Dialexis gives us excellent resources for prizing pluralism and scrutinizing universalizing claims; doing so is intellectually responsible and can be empowering to those who have lived or suffered under the power of false universalisms. The interpretive method of dialectical intersubjectivity allows for critical evaluation, criticism, and even rejection of particular principles or practices, although it stops short of offering explicit meta-criteria for measuring human flourishing or specific resources for formulating social or ethical critique. This is where other, nontraditional discourses might be fruitfully engaged with the method of dialexis to push a concern with interpretation forward to a consistent concern also with social change. Such double movement, simultaneously toward and away from tradition, merits further consideration, and it is our hope that future projects will carry forth this important work.
NOTE
1. See http://www.ignca.nic.in/narivada.htm.
REFERENCES
Bynum, Caroline Walker. 1986. “On the Complexity of Symbols.” In Gender and Religion: On the Complexity of Symbols, eds. Caroline Walker Bynum, Paula Richman, and Steven Harrell, 1–20. Boston: Beacon Press.
Humes, Cynthia. 2000. “Is the Dev-Mhtmya a Feminist Scripture?” In Is the Goddess a Feminist? The Politics of South Asian Goddesses, eds. Alf Hiltebeitel and Kathleen M. Erndl, 123–150. New York: New York University Press.
Kakar, Sudhir. 1990. Intimate Relations: Exploring Indian Sexuality. New Delhi: Penguin Books.
Kishwar, Madhu. 1990. “A Horror of ‘Isms’: Why I Do Not Call Myself a Feminist.” Manushi, Vol. 61 (November–December). Reprinted in Kishwar, Madhu. 1999. Off the Beaten Track: Rethinking Gender Justice for Indian Women, 268–290. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Pintchman, Tracy. 2005. Guests at God’s Wedding: Celebrating Kartik among the Women of Benares. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Raheja, Gloria Goodwin, and Anne Grodzins Gold. 1994. Listen to the Heron’s Words: Reimagining Gender and Kinship in North India. Berkeley: University of California Press.
CONTRIBUTORS
Loriliai Biernacki is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her research interests include Hinduism, ethics, critical theory, and gender. Her first book, Renowned Goddess of Desire: Women, Sex and Speech in Tantra (2007), won the Kayden Award in 2008. She is currently working on a translation of a Sanskrit philosophical text by the eleventh-century Indian philosopher Abhinavagupta.
Francis Xavier Clooney, SJ, is the Parkman Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, and director of the Center for the Study of World Religions. He teaches courses in classical Hinduism and in comparative theology, with a focus on Hindu-Christian examples. His research interests lie in these same fields, and additionally he has studied the Jesuit missionary tradition in India. Recent publications include Beyond Compare: St. Francis and Sri Vedanta Desika on Loving Surrender to God (2008), The Truth, the Way, the Life: Christian Commentary on the Three Holy Mantras of the Srivaisnava Hindus (2008), and Comparative Theology: Deep Learning across Religious Borders (2010). His current major project is an exercise in dramatic theology, a reading of medieval sermons on the Song of Songs along with parallel Hindu poetry and commentary similarly illuminating the search for the absent God.
Phyllis K. Herman is a professor of religious studies at California State University, Northridge. She teaches courses in Hinduism, Asian religions, and women and religion. She has published extensively on the goddess, St and her “kitchen shrines,” and on the political implementations of the Indian epic The Rmyaa. Her most recent publications include the coedited book The Constant and Changing Face of the Goddess: Goddess Traditions in Asia (2008) and Seeing the Divine: Online Darshan and Virtual Religious Experience (2010). She is currently working on an expansion of her research on online religion.
Veena Rani Howard teaches in the Religious Studies and Social Science Departments at the University of Oregon and Lane Community College. She teaches courses in religions of India, Eastern traditions, Hindu myth and tradition, nonviolence in religion, and Gandhi. Her research interests include Hinduism, Gandhi’s philosophy of asceticism, and comparative religion. Her recent publications include two articles on Gandhi: “Gandhi, The Mahatma: Evolving Narratives and Native Discourse in Gandhi Studies” (2007) and “Non-violence and Justice as Inseparable Principles: A Gandhian Perspective” (2008). She is currently at work on a monograph tentatively entitled Reconsidering Gandhi’s Celibacy: An Analysis of its Functional Value in Ascetic Activism.
E. H. Rick Jarow is an associate professor of religion and Asian studies at Vassar College. He is the author of many articles on Vaiava traditions and a book entitled Tales for the Dying: The Death Narrative of the Bhgavata Pura (2003).
