Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Devi and the Spouse Goddess: Women, Sexuality and Marriages in India

Devi and the Spouse Goddess: Women, Sexuality and Marriages in India

Gatwood, Lynn E.

Hardcover

HinduismWomen's Studies

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 9394262180
ISBN13: 9789394262188
Publisher: Manohar Books
Published: Jan 20 2025
Pages: 220
Language: English
Over the centuries, the idealised roles women were expected to play in Indian society have embodied in images of Hindu deities. Society, particularly the male Brahmanical elite, expected decent upper caste women to conform to the image of the benign Spouse Goddess. The upper caste woman, like the Spouse Goddess, was expected to be a worshipful and dutiful mate to her husband. She appears as Sarasvati, wife of Brahma; Lakshmi, paired with Vishnu; and Parvati, mate of Shiva. The Spouse Goddess' sexuality is controlled by marriage and is directed towards procreation, particularly of male heirs.

When control of the Spouse Goddess' sexuality is lost, and she is (or is thought) unfaithful she becomes the Spouse-Goddess-out-of-control, a motive force in many of India's epic tales

Devi has her probable origins as an earth Goddess in the Indus Valley Civilization. She has been continuously worshipped in India's little tradition, in different forms and ways. She represents overt sexuality and enjoys parity with males in economic and political activity. In her various modes she embodies the egalitarianism and open sexuality exhibited by lower caste Hindu women.

Scholars have often confused the Spouse-Goddess-out-of-control with Devi and have not understood the interplay of these images of goddesses and women's status in Indian societyvLynn Gatwood's brilliant and provocative study of Indian religion and society is certain to generate controversy. But it casts new light on the interaction of ideology and culture in Indian history. The book will permanently change one's perceptions of Indian women, of their relationships with men, particularly through marriage, and of the Goddesses of the Hindu Pantheon.

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