The Cult of Draupadi, Volume 1
Mythologies: From Gingee to Kuruksetra
The Cult of Draupadi, Volume 1
Mythologies: From Gingee to Kuruksetra
Volume 1 focuses on the Draupadī cult’s own double mythology, moving from its stories about Draupadī’s “primal temple” near the capital of the medieval South Indian Kingdom of Gingee to its version of the Mahābhārata war on the North Indian plain of Kurukṣetra. Throughout, Hiltebeitel intertwines “regional” data, gathered from both oral and written sources, with the “epic,” drawn from the cult’s own performative traditions as well as from classical versions of the Mahābhārata in both Tamil and Sanskrit. Pivotal to the overlap of these Gingee and Kurukṣetra mythologies are two folk figures unknown to classical epic traditions: Draupadī’s two guardians, Pōttu Rāja and Muttāl Rāvuttaṉ.
516 pages | 34 halftones | 6.00 x 9.00 | © 1988
Asian Studies: South Asia
Religion: Comparative Studies and History of Religion, South and East Asian Religions
Reviews
Table of Contents
List of Plates
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
Conventions
Part I: From Gingee
1. Introduction: Invocatory Songs to Draupadi, "The Lady Who Resides in Gingee"
2. The Draupadi Cult: Its Historical and Regional Settings
A. The History of Gingee
B. The Core Area
3. Social Background, Diffusion, Variation, and Change
A. Vanniyars, Konars, and Velalar Mutaliyars
B. Parameters of Diffusion
C. The Case of Dindigul
4. The Sources of the Gingee Kingdom: The Living River and the Tree of Gold
A. The Living River
B. The Gold Tree of Gingee
5. Myths of the Melacceri Draupadi Temple
A. The Forest at the Northern Boundary
B. Draupadi, King Cunitan, and the Coming of Pottu Raja
C. The Stone Amman with Hair
6. Muttal Ravuttan: Draupadi’s Muslim Devotee
A. Muttal Ravuttan at Gingee: The Sacrifice of the Pregnant Sister
B. Muttal Ravuttan’s Conquests and Subjugation
C. Muttal Ravuttan’s Icons
Part II: The Kuruksetra
7. The Draupadi Cult’s Mahabharata: An Introduction
A. Three Levels of Performance: Piracankam, Kuttu, and Ritual Enactment
B. The Terukkuttu in Historical Perspective
C. Folk Drama Literature and the Festival’s Terukkuttu Performance Repertoire
8. The Death of Baka: Prelude to the Drama Cycle
9. For Openers: Beginning the Terukkuttu Cycle
A. Kannan Jalakkiritai, "Krsna’s Water Sports"
B. Turonaccari Yakacalai, "Dronacarya’s Sacrificial Hall"
C. Arccunan Vil Valaippu and Turopatai Malaiyitu, "Arjuna’s Bending of the Bow" and "The Garlanding of Draupadi"
10. Additional Marriages
A. Bhima and Hidimba
B. Arjuna’s "Pilgrimage"
11. The Two Sabhas: "The Rajasuya Sacrifice" and "Dice Match and Disrobing"
A. Irajacuya Yakam, "The Rajasuya Sacrifice"
B. Cutu-Tukilurital, "Dice Match and Disrobing"
C. Revilement, Possession, Devotion: The Drama and the Cult
12. Arjuna’s Tapas
13. Draupadi’s Forest Exile and the Period in Disguise: Virapancali, Puvalicci, and Kuravanci
A. Virapanncali
B. Puvalicci: Draupadi the "Flower Stringer" in the Kingdom of Virata
C. Draupadi Kuravanci"
14. Krsna the Messenger
15. Aravan’s Sacrifice
A. The Head Offering to the Goddess in Pallava and Chola Sculptures
B. Aravan’s Battlefield Sacrifice
16. Pormannan’s Fight: Pottu Raja at Kuruksetra
A. "Pormannan’s Fight"
B. Tamil and Telugu Variations in the Myths of Sister Goddesses
17. Pormannan’s Fight: The War King’s Weapons and Their Mythical Sources
A. Human Heads and Buffalo Tales
B. The Services of the War King
18. Kuruksetra: The Mahabharata War
A. The First Seventeen Days’ War
B. "Eighteenth-Day War"
19. When Draupadi Walked on Fire
Appendix 1. The Lunar Dynasty from Its Origins to Draupadi’s Second Advent at Gingee
Appendix 2. An Outline History of Gingee
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Index