Donors, Devotees, and Daughters of God: Temple Women in Medieval Tamilnadu (South Asia Research) [Hardcover]

Leslie C. Orr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0195099621 | ISBN-13: 978-0195099621

Through the use of epigraphical evidence, Leslie C. Orr brings into focus the activities and identities of the temple women (devadasis) of medieval South India. This book shows how temple women's initiative and economic autonomy involved them in medieval temple politics and allowed them to establish themselves in roles with particular social and religious meanings. This study suggests new ways of understanding the character of the temple woman and, more generally, of the roles of women in Indian religion and society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This work operates at the highest levels of scholarship and regularly yields gems of insight on the problems of South Indian historiography. . . . The true value of this book lies not in historicism or comparison but in its portrait of women's agency within a 'broader context of relationships' (35) during their own time."--Journal of the American Academy of Religion

About the Author

Leslie C. Orr is at Concordia University, Quebec.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 318 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (March 9, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195099621
• ISBN-13: 978-0195099621
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,307,001 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource!, April 3, 2002

By 

Beth "Crazy, Dancing White Woman" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Donors, Devotees, and Daughters of God: Temple Women in Medieval Tamilnadu (South Asia Research) (Hardcover)

This is a truly fabulous book about the possible history of temple women during the Chola period in South Indian. Ms. Orr has very thoroughly and comprehensivly examined and explained her sources and theories. I learned a great deal from this text and was gratified to see all of her assertions backed by epigraphical surveys or the well-documented work of other authors. My one critique would be that the work limits itself to only epigraphical evidence, and does not consider other sources, such as literature, before it draws firm conclusions. I don't think it a failing of the text so much as a gaping hole waiting to be filled.