Overview
Pastoralist traditions have long been extraordinarily important to the social, economic, political, and cultural life of western India. The Marathi-language oral literature of the Dhangar shepherds is not only one of the most important elements of the traditional cultural life of its region, but also a treasure of world literature. This volume presents translations of two lively and well-crafted examples of the ovi, a genre typical of the oral literature of Dhangars. The two ovis in the volume narrate the stories of Biroba and Dhuloba, two of these shepherds' most important gods. Each of the ovis tells an elaborate story of the birth of the god-a miraculous and complicated process in both cases-and of the struggles each one goes through in order to find and win his bride. The extensive introduction provides a literary analysis of the ovis and discusses what they reveal about the cosmology, geography, society, and political arrangements of their performers' world, as well as about the performers' views of pastoralists and women.
Full Product Details
Author: Anne Feldhaus (Distinguished Foundation Professor of Religious Studies, Distinguished Foundation Professor of Religious Studies, Arizona State University) ,
Ramdas Atkar ,
Rajaram Zagade
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 23.60cm
, Height: 4.60cm
, Length: 16.30cm
Weight: 0.924kg
ISBN: 9780199357642
ISBN 10: 0199357641
Pages: 632
Publication Date: 04 December 2014
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
This translation of two traditional oral narratives of a shepherd community in western India stands as a rich and copious archive of traditional narrative materials and ethnographic observations that will be of great benefit to a wide range of scholars interested in oral performance, folk religion, or rural/pastoral culture in South Asia. * Adheesh Sathaye *
This translation of two traditional oral narratives of a shepherd community in western India stands as a rich and copious archive of traditional narrative materials and ethnographic observations that will be of great benefit to a wide range of scholars interested in oral performance, folk religion, or rural/pastoral culture in South Asia. -- Adheesh Sathaye
Author Information
Anne Feldhaus is Distinguished Foundation Professor of Religious Studies at Arizona State University. She is the author of Water and Womanhood: Religious Meanings of Rivers in Maharashtra and Connected Places: Region, Pilgrimage, and Geographical Imagination in India, as well as several other books on religious traditions of the Marathi-language region of India. She is fluent in Marathi and has lived in India for several long periods.
