and salvation. In the process spirituality emerges as a powerful form of women’ self-expression finding its voice in the various ‘cathartic’ spiritual movements. Manifestations of female spiritual movements. Manifestations of female spirituality in particular societies, whether feudal, quasi-feudal or colonia, varied from tacit conformism (to male spiritual/ social leadership) to deviance and even defiance. The author goes back in historical time to the ‘material-spiritualism’ of the Sangam Tamils and forward into the era of colonial transition. The Deccan and the region south of the Vindhyas form the geographical liminalities of this study which opens up the possibilities of a wider study of women, society and spirituality in the broader context of the South Asian region.
Contents
AcknowledgementsAuthor’s NotePrefaceCHAPTER IGendered Spirituality: A South Indian PerspectiveCHAPTER IIWoman and Spirituality in the Sangam AgeCHAPTER IIIWomen in Buddhism and JainismCHAPTER IVBride, Demoness, Other: Women in the Early Devotional Movements in South IndiaCHAPTER VRebels-Housewives: Women in VirasaivismCHAPTER VIWomen’In’, Women ‘Out’: Women Within the Warkari PanthsCHAPTER VII Transition: Gender, Spirituality and the Politics of FreedomEpilogueIndex