Possessed by the Virgin: Hinduism, Roman Catholicism, and Marian Possession in South India

353 Pages·2017·21.28 MB·English

by  Kristin C Bloomer

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Possessed by the Virgin
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Possessed by the Virgin
Hinduism, Roman Catholicism,
and Marian Possession in South India
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Kristin C. Bloomer
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Bloomer, Kristin C., author.
Title: Possessed by the Virgin : Hinduism, Roman Catholicism, and Marian
possession in South India / Kristin C. Bloomer.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2018. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017006768 (print) | LCCN 2017039303 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190615109 (updf) | ISBN 9780190615116 (epub) |
ISBN 9780190615123 (oso) | ISBN 9780190615093 (cloth)
Subjects: LCSH: Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint—Cult—India—Tamil Nadu. |
Christianity—India—Tamil Nadu. | Mariyamman (Hindu deity)—
Cult—India—Tamil Nadu. | Tamil Nadu (India)—Religious life and customs.
Classification: LCC BT652.I4 (ebook) | LCC BT652.I4 B56 2017 (print) |
DDC 200.954/82—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017006768
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Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
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For my parents and sisters
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Dramatis Personae xiii
Note on Transliteration xv
Maps of India xvii
Introduction 1
1. Rosalind 32
2. The Place, the People, the Practices: Our Lady Jecintho and the Quest
for Embodied Wholeness 56
3. Authenticity and Double Trouble: The Case of Nancy- as- Jecintho 84
4. Possession, Processions, and Authority 109
Interlude 130
5. Return to Mātāpuram 133
6. Women’s Work: Gendered Space and the Dangerous Labor
of (Virgin) Birth 156
7. Memory, Mimesis, and Healing 187
8. Conclusion: Departures and Homecomings 209
Epilogue 234
Notes 247
Glossary 289
Bibliography 295
Index 309
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To have worked on a project for more than a dozen years means that I have
lots of people to thank— more than can possibly be listed here. But I will try.
First, to the Tamil women about whom this book is written, I owe a debt
I can never repay. They opened their lives to me with immeasurable grace,
hospitality, and patience— for reasons I may never be able to understand.
To “Dhanam,” her extended family, and to all the people of “Mātāpuram;” to
S. Nancy Browna and family; and last, but certainly not least, to C. Rosalind
and family— to M. Charles, Lawrence, Robert, Benjamin, M. Paul, Celina,
Ruby Mary, their spouses and children, Julie, Alex, and the entire extended
family of Our Lady Jecintho Prayer House—m ikka anbudan. I will never be
able to communicate the depth of my gratitude.
For the kindness of strangers. To the guard at Chennai International
Airport who hailed my first auto-rickshaw on my first night in India; to the
driver of that auto, who dropped me in the middle of that night in the mid-
dle of a dark highway amidst a group of day-and-night-laborers; to those
same kind strangers, who pushed me backpack and all onto the bus that
would take me to Pondicherry: thank you. To the myriad people who helped
pave my way— the coffee- karars, sari- tiers, restaurant servers, hotel own-
ers, night watchmen, slum dwellers, house holders, fish sellers, kadai- karars,
farmers, relief workers, painters, dancers, doctors, business people, child-
ren, and civil servants, especially the immigration official who tried to kick
me out of the country (resulting in my stumbling upon the subject of this
book): thank you.
To my teachers. To Annie Dillard, whose friendship and early mentor-
ship changed my life. To my two dissertation advisers: Wendy Doniger,
One Amazing Woman, and Kathryn Tanner, whose brilliance and bravery
inspired me from the start. To the two outside members of my doctoral
committee: Kalpana Ram, whose first book catalyzed my interest in this
topic, and Corinne Dempsey, whose warm friendship, sense of humor, com-
mitment to intellectual community, and thirst for adventure lift my heart.
To Dan Baum and Margaret Knox, working writers and great lovers of life,
who have mentored me from my first years as a journalist through today
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