Encountering Kali explores one of the most remarkable divinities the world has seen--the Hindu goddess Kali. She is simultaneously understood as a blood-thirsty warrior, a goddess of ritual possession, a Tantric sexual partner, and an all-loving, compassionate Mother. Popular and scholarly interest in her has been on the rise in the West in recent years. Responding to this phenomenon, this volume focuses on the complexities involved in interpreting Kali in both her indigenous South Asian settings and her more recent Western incarnations. Using scriptural history, temple architecture, political violence, feminist and psychoanalytic criticism, autobiographical reflection, and the goddess's recent guises on the Internet, the contributors pose questions relevant to our understanding of Kali, as they illuminate the problems and promises inherent in every act of cross-cultural interpretation.
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"The editors take us from the margin, through the center, to the West, "through the shifting lenses of scriptural history, temple architecture, political violence, feminist and psychoanalytic criticism, autobiographical reflection, and the goddess's recent guises on the Internet," a round tour of an obscure, dense, powerful subject."--News India Times -- Review
From the Inside Flap
"The editors have assembled a South Asian/History of Religions dream team, and the result is a book that captures the sexy, gory power of the dark goddess who is the most exciting of all Hindu deities-and perhaps the most controversial and notorious of all deities. Academically profound and theoretically subtle, these essays are also vivid and juicy."--Wendy Doniger, author of The Bedtrick: Tales of Sex and Masquerade
"If any subject ever called for a book of many parts, it is Kali. These original and provocative essays, well chosen and thoughtfully organized, point to all sides of the Goddess's character. The result is a sharp and challenging book-the essential starting point for a new century of encountering Kali."--John Stratton Hawley, Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Religion, Columbia University and co-editor of Devi: Goddesses of India
"If any subject ever called for a book of many parts, it is Kali. These original and provocative essays, well chosen and thoughtfully organized, point to all sides of the Goddess's character. The result is a sharp and challenging book-the essential starting point for a new century of encountering Kali."--John Stratton Hawley, Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Religion, Columbia University and co-editor of Devi: Goddesses of India
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great resource for scholars and devotees alike,
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This review is from: Encountering Kali: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West (Paperback)
This collection of scholarly essays is an easy and enjoyable read for scholars and laypersons alike. What's so great about it is how many perspectives it gives on, as another reviewer noted, "the Kali phenomenon." McDermott and others tear away notions Westerners have of Kali, and present a much broader picture of her mythology, worship and cultural significance. McDermott's concluding essay spearheads the Western fascination with Kali, and dispels many myths along the way - including common etymological mistakes made frequently by feminist scholars and writers on Kali.
Western devotees of Kali should especially consider reading this volume - it will give necessary depth and breadth to your understanding of this complex Goddess, and is exceptionally readable. As this book was primarily written by and for scholars who are familiar with Sanskrit, those unfamiliar with transliteration diacritics will want to refer to online sources. Devotees who have Swami Satyananda Saraswati's excellent Kali Puja book will find a transliteration pronunciation guide in the back, which would be useful in this context.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A reading experience,
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This review is from: Encountering Kali: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West (Paperback)
This book is more than an academic study. It provides an experience of Kali devotions at the deepest levels. It also presents a variety of perceptions heretofore unavailable in a single volume. An outstanding contribution. Ron Frost, R.N., M.A.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The goddess Kali is almost always described as having a terrible, frightening appearance. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Sri Lanka, South Asian, Oxford University Press, University of California Press, University of Chicago Press, New Delhi, Rachel Fell, David Kinsley, Goddesses of India, New World, Sarah Caldwell, Siparee Mai, Usha Menon, Gananath Obeyesekere, Mother India, Princeton University Press, Mar Thoma, Cambridge University Press, Medusa's Hair, Motilal Banarsidass, Sigmund Freud, The Western Kali, Visions of the Divine Feminine, Harvard University New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The goddess Kali is almost always described as having a terrible, frightening appearance. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Sri Lanka, South Asian, Oxford University Press, University of California Press, University of Chicago Press, New Delhi, Rachel Fell, David Kinsley, Goddesses of India, New World, Sarah Caldwell, Siparee Mai, Usha Menon, Gananath Obeyesekere, Mother India, Princeton University Press, Mar Thoma, Cambridge University Press, Medusa's Hair, Motilal Banarsidass, Sigmund Freud, The Western Kali, Visions of the Divine Feminine, Harvard University New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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14
books
cite this book:
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- Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition by David R. Kinsley on 11 pages
- Devi: Goddesses of India (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society) by John Stratton Hawley on 9 pages
- The Divine Consort: Radha and the Goddesses of India by John Stratton Hawley on 8 pages
- Cultural Psychology: Essays on Comparative Human Development by James W. Stigler on 7 pages
- Buddhism Transformed by Richard Gombrich on 5 pages
See all 100 books this book cites
- Challenging the NGOs: Women, Religion and Development in India (Tauris Academic Studies) by Tamsin Bradley in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Singing to the Goddess: Poems to Kali and Uma from Bengal by Rachel Fell McDermott in Back Matter
- Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom: Eroticism and Reflexivity in the Study of Mysticism by Jeffrey J. Kripal in Back Matter
- A Revolution of Love: The Meaning of Mother Teresa by David Scott in Back Matter
- Identity and the Politics of Scholarship in the Study of Religion by Jose Cabezon on page 207
See all 14 books citing this book
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