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

Description

Encountering kali explores one of the most remarkable 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 mother popular and scholarly interest in her has been on the rise in the west in recent years responding to this phenomenon mcdermott and kripals 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 goddesss 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