This study examines the situation and activities of Hindu temple women (devadasis) in the 9th-13th centuries, as revealed in Tamil inscriptions. These temple women, unlike their male counterparts or the devadasis of more recent times, were not primarily identified as temple servants, with professional expertise or ritual responsibilities, but were instead defined with reference to a particular status, predicated on relationship with a temple. This relationship was secured through the donations that temple women made to temples. In the course of the Chola period, the status of "temple woman" became increasingly well-defined and the numbers of temple women increased, while other types of women disappeared from public view. Temple women's strengthening links with--but marginal positions in--the temple are analyzed in this study with reference to the changes that occurred during this period in the structure of the temple and in the temple's position within the social environment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.41248 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Orr, Leslie C. |
| Contributors | Young, Katherine K. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Religious Studies.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001358642, proquestno: NN91719, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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