Encountering Kali: In the Margins, at the center in the West

Encountering Kali explores one of the most ramarkable divinities the world has seen. The Hindu goddess Kali is simultaneously understood as a blood thirsty warrior a deity of ritual possession a tantric sexual partner and an all loving compassionate mothe. Popular and scholarly interest in her has been on the rise in the west in recent years. Responding to this phenomenon McDermott and Kripal’s volume focuses on the complexities involved in interpreting Kali in both her indigenous south Asian settings and her more recent Western incarnation. Through the shifting lenses of scriptural history temple architecture political reflection and the goddess’s recent guises on the Internet the contributors pose questions that illuminate our understanding of Kali while addressing the problems and promises inherent in every act of cross cultural interpretation.

Review(s)

” This book of enduring interest has a mine of information for any Kali zealot.” ——–The Astrological Magazine Vol.: 95, No. 1, Jan., 2006 “The questions and concept raised in this work are quite intelligent……….an attempt to understand the India

About the Author(s)

RACHEL FELL MCdERMOTT is Assistant Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures at Barnard College. She is the author of Mother of My Heart, Daughter of My Dreams: Kali and Uma in the Devotional Poetry of Bengal.