Citation

Courtney SA. Aust. J. Anthropol. 2006; 17(2): 127-146.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Australian Anthropological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1835-9310.2006.tb00053.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper is based on research amongst a community of marginalised Hindu women in the holy city of Vārānas? in North India. It focuses on a case study in which an abandoned baby girl, who was found on the banks of the Ganges by one of these women, subsequently could be created as a living goddess. It describes and analyses the manner in which such a religious belief was generated and sustained in this community but, more importantly, how the complex social and psychological processes through which the generation of such a belief enabled many of these marginalised women to sustain a self-understanding—assailed by powerful rival status groups—of being imbued with power (śakti) like their goddess. Further, women were described to me, by men and by women, as being in themselves specific kinds of śaktis. During the course of my field research, it became apparent that the śakti of Hindu females of all ages is understood, at various levels of consciousness, to be an immense and accessible reservoir of power. Hence, this paper explores how śakti offers others opportunities, by annexing it, to fulfill various kinds of desires.