Some feminist theologians in the West have suggested that a move
toward powerful yet compassionate female religious imagery,
inspired by ancient goddess cultures, would empower women and
create a more balanced and humane society. Yet India has one of the
oldest continuous traditions of goddess worship in the world, a
tradition which is very much alive today. In fact, the Hindu
tradition holds that the Divine Mother can take form as an
apparently human being. Moreover, Hindu women throughout the
centuries have been considered to be living saints and venerated as
such.
This book examines the life of one such woman, Anandamayi Ma, who
by the time of her death in 1982 was widely revered as a saint,
guru, and incarnation of God. Born into a poor brahman family in
Bengal in 1896, Anandamayi Ma became one of the most renowned Hindu
holy women of modern times. Ma found her religious vocation early,
and by 1926, she had begun her ceaseless travels through India,
attracting devotees wherever she went, among them such prominent
figures as Kamala Nehru and her daughter, Indira Gandhi. By the
time of her death Ma's devotees numbered in the hundreds of
thousands, and today they continue to worship her daily in their
homes and gather to participate in spiritual practices in her name.
Drawing on extensive interviews, literature from Ma's community,
and a vast array of other sources, Lisa Hallstrom paints a
fascinating and vivid portrait of this extraordinary woman, her
teachings, and her continuing influence. In the process, Hallstrom
sheds new light on a wide range of important themes in the Hindu
tradition, and examines the capacity of a powerful female religious
figure to serve as a model for women when she is perceived as
divine, and, therefore, beyond gender.
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