Woman and Goddess in Hinduism

TRACY PINTCHMAN is a Professor and Director of the International Studies Program at Loyola University Chicago, USA.   RITA SHARMA is Director of the Institute For Theology Beyond Boundaries and Executive Director of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Taksha Institute, Hampton, USA.

• A Hermeneutics of Intersubjectivity; R.D.Sherma PART I: THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION Sat?, Suttee, and S?vitr?; A.Sharma Still a Goddess at Second Sight: Envisioning the Beautiful Woman of the Saundarya Lahar?; F.Xavier Clooney Mystery, Wonder, and Knowledge in the Triadic Figure of Maha??vidya? Chinnamasta?: A ?a?kta Woman's Reading; N.Bhattacharya Saxena PART II: RECLAIMING ALTERNATIVE MODALITIES OF FEMININE POWER S?t? Raso?s and ??kta P??has: A Feminine Reclamation of Mythic and Epic Proportions; P.Herman Female Gurus and the Divine Feminine; K.Pechilis The K?l? Practice: Revisiting Women's Roles in Tantra; L. Biernecki PART III: THE FEMININE PRINCIPLES IN HINDU THOUGHT AND PRACTICE: PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES Hindu Rituals on Behalf of Women: Notes on First Principles; L.Patton The Feminine Concept of Surrender in Vai??avism; E.H.Rick Jarow Gandhi's Construction of the Feminine in Hinduism: Negotiating Traditional Values for Modern Goals; V.Howard Afterword: Reimagining the Hindu Feminine: Concluding Reflections

"The role of the female within the Hindu tradition is both varied and vigorous, as the multiple contributors to this text reveal. They bring together scholarship and sensitivity in conveying unique dimensions and valuable perceptions of that role.This book is an important read for anyone seeking to comprehend female spirituality and divinity in the Hindu context." - Ramdas Lamb, Associate Professor of Religion, University of Hawaii at Manoa"The essays in this outstanding volume successfully avoid the common pitfalls of, on the one hand, objectifying and exoticizing the various Hindu categories and concepts with which they engage, and on the other, of deploying these same categories and concepts in a simplistic and uncritical manner. The hermeneutics of intersubjectivity that the authors skillfully apply to their materials should be a model for future work in the field of Hindu studies." - Jeffery D. Long, Associate Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown College, and author of A Vision for Hinduism: Beyond Hindu Nationalism and Jainism: An Introduction"This book skillfully addresses all things feminine in Indian traditions: goddesses, female gurus, the lives of Hindu women, and more.Includes many excellent new translations of key passages from Sanskrit litereature." - Christopher Key Chapple, Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology, Loyola Marymount University