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Mumbādevī and the Other Mother Goddesses in Mumbai1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2009

MARIKA VICZIANY  and
JAYANT BAPAT
MARIKA VICZIANY
Affiliation:
Monash Asia Institute, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia3800, Tel: +61 3 9905 2124 Email: [email protected]@adm.monash.edu.au
JAYANT BAPAT
Affiliation:
Monash Asia Institute, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia3800, Tel: +61 3 9905 2124 Email: [email protected]@adm.monash.edu.au
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Abstract

Mumbādevī is the patron Goddess of the city of Mumbai, one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities of Asia. Local traditions say that Mumbādevī was a Koḷī Goddess and worshipped by the indigenous Koḷī fisher community for centuries. However, since the turn of the twentieth century the temple of Mumbādevī and the rituals surrounding the Goddess have gradually been Sanskritised. Today, Mumbādevī is more closely associated with the Gujarati community. This paper examines this transformation and in doing so reflects on the survