Say to the Sun, “Don’t Rise,” and to the Moon, “Don’t Set”: Two Oral Narratives from the Countryside of Maharashtra

EDITOR AND TRANSLATOR- Anne Feldhaus

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  • EDITOR AND TRANSLATOR: Anne Feldhaus
  • HB ISBN : 978-93-84082-68-0
  • Year : 2015
  • Extent : xvi + 632 pp.
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Essays on Hinduism

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INFORMATION

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  • ISBN – 978-93-84082-68-0
  • Year – 2015
  • Extent: 400 + 40 coloured illustrations
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Pastoralist traditions have long been extraordinarily important to the social, economic, political and cultural life of the Maharashtra region in western India. The oral literature of the Marathi-speaking Dhangar shepherds of Maharashtra is not only an important element of the traditional cultural life of the region, but also a treasure of world literature. This volume presents translations of two lively and well-crafted examples of the ovi, a genre typical of the oral literature of the Dhangars. These two ovis narrate the stories of Biroba and Dhuloba, two of the most important gods of the Dhangars. Each of the ovis tells an elaborate story of the birth of the god – a miraculous and complicated process in both cases – and of the struggles he went through in order to find and win his bride. The extensive introduction provides a literary analysis of the ovis and discusses what they reveal about the cosmology, geography, society, administrative structures and economy of the Dhangars’ world, as well as their views on pastoralists and women.

The Editor
Anne Feldhaus is a Distinguished Foundation Professor of Religious Studies at Arizona State University. Her principal publications include books and articles on the thirteenth-century Marathi literature of the Mahanubhavs and on the religious geography of Maharashtra. She studies Marathi and Sanskrit at the University of Pennsylvania.

Pastoralist traditions have long been extraordinarily important to the social, economic, political and cultural life of the Maharashtra region in western India. The oral literature of the Marathi-speaking Dhangar shepherds of Maharashtra is not only an important element of the traditional cultural life of the region, but also a treasure of world literature. This volume presents translations of two lively and well-crafted examples of the ovi, a genre typical of the oral literature of the Dhangars. These two ovis narrate the stories of Biroba and Dhuloba, two of the most important gods of the Dhangars. Each of the ovis tells an elaborate story of the birth of the god – a miraculous and complicated process in both cases – and of the struggles he went through in order to find and win his bride. The extensive introduction provides a literary analysis of the ovis and discusses what they reveal about the cosmology, geography, society, administrative structures and economy of the Dhangars’ world, as well as their views on pastoralists and women.

The Editor
Anne Feldhaus is a Distinguished Foundation Professor of Religious Studies at Arizona State University. Her principal publications include books and articles on the thirteenth-century Marathi literature of the Mahanubhavs and on the religious geography of Maharashtra. She studies Marathi and Sanskrit at the University of Pennsylvania.