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Woman and Goddess in Hinduism Woman and Goddess in Hinduism 9780230113695_01_prex.indd i 6/8/2011 6:34:23 PM 9780230113695_01_prex.indd ii 6/8/2011 6:34:24 PM Woman and Goddess in Hinduism Reinterpretations and Re-envisionings Edited by Tracy Pintchman and Rita D. Sherma 9780230113695_01_prex.indd iii 6/8/2011 6:34:24 PM WOMAN AND GODDESS IN HINDUISM Copyright © Tracy Pintchman and Rita D. Sherma, 2011. All rights reserved. First published in 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978–0–230–11369–5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pintchman, Tracy. Woman and goddess in Hinduism : reinterpretations and re-envisionings / Tracy Pintchman, Rita D. Sherma. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978–0–230–11369–5 (hardback) ISBN-10: 0–230–11369–9 1. Women in Hinduism. 2. Hindu goddesses. 3. Women—Religious aspects—Hinduism. 4. Hinduism—Doctrines. I. Sherma, Rita DasGupta. II. Title. BL1237.46.P56 2011 294.5Ј2114—dc22 2011005468 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: August 2011 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America. 9780230113695_01_prex.indd iv 6/8/2011 6:34:24 PM For the pioneering women scholars on whose shoulders we stand: Julia Leslie, Barbara Holdrege, Rita Gross, Sanjukta Gupta, and many others 9780230113695_01_prex.indd v 6/8/2011 6:34:24 PM 9780230113695_01_prex.indd vi 6/8/2011 6:34:24 PM Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: A Hermeneutics of Intersubjectivity 1 Rita D. Sherma Part I Theological Reflection 1 Satī, Suttee, and Sāvitrī 19 Arvind Sharma 2 Female Beauty, Female Power: Seeing Dev ī in the Saundarya Laharī 33 Francis Xavier Clooney 3 Mystery, Wonder, and Knowledge in the Triadic Figure of Mahā vidyā Chinnamastā : A Śākta Woman’s Reading 61 Neela Bhattacharya Saxena Part II Reclaiming Alternative Modalities of Feminine Power 4 Sītā Rasoīs and Śākta Pīt.has: A Feminine Reclamation of Mythic and Epic Proportions 79 Phyllis K. Herman 5 Spreading Śakti 97 Karen Pechilis 6 The Kālī Practice: Revisiting Women’s Roles in Tantra 121 Loriliai Biernacki Part III The Feminine Principle in Hindu Thought and Practice: Problems and Possibilities 7 Hindu Rituals on Behalf of Women: Notes on First Principles 149 Laurie L. Patton 9780230113695_01_prex.indd vii 6/8/2011 6:34:25 PM viii CONTENTS 8 The Feminine Concept of Surrender in Vais.n. ava Discourse 173 E. H. Rick Jarow 9 Gandhi’s Reconstruction of the Feminine: Toward an Indigenous Hermeneutics 197 Veena Rani Howard Conclusion: Reimagining the Hindu Feminine 219 Tracy Pintchman List of Contributors 229 Index 233 9780230113695_01_prex.indd viii 6/8/2011 6:34:25 PM Acknowledgments We wish to express our gratitude to our editor Burke Gerstenschlager at Palgrave Macmillan, who recognized the need for this volume and its message, and to Kaylan Connally, editorial assistant, for all her help through the publishing process. Deep appreciation goes to our esteemed contributors for their patience and diligence in work- ing with us, and for the insights and quality reflected in their work. A special note of thanks to Rita’s daughter Nisha Sherma, who is responsible for the idea and photography of the art on the front cover. We are indebted to Rohini Krishnan, who oversaw the book produc- tion process, and Elspeth Tupelo, who prepared a draft of the index. Finally, we are very grateful to our families and especially our hus- bands, Dr. Arun Sherma and William French, for their unwavering support. 9780230113695_01_prex.indd ix 6/8/2011 6:34:25 PM 9780230113695_01_prex.indd x 6/8/2011 6:34:25 PM Introduction: A Hermeneutics of Intersubjectivity Rita D. Sherma In recent years, the growing interest in the relationship between reli- gion and “the Feminine,” whether human or divine, has given rise to diverse academic volumes exploring this connection in different traditions. The academic examination of the Feminine in Hindu tra- ditions has been, for the most part, rooted in efforts to describe and interpret, using various scholarly methods, including ethnographic, historical, or literary research on Hindu women and Hindu goddess traditions. Important as these areas of study are, they are necessar- ily circumscribed by the methods of inquiry they employ and hence are, generally speaking, not concerned with exploring the relevance of Hindu understandings of the Feminine to theological concerns or contemporary forms of gender activism. The aim of this book is to offer a multilayered exploration of Hindu understandings of the Feminine, both human and divine, that emphasize thealogical and activist methods and aims over historical, anthropological, and literary ones. In this regard, this is essentially a collective work of constructive Hindu thealogy. We mean to employ the term “thealogy” here in the broadest possible