South Asian Goddesses and the Natural Environment

Marika Vicziany (Professor Emerita, Faculty of Arts, Monash University) heads up a number of international research projects including one about Kolis in Mumbai. She has had an enduring interest in the minorities of Asia. Her research is informed by multi-disciplinary approaches that cover the disciplines of political economy, public health and other policies, history, archaeology, culture, and environmental science. She has published some 20 books and over 140 scholarly papers in peer reviewed journals and books. Her most recent book was published by Archaeopress in late 2019: The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads edited and authored by her in collaboration with Alison Betts, Peter Jia and Angelo Andrea di Castro. Her fieldwork since 1974 has taken her to cities, towns and villages in India, China, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Jayant Bapat holds doctorates in Organic Chemistry and Indology and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at Monash University. He is also a Hindu Priest. Jayant’s research interests include Hinduism, Goddess Cults, Koli fishers in Mumbai, and Diaspora Studies. He is the co-editor with Ian Mabbett of The Iconic Female: Goddesses of India, Nepal and Tibet (Monash University Press, 2008), Conceiving the Goddess: Transformation and Appropriation in Indic Religions (Monash University Publishing, 2016) and a co-author of Indian Diaspora: Hindus and Sikhs in Australia (DK Printworld, 2015, Second Edition, Manticore Press, 2019). His latest book, The Lajjāgaurī and Ᾱnandanāyakī, is a translation of R. C. Dhere’s pioneering work in Marathi on the primordial mother goddess (Monash University Publishing, 2020). Recently, Jayant has published a book in Marathi about his experiences as a migrant to Australia. He is a member of Monash University’s Koli Research Project.

Preface


 


References







Chapter 1: South Asian Religions and the Natural Environment – Marika Vicziany


 


Chapter 2: The Archaeological and Religious History of Lajjāgaurī, a Pre-Vedic Fertility Deity on the Indian Sub-continent – Ravi Korisettar


 


Chapter 3: Female Avatāra and Guarantor of Fertility: Does the Great Goddess Relate to Nature and the Environment in Some Purāṇas? – Greg Bailey


 


Chapter 4: The Adoration of Mother Earth in Brāhminic, Folk and Tribal Beliefs and Practices in India – Jayant Bhalchandra Bapat


 


Chapter 5: In the Ocean of Suffering: Tārā as Protector from Real or Psychological Waters? – David Templeman


 


Chapter 6: Dariyadev: The Koli sea god and the Fishing Environment in Mumbai – Anusha Kesarkar-Gavankar and Marika Vicziany


 


Chapter 7: Entering the Goddess’s Womb: How a Rainforest Valley Became a Tibetan Sacred Site – Ruth Gamble


 


Chapter 8: Durgā Pūjā and the Environment – Pratish Bandopadhayay


 


 


Chapter 9: Weapons of the Weak: Koli Deities and the Indian Courts in Koli Responses to Environmental Destruction – Marika Vicziany, Jayant Bhalchandra Bapat and Anusha Kesarkar-Gavankar


 


Chapter 10: The Descent of the Ganga in India and Mauritius – Peter Friedlander


 


Chapter 11: Reflections on Dhere’s research on ‘Lajjāgaurī’ and ‘Śrī Ᾱnandanāyakī’ – Jayant Bhalchandra Bapat