Transformative rituals among Hindu women in the Telugu region

Abstract

Popular Hinduism in rural India abounds with many village and domestic rituals. In the latter category, puberty, pregnancy and death rituals appear very prominent among the womenfolk of the Telugu region. Of these, the death ritual, the worship of a deceased married woman whose husband is still alive, is especially important because it exemplifies the dominant theme of these rituals honouring fertility. Though generally considered inferior to men, women in these rituals receive reverence and status elevation as either symbolic or real deities. An attempt is made in this paper to describe and analyse these recurring rituals with the help of Dumont's concepts of hierarchy, encompassing contrariness and gender complementarity. The paper also focuses on the cultural basis and the mechanisms involved in female status elevation within the overall context of male domination. Female status elevation in the rituals does not alleviate female subordination in everyday life, as the sexuality and generative power of women ultimately remain under the control of men. These rituals also reflect the social structural features of south Indian society, and the complementarity between matri- and patrifiliation.