sense. The traditional academic parameters of textuality and anthropol- ogy are, of course, necessitated by the demands of credible scholar- ship. They can, however, be complemented by thealogical reflection and constructive engagement. Such an approach could provide a more nuanced exploration of the significance of Hindu understandings of the feminine in terms of the following: • conceptual resources for thealogical reflection and reinterpreta- tion; 9780230113695_02_int.indd 1 6/8/2011 12:55:52 PM 2 RITA D. SHERMA alternative insights on the multiple possible modes of envision-• alternative insights on the multiple possible modes of envision-• ing female empowerment and the divine feminine in feminist theory discourse; and • the relevance of Hindu models of the feminine to cross- cultural philosophical, theological, ontological, or sociological interchange. In offering multiple constructive explorations of the Hindu Feminine—some with, and others without the framework of a con- fessional stance—this book uses a wide-angle lens to understand more fully certain aspects of the Feminine in the Hindu ethos in terms of their potential for application as elements of constructive thealogy. The chapters of this volume approach the Feminine in Hindu traditions from the standpoint of intersubjective construction via a method that I have termed dialexis. Dialexis here refers to a form of intellectual engagement “across styles” that takes as its starting point an adequate accounting of contextualized signification. The various styles of expression and communication that cultures use to express themselves are grounded in lexical choices made in particular histori- cal, geographical, and societal contexts. “Lexis” refers to the use of expressions relevant to the style of a text or of any communicative encounter. The term “lexical choice” is being used here to signify more than words alone; we use it to refer to all attempts to convey meaning including words, art, ritual, music, and so forth. Ideas that may be, in themselves, universally applicable, may be difficult to comprehend if they are deeply informed by, and entrenched in, an unfamiliar cultural ethos. Dialexis should allow us to penetrate those contextual lexical or communicative choices. We consider dialexis, which will be described in greater detail later, to be the foundation of intersubjective scholarship. The “hermeneutics of intersubjectivity” is an approach that assumes that the “Other” is not just an object of study, but also a subject from whom I can learn. Thus, this volume starts with the assumption that understanding and respect are both aided by, and dependent on, scholars’ perceptions of the Other not merely as object of investiga- tion, but also as subject; and not only as subject but as “subject with whom we are in conversation.” The demands of rigorous, credible scholarship and the desire to foster mutual understanding are both served when descriptive parameters are viewed not as limits but as starting points, and when 9780230113695_02_int.indd 2 6/8/2011 12:55:53 PM INTRODUCTION 3 scholarship is complemented by an engaged hermeneutics that strives to be dialogical. We view such an approach as of particular signifi- cance for the contemporary academic study of Hinduism, which has suffered from deeply corrosive tensions due, in part, to applications of academic frameworks deeply grounded in the Western ethos—such as Freudian and Marxist hermeneutics—to Hindu materials in ways that some individuals have perceived to be inherently distorting and disjunctive. Methodology: Toward a Hermeneutics of Intersubjectivity Methods of study (whether textual, anthropological, iconographic, or other) are epistemological tools; they are modes of uncovering information. They are not, however, hermeneutical orientations, and the two should not be confused. For example, textual exegesis is a method that can be interpreted and understood through many dif- ferent hermeneutical lenses (such as, e.g., feminist hermeneutics). It is the lens that is the hermeneutical orientation; textual exegesis is a modality of investigation. The exegesis may be deeply influenced by the hermeneutics used, but they are not the same thing. The presentation, therefore, of a certain hermeneutical angle by this volume—which I refer to as the hermeneutics of intersubjectivity—is not an attempt to assess the value of different methods for the study of the feminine (or any other issue) in the Hindu ethos. This is because—as per philosophical hermeneutics—we can define herme- neutics as the effort of the human mind to fully understand, process, internalize, and be transformed by that which it encounters, whereas a methodology is a body of procedures, protocols, rules, and modes of investigation grounded in a given field of inquiry.
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