Laurie L. Patton is Charles Howard Candler Professor of Early Indian Religions at Emory University. She teaches courses in early Indian myth and literature, comparative mythology, and theory and method in the study of religion. Her research interests include ancient Indian poetry and ritual, religion and literature, and contemporary Hindu women and the Sanskrit tradition. Her most recent publications include Bringing the Gods to Mind: Mantra and Ritual in Early Indian Sacrifice (2005); The Bhagavad Gita (2008); and Notes from a Mandala: Essays in The History of Indian Religions (2010). A second book of poems, Angel’s Task, is forthcoming in 2011. She is currently completing two manuscripts, one on the study of religion and its twentieth-century publics and another on women, Sanskrit, and religious identity in contemporary India.
Karen Pechilis is a professor of Asian religions and comparative religion in the Religious Studies Department at Drew University. She teaches courses in the history of Asian religions; thematic comparative topics in religion such as pilgrimage, devotion, and art; and critical theories of gender, language, and aesthetics in religion. Her research interests include classical Tamil poet-saints and their devotional compositions, the imaginary of human and divine embodiment, and women’s religious authority. Her most recent publications include The Embodiment of Bhakti (1999), The Graceful Guru: Hindu Female Gurus in India and the United States (2004), and Interpreting Devotion: The Poetry and Legacy of a Female Bhakti Saint of India (forthcoming), which is a study of Kraikkl Ammaiyr. She is currently working on Refiguring the Body: Embodiment in South Asian Religions (coedited with Barbara Holdrege; forthcoming).
Tracy Pintchman is professor of Hindu studies and religious studies at Loyola University of Chicago. She teaches courses on Hindu goddess traditions, women and religion, and other religious studies topics. Her research interests include Hindu goddess traditions, women and religion, and transnational Hinduism. Her scholarly publications include a number of articles and book chapters as well as four books: two monographs, The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition (1994) and Guests at God’s Wedding: Celebrating Kartik Among the Women of Benares (2005), and two edited volumes, Seeking Mahadevi: Constructing the Identities of the Hindu Great Goddess (2001) and Women’s Rituals, Women’s Lives in the Hindu Tradition: Domesticity and Beyond (2007).
Neela Bhattacharya Saxena is an associate professor of English at Nassau Community College, Garden City, New York. Her book In the Beginning Is Desire: Tracing Kali’s Footprints in Indian Literature was published in 2004. Some of her recent publications include “Gaia Mandala: An Eco-Thealogical Vision of the Indic Shakti Tradition” (2006) and “Color of God: Resplendent Clay of Hindu Images as the Glow of the Ineffable” (2008). Her forthcoming essays include: “Gynocentric Thealogy of Tantric Hinduism: A Meditation upon the Devi,” in Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theology, and “Neither Theos, Nor Logos: Indic Mother God beyond Onto-Theology” in Pathways of Creative Research: Towards a Festival of Dialogues. Her current book project is titled Absent Mother God of the West.
Arvind Sharma received a PhD in Sanskrit and Indian studies from Harvard University in 1978. He has published over fifty books and five hundred articles in the fields of comparative religion, Hind
u studies, Indian philosophy and ethics, and the role of women in religion. Among his most noteworthy publications are The Hindu Gita: Ancient and Classical Interpretations of the Bhagavadgita (1986), The Experiential Dimension of Advaita Vedanta (1993), Our Religions: The Seven World Religions Introduced by Preeminent Scholars from Each Tradition (1994), and The Study of Hinduism (2003).
Rita D. Sherma received her MA in women’s studies in religion and PhD in theology and ethics from Claremont Graduate University. She is director of The Convergence Center, Arizona; founding Chair of the Institute for Theology Beyond Boundaries; and professor and executive director of the School of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Taksha University, Virginia. Her previous scholarly publications include numerous essays and book chapters on religion and philosophy, and encyclopedia articles in works such as the Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America and the Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions, as well as several edited volumes, including Dying, Death, and Afterlife in Dharma Traditions and Western Religions (2006); Hermeneutics and Hindu Thought: Toward a Fusion of Horizons (2008), and Prayer and Worship in Dharma Traditions (forthcoming).
INDEX
abortion/miscarriage, 156–157, 167n9, 168n13. See also childbirth
activism. See social change agency, 11, 124–125, 163, 220, 222–223, 224. See also autonomy, women’s
AGS (Avalyana Ghya Stra), 163
ahis (non-harming), 201
Alter, Joseph, 207
Ammachi (female guru), 101, 106
Anandamayi Ma (female guru), 101, 106
anumna (inferential knowledge), 149
artha (prosperity, power), 69
artha (purpose, goal), 149, 152–155, 165, 219–220
arthavda texts, 151, 160–161
arts, 191–192
Arya Samj, 186
ascetic practices, 25–26; brahmacarya (celibacy), 199, 204–208, 224; pativrats and, 89. See also tapas (power of ascetic practices)
Ashe, Geoffrey, 206–207
ashrams, 100, 110–112, 206–207
Adaabhedaniraya (Rmnuja), 178
Avalyana Ghya Stra (AGS), 163
Avapati (Svtrs father), 21–24
Atharva Veda, 161–162
Atri (sage), 157, 168n13
autonomy, women’s, 15, 208, 212–213, 214–215. See also agency
Ayodhy, India, 80, 85
Ayodhya Mhtmya, 85, 86
Bagwe, Anjali, 129
beauty: Chinnamast and, 70; of Dev, 36–37, 38–40, 46–52; Saundarya Lahar and, 10, 37, 55–56; tantra and, 34
becoming female/like a woman, 190–191, 206
Benard, Elizabeth, 66, 67–68, 69, 71
Bhagavad Gt, 176, 177–178, 187
Bhgavata Pura, 177, 181, 188
bhakti (loving devotion), 14–15; Dev and, 37, 53–54; femininity and, 180–181; masculinity and, 184; pativrats and, 173, 178; surrender and, 177–178, 178–179, 183, 187, 188–189; worldly duties and, 186–187
Bha, Badrinth, 186
bhva (inner disposition), 177
bhavan (harmony among sacrificial elements), 162
Biernacki, Loriliai, 11, 12–13, 223–224
Bilimoria, Purushottama, 152
binaries: gender as, 128–131, 224.
See also dualities; nonduality birth. See childbirth blood: Chinnamast and, 65–66, 68, 71–73, 222; menstruation, 88
Blue Goddess of Speech (Nlasaraswat), 126, 128
bodies, female: blood and, 65–66, 68, 71–73, 88, 222; breast milk, 49–50, 72, 222; of Dev, 47–51; of Sat, 83–84, 85; yonis, 66–67, 68–69, 121–123. See also embodiedness/materiality/prakti
brahmacarya (celibacy), 199, 204–208, 216n3, 224
brhmaa texts, 151
Brahmins, 127, 129, 130, 136–137, 139–140, 224
breast milk, 49–50, 72, 222
Bhannla Tantra (BT), 127, 128, 132, 134, 135, 136, 139
Brooks, Douglas, 34
Brown, Mackenzie, 188
BT (Bhannla Tantra), 127, 128, 132, 134, 135, 136, 139
Bynum, Catherine Walker, 87, 221
Caitanya, 180, 185
Caitanya Caritmta (Kaviraja), 186
cakra pj (circle worship/tantric orgy), 133–134
cakras, 10, 34–35, 36, 41–42, 67 castes, 127, 129–131, 136–137, 139–140, 224
celibacy (brahmacarya), 199, 204–208, 216n3, 224
Chidvilasananda, Swami. See Gurumayi
childbirth, 149, 167n9, 225; birth of daughters, 20–22, 163; birth of sons, 20–22, 29, 161, 163; brahmacarya and, 208; power and, 201–202; Saptavadhri and, 159; Vedic hymns and, 155–157
Chinese Way (cncra). See Kl Practice
Chinnamast, 10–11, 61–74; Gynocentric understanding of, 70–74; iconography of, 64–67, 70–72; as maternal/sexual, 222; names of, 69–70; narratives about, 67–68; personal experience and, 61–63, 64; yantra of, 68–69
Cncra Tantra (CT), 127, 139
cita (funeral pyre), 10, 19, 71. See also Suttee
Citrakt, India, 80, 85
Citrakt Mhtmya, 85
Clooney, Francis Xavier, 9, 10, 153, 154, 221–222
codan (injunction), 153, 160–164, 165
The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Gandhi), 197, 198
colonialism, 181, 185–187. See also nationalism
contemplation, 45–52, 132
cooking, 81, 82–83, 84–85, 86, 87–89, 222–223
Cox, Harvey, 109–110, 112
CT (Cncra Tantra), 127, 139
Daka (Sat’s father), 30, 67, 83
death, 24–25, 65–67, 70. See also Suttee
Derné, Steve, 204–205
Deshpande, Madhav, 164
desire. See pleasure
Dev (Goddess): abstraction of image of, 40–45; as beautiful woman, 36–37; beauty of, 36–37, 38–40, 46–52; body of, 47–51; direct experience of, 52–54; embodiedness and, 221–222; female gurus and, 12, 106–107; Mahvidys and, 67–68; as maternal, 184, 222; names of, 42–44; as akti, 54–55; in Saundarya Lahar, 36–55; visualization of, 45–52; women and, 54–56, 138. See also Mahdev (Great Goddess)
Dev Bhgavata Tura, 184
Dev-Mhtmya, 128, 141n12, 221–222
devotion: to husbands, 19–20, 29, 30, 82–84, 210, 223, 225; in Saundarya Lahar, 53; Svitr’s, 26. See also bhakti (loving devotion); pativrats (devoted wives)
dharma (duty), 69, 151, 152–153, 160, 162
Dharma stra (Manu), 125, 127
dialexis, 4, 8, 224; defined, 2; lexical choice and, 6; Mahdev and, 62; personal experience and, 113; reenvisioning the feminine and, 219; scholarship and, 97, 227–228; Siddha Yoga and, 102; surrender and, 193. See also hermeneutics; intersubjectivity; scholarship
dissolution, 174–175
Draupadi, 210, 212, 213
dualities, 11; Chinnamast and, 66–67; gender and, 140; surrender and, 174–175; tantra and, 62–64. See also nonduality
Durg, 192
Dvivedi, V. V., 126, 128
Eller, Cynthia, 103
emasculation, 190–191, 193
embodiedness/materiality/prakti, 6, 10, 63, 128–129, 221–224; as spiritually significant, 46, 48–49, 52, 55–56. See also bodies, female
empowerment, 11–13; cooking and, 87–88; feminist spirituality and, 103; Gandhi and, 15, 198–199; Hindu tradition and, 219; mythical narratives and, 209–214; Nrvda and, 226; nonviolence movement and, 200; pativmts and, 79–80; Rma and, 187; Sat and, 86–87; St and, 79–80, 86–87, 89–92; surrender and, 174. See also power; power, women’s; akti (female spiritual power)
enjoyment. See pleasure Erndl, Kathleen, 91
ethical thought. See prama (authoritative knowledge, right reasoning)
exclusivity, 178–179, 180, 189
fasting, 89, 93–94n6, 203
femininity, 64, 79, 173–193; colonialism and, 185–187; Gandhi and, 199–204, 214; ideal of, 181, 189, 197–199; inner being and, 189–192; my and, 102; men and, 203; nonviolence and, 198–201; nourishment and
, 72–73; reenvisioning of, 219–228; surrender and, 14–15, 173–174, 175–178, 184–185; as universal, 107. See also pativrats (devoted wives); akti (fema le spiritual power); womanhood, Hindu; women
feminism: cooking and, 87; female gurus and, 100–103; Gandhi and, 199; Hindu feminism, 79–80, 91–92; Mms and, 13–14, 149–150, 155, 158, 165–166; personal experience and, 113, 223; Saundarya Lahar and, 55–56; Siddha Yoga and, 100–103, 112, 223; St and, 90–92; as sociopolitical movement, 101; terminology and, 225–226. See also scholarship, feminist; spirituality, feminist
fire, 80–82, 83, 88; funeral pyres, 10, 19, 71
five m’s, 34, 128, 139, 141n11
Flood of Beauty, 45–52, 53. See also Saundarya Lahar
Flood of Bliss, 40–45, 53. See also Saundarya Lahar
food. See cooking; five m’s freedom, political/social/economic, 187
funeral pyres (citas), 10, 19, 71. See also Suttee
fusion of horizons, 5, 7
Gadamer, Hans-Georg, 5, 7–8
Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing (Ruether), 4
Gandharva Tantra (GT), 127, 128, 131, 135, 136, 141n10, 141n12
Gandhi, Mohandas, 197–215, 224; ashram of, 206–207; celibacy and, 204–208; critiques of, 199; mythical narratives and, 15, 199, 209–214; nationalist movement and, 199–204; surrender and, 181; women and, 15, 197–199, 201, 209–214, 214–215
Ganea, 49–50
Gaudya Sainpmdya (Vaisnava sect), 180
Gauri Ma (female guru), 106
gender, 224; castes and, 129–131; celibacy and, 204–208; duality and, 140; grammar and, 158; Saundarya Lahar and, 10; in Siddha Yoga, 109; tantric texts and, 125. See also femininity; masculinity
Gier, Nicholas, 201
Gtagovinda (Jayadeva), 182
Glynn, Simon, 8
Goddess. See Dev (Goddess); See also Mahdev (Great Goddess)
goddesses: Durg, 192; Kl, 68, 125, 126, 128; in Kl Practice, 127, 133, 134; Mahvidys, 10–11, 61–62, 64–65, 67–68; Parvat, 42–43, 68, 84, 121, 122, 123; Rdh, 175, 176, 182, 185, 188, 189, 192; veneration of in tantra, 123; women as, 133–135. See also Chinnamast; Dev (Goddess); Mahdev (Great Goddess)
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