Because It Gives Me Peace of Mind

Anne Mackenzie Pearson is a part-time instructor at both McMaster University and Wilfrid Laurier University.

• List of Plates List of Abbreviations Preface Introduction 1. Six Women 2. The Concept of Vrata in the Hindu Textual Tradition 3. Vrats, The Seasons and the Festival Calendar in Banaras 4. Precept and Practice: The Contours of a Vrat 5. Precept and Practice: The Constituents of a Vrat 6. Vrats and the Life Stages of Hindu Women 7. "Because It Gives Me Peace of Mind": Meanings and Functions of Vrats in Hindu Women's Religious Lives Appendix A: History of Scholarship on Vrata Appendix B: Fieldsite, Research Population, and Fieldwork Methods Appendix C: Tables of Lunar Months, Lunar Days, and Calendrical Vrats Appendix D: Tij and Jiutiya Stories Notes Glossary Bibliography Index

Drawing extensively on the personal narratives of individual women, this study subtly corrects the prevailing view that all women observe vrats solely for the benefit of others. The author shows that Hindu women's sense of duty and obligation to ensure the well-being of their families through the performance of vrats explains only part of the appeal of these rites. The data demonstrate that women also perform vrats for the social, physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits. Not only do vrats provide an avenue for the expression of profound spiritual yearnings, but some women use vrats as a way to gain a measure of control over their own lives, a source of empowerment in an environment in which women frequently lack control and self-determination.