Guests at God's Wedding
Celebrating Kartik among the Women of Benares
1st Edition
Published on 25. August 2005
254 pages
978-0-7914-8256-8 (ISBN)
Description
A fascinating look at women's rituals honoring the god Krishna.
This fascinating look at the sacred Hindu month of Kartik (October-November) as it is celebrated in the city of Benares in North India highlights Kartik-related practices, stories, songs, and experiences particular to women. During Kartik, Hindu women living in and around Benares meet daily to enact a form of ritual worship, or puja, in which they raise the playful Hindu deity Krishna from childhood to adulthood throughout the month, ultimately marrying him to the plant-goddess Tulsi (Basil). Tracy Pintchman explores how women who perform Kartik puja understand and celebrate both Kartik and Krishna in ways that are linked to the desires, hopes, fears, and social realities characteristic of many Hindu women living in the rather conservative social milieu of this region.
Tracy Pintchman is Professor of Hindu Studies at Loyola University Chicago. She is the author of The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition and the editor of Seeking Mahadevi: Constructing the Identities of the Hindu Great Goddess, both also published by SUNY Press.
This fascinating look at the sacred Hindu month of Kartik (October-November) as it is celebrated in the city of Benares in North India highlights Kartik-related practices, stories, songs, and experiences particular to women. During Kartik, Hindu women living in and around Benares meet daily to enact a form of ritual worship, or puja, in which they raise the playful Hindu deity Krishna from childhood to adulthood throughout the month, ultimately marrying him to the plant-goddess Tulsi (Basil). Tracy Pintchman explores how women who perform Kartik puja understand and celebrate both Kartik and Krishna in ways that are linked to the desires, hopes, fears, and social realities characteristic of many Hindu women living in the rather conservative social milieu of this region.
Tracy Pintchman is Professor of Hindu Studies at Loyola University Chicago. She is the author of The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition and the editor of Seeking Mahadevi: Constructing the Identities of the Hindu Great Goddess, both also published by SUNY Press.
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Tracy Pintchman is Professor of Hindu Studies at Loyola University Chicago. She is the author of The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition and the editor of Seeking Mahadevi: Constructing the Identities of the Hindu Great Goddess, both also published by SUNY Press.
Content
llustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Prelude to a Book
Confessions of an Inexpert Ethnographer
Contours of the Book
1. Kartik as a Sacred Month: The Kartik Vrat in
Text and Context
Kartik and the Hindu Calendar
Textual Sources and Kartik
The Texts of the Kartik Mahatmya
Kartik and Auspiciousness
The Kartik Vrat
Eulogy and Narrative in the Kartik Mahatmyas: Glorifying Kartik and the Kartik Vrat
The Bhishmapancak and the Bhishmapancak Vrat
2. Kartik's Religious Celebrations and the Churning of the Ocean of Milk
Krishna and Kartik
Sharat Purnima (Autumn Full Moon)
Karva Cauth
Govatsa Dvadashi
Yamatrayodashi and Dhanteras
Narak Caturdashi
Diwali
Kartik Shukla Pratipada/Govadhan Worship/Annakut
Yamdvitiya or Bhaiya Duj
Nag Nathaiya
Dala Chath or Surya Chath
Gopashtami
Akshaya Navami
Prabodhani Ekadashi and the Tulsi Vivaha
Vaikunth Caturdashi
Kartik Purnima
3. Adoring Krishna at the River's Edge: The Practice of Kartik Puja
Prologue
Setting the Stage, and a Tale of Two Votaries
Performing Kartik Puja
4. Krishna, Kartik, and Hindu Women's Lives
Being a Sakhi in Kartik Puja
Krishna as Lover, Husband, and Son
Radha and Tulsi in Kartik Puja Traditions
Concluding Remarks
5. Kartik Puja Traditions and Women's Empowerment
Appendix: Transliterated Song Texts
Notes
Works Cited
