Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger is a Professor in the Department of Religion at Emory University. She is the author of When the World Becomes Female: Guises of a South Indian Goddess (2013), In Amma’s Healing Room: Gender and Vernacular Islam in South India (2009), and Gender and Genre in the Folklore of Middle India (1996).

"An engaging read, as a textbook as well as general resource, this book has the potential to make instructors re-envision how they teach Hinduism in the classroom." (CHOICE, 2016)

• Acknowledgements viiiA Note on Transliteration xMap of India xiiIntroduction 1The Terms “Hindu,” “Hinduism,” and “Hindu Traditions” 2Dharma: A Way of Life and Religious Tradition 3Context and Multiplicity 6Ethnographic Selection and Chapter Topics 9A Note on Caste 131 Families of Deities 18The Trimurti 20Mythological and Narrative Families 21Vishnu 21Shiva 25Devi, the Goddess 28Gramadevatas, Village Deities 30Temple Families 34Ritual Families in Domestic Shrines 362 Oral and Visual Narratives and Theologies 46Oral Performance Genres 47Visual Narratives and Theologies 49Verbal and Visual Together 56Where Does the Narrative Lie? 61The Ramayana Tradition Performed 623 Loving and Serving God: Bhakti, Murtis, and Puja 73Bhakti, Devotion 73Singing to God and the Goddess 76Worshipping Deities in Material Form 77Narratives of God in the Murti 80The Deity without Form 83Modes of Worshipping the Murti 85The Services of Puja 89Online, Cyber Puja 934 Temples, Shrines, and Pilgrimage 97Temples 98Sthala Puranas 99Temple Architecture 101Temple Worship 104Shrines 109Pilgrimage 110Tirumala, a Southern, Pan-Indian, and Transnational Pilgrimage Site 114Narsinghnath, a Sub-regional Pilgrimage Site 1195 Festivals 123Divali: Festival of Lights 127Ganesha Chaturthi: Domestic, Neighborhood, and City-Wide Celebrations 129Place-Bound Festivals: Tirupati’s Gangamma Jatara 1386 Vrats: Ritual Vows and Women’s Auspiciousness 145Temple Vrats 146Domestic Vrats 147Vrat Kathas: Ritual Narratives 150Two South Indian Vrat Traditions 151Gender and Vrats 1647 Samskaras: Transformative Rites of Passage 169Pregnancy and Birth 170First-Year Samskaras 171Upanayana and Rituals of Transition to Adulthood 172Ranga Pravesham: Ascending the (Dance) Stage 177Marriage 178Death Rituals 1868 Ritual Healing, Possession, and Astrology 193Accessing Multiple Healing Sites 194Healing across Religious Boundaries 199Possession 203Astrology 211Afterword 220Glossary 227Index 231