Tales of Women's Suffering: Draupadi and other Amman Goddesses as Role Models for Women
Although Hinduism offers the greatest living resource for the veneration of the Goddess, there is an obvious discrepancy between the respect paid to these divine images and the daily realities of the lives of Hindu women. However, I believe that the ancient, indigenous south Indian Amman religion, d...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Carfax Publ.
[2002]
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| In: |
Journal of contemporary religion
Year: 2002, Volume: 17, Issue: 1, Pages: 5-20 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | Although Hinduism offers the greatest living resource for the veneration of the Goddess, there is an obvious discrepancy between the respect paid to these divine images and the daily realities of the lives of Hindu women. However, I believe that the ancient, indigenous south Indian Amman religion, dominated by female deities and brought to KwaZulu-Natal by the original Hindu immigrants, offers a unique and valuable form of Goddess veneration. It presents myths and rituals of women, both divine and human, violated, betrayed and exploited by men, but whose courage and purity brought them victory against males threatening to disrupt the social order. These powerful female figures, especially Draupadi, Mother Goddess and patron of firewalking, offer women empowering role models, encouraging them to challenge patriarchal structures and injustice perpetrated against women. Recovering knowledge of some of the Amman Goddess mythology could provide women (and men) with a potent feminist theodicy and a post-patriarchal spirituality with the possibility to bring about social transformation. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-9419 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13537900120098138 |