‘It’s Enough That the Goddess Knows’: About Vows and Spectacular Offerings in Popular South Indian Hinduism
Votive offerings are one of the most common devotional practices in Hindu temples of Kerala and are today resorted to by an ever-growing number of worshippers seeking divine help in times of need. As this article will show, these offerings are deeply embedded in the logics of the hyper-personalized...
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MDPI AG
2025-02-01
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| author | Marianne Pasty-Abdul Wahid |
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| description | Votive offerings are one of the most common devotional practices in Hindu temples of Kerala and are today resorted to by an ever-growing number of worshippers seeking divine help in times of need. As this article will show, these offerings are deeply embedded in the logics of the hyper-personalized and unmediated devotion that characterizes popular Hinduism in this part of India. They are also markers of the recent opening of religion to individual contribution and intervention, as well as active tools for the intimate worshipper–deity relationship. Ritual arts conducted as votive offerings allow us to dive even deeper into these considerations and open up new alleys of analysis, for they connect public and private worlds in specific ways and introduce unique aesthetic and transactional dimensions. This article draws on extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the south Indian state of Kerala, with particular focus on the ritual performing art <i>muṭiyēṯṯu’</i>, which is mainly conducted as a votive offering in high-caste temples devoted to the goddess Bhadrakāḷi. It pulls together anthropology, performance, and religious studies to analyze the current grassroot-level realities of lived popular religion through the prism of votive offerings in general and of ritual performing arts conducted as votive offerings in particular. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c1a261130f5b4b2c83d1a5b5bf5de6d5 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
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| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-c1a261130f5b4b2c83d1a5b5bf5de6d52025-08-20T02:01:24ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442025-02-0116224710.3390/rel16020247‘It’s Enough That the Goddess Knows’: About Vows and Spectacular Offerings in Popular South Indian HinduismMarianne Pasty-Abdul Wahid0Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, GermanyVotive offerings are one of the most common devotional practices in Hindu temples of Kerala and are today resorted to by an ever-growing number of worshippers seeking divine help in times of need. As this article will show, these offerings are deeply embedded in the logics of the hyper-personalized and unmediated devotion that characterizes popular Hinduism in this part of India. They are also markers of the recent opening of religion to individual contribution and intervention, as well as active tools for the intimate worshipper–deity relationship. Ritual arts conducted as votive offerings allow us to dive even deeper into these considerations and open up new alleys of analysis, for they connect public and private worlds in specific ways and introduce unique aesthetic and transactional dimensions. This article draws on extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the south Indian state of Kerala, with particular focus on the ritual performing art <i>muṭiyēṯṯu’</i>, which is mainly conducted as a votive offering in high-caste temples devoted to the goddess Bhadrakāḷi. It pulls together anthropology, performance, and religious studies to analyze the current grassroot-level realities of lived popular religion through the prism of votive offerings in general and of ritual performing arts conducted as votive offerings in particular.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/2/247votive offeringspopular Hinduism<i>muṭiyēṯṯu’</i>KeralaSouth IndiaHindu goddess |
| spellingShingle | Marianne Pasty-Abdul Wahid ‘It’s Enough That the Goddess Knows’: About Vows and Spectacular Offerings in Popular South Indian Hinduism Religions votive offerings popular Hinduism <i>muṭiyēṯṯu’</i> Kerala South India Hindu goddess |
| title | ‘It’s Enough That the Goddess Knows’: About Vows and Spectacular Offerings in Popular South Indian Hinduism |
| title_full | ‘It’s Enough That the Goddess Knows’: About Vows and Spectacular Offerings in Popular South Indian Hinduism |
| title_fullStr | ‘It’s Enough That the Goddess Knows’: About Vows and Spectacular Offerings in Popular South Indian Hinduism |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘It’s Enough That the Goddess Knows’: About Vows and Spectacular Offerings in Popular South Indian Hinduism |
| title_short | ‘It’s Enough That the Goddess Knows’: About Vows and Spectacular Offerings in Popular South Indian Hinduism |
| title_sort | it s enough that the goddess knows about vows and spectacular offerings in popular south indian hinduism |
| topic | votive offerings popular Hinduism <i>muṭiyēṯṯu’</i> Kerala South India Hindu goddess |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/2/247 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mariannepastyabdulwahid itsenoughthatthegoddessknowsaboutvowsandspectacularofferingsinpopularsouthindianhinduism |