Pilgrimage and politics in colonial Bengal: the myth of the Goddess Sati./ Imma Ramos

Cover -- Half Title--Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents-- List of figures-- List of plates-- Acknowledgements-- Introduction-- A myth of dismemberment-- Sati and her rise as a patriotic icon-- The formation of Hindu identity: from cultural to revolutionary nationalis-- Layout of the book; 1 Kalighat souvenirs and the creation of Sati's iconography-- Sati's place in the visual rhetoric of motherlan-- Sati's portrayal in Kalighat pilgrimage souvenirs; The invocation and reinvention of Sati-- The romanticisation of martyrdom--Subverting Christian iconography. Shiva, asceticism and Bengali masculinitySati, suttee and the story of Padmini-- The enduring power of Sati-- 2 Kamakhya's erotic-apotropaic potency and the forging of sacred geography-- Martial and maternal: Kamakhya's sculptures-- The promotion of fertility and protection: Kamakhya's female archer-- Subversive sexuality: the reception of Kamakhya during the colonial period-- Colonial mapping versus sacred geography--Bengal's love affair with Kamakhya: pilgrimage as a nationalist device; 3 Tantra's revolutionary potential: Tarapith and Bamakhepa's visualisation of Tara--Understanding Tara. Understanding Tantric ritual through TaraBamakhepa, Tantra and revolutionary potential-- Terrifying and benevolent: visions of Tara-- The sweetening of death-- 4 Contesting the colonial gaze: Image worship debates in nineteenth centuryBengal-- Murtipuja, darshan and rituals of consecration; Ram Mohan Roy and the Brahmo Samaj movement--'Inconsistent with the moral order of the universe': the Reverend Hastie's views on murtipuja; The backlash: Bengali responses to Hastie-- The Saligram idol case: murti and artefact-- The Attahas and Khirogram Pithas: the charisma of antique murtis-- Conclusion. Reviving Sati's corpse: Mother India tours and Hindutva in the twenty-first centuryBibliography-- Index.

From the late nineteenth century onwards the concept of Mother India assumed political significance in colonial Bengal. Reacting against British rule, Bengali writers and artists gendered the nation in literature and visual culture in order to inspire patriotism amongst the indigenous population. This book will examine the process by which the Hindu goddess Sati rose to sudden prominence as a personification of the subcontinent and an icon of heroic self-sacrifice. According to a myth of cosmic dismemberment, Sati's body parts were scattered across South Asia and enshrined as Shakti Pithas, or Seats of Power. These sacred sites were re-imagined as the fragmented body of the motherland in crisis that could provide the basis for an emergent territorial consciousness. The most potent sites were located in eastern India, Kalighat and Tarapith in Bengal, and Kamakhya in Assam.