When a Goddess Dies: Worshipping Ma Anandamayi After Her Death

Ma Anandamayi is generally regarded as the most important Hindu woman saint of the twentieth century. Venerated alternately as a guru and as an incarnation of God on earth, Ma had hundreds of thousands of devotees. Through the creation of a religious movement and a vast network of
ashrams-unprecedented for a woman-Ma presented herself as an authority figure in a society where female gurus were not often recognized.

Because of her widespread influence, Ma is one of the rare Hindu saints whose cult has outlived her. Today, her tomb is a place of veneration for those who knew her as well as new generations of her followers. By performing extensive fieldwork among Ma's current devotees, Orianne Aymard examines
what happens to a cult after the death of its leader. Does it decline, stagnate, or grow? Or is it rather transformed into something else entirely? Aymard's work sheds new light not only on Hindu sainthood-and particularly female Hindu sainthood-but on the nature of charismatic religious leadership
and devotion.


Author: Orianne Aymard
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 06/02/2014
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.19lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780199368624

Review Citation(s):
Choice 01/01/2015 pg. 818

About the Author

Orianne Aymard has been a Visiting Scholar at the South Asia Institute of Columbia University. She is currently a Research Associate at the Centre d'études et de recherche sur l'Inde, l'Asie du Sud et sa diaspora (CERIAS), in Montreal

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