Ankalaparamecuvari. A goddess of Tamilnadu, her myths and cult. Beitr� zur S�dasienforschung 107.

Ein gutes und sauberes Exemplar. - What led to the present study of Ankalamman was the simple question: 'How do 'village' goddesses of Tamilnadu differ from each other?' To answer this question, one first of all needs to know who these goddesses are, where they are and how and by whom they are worshipped. At the time I decided to do my fieldwork in Tamilnadu, a detailed study which dealt with one particular goddess and encompassed the whole state had (to my knowledge) not yet been published. The need for such a study was demonstrated by the following considerations: are there unifying factors in the cult of a goddess throughout Tamilnadu, and if there are, what are they? If there are differences, are they based on locality? Are they due to the involvement of particular caste communities with the goddess? In other words, do these goddesses have a distinct character, expressed in the myths and rituals associated with them, which sets them apart from each other throughout Tamilnadu, or are they (and how much are they) colored by their geographic and social environment? Can some of these goddesses be substituted for each other (on grounds other than their identification with the universal Sakti or with either Siva's or Visnu's wife or wives), or are there clear boundaries between them? ISBN 9783899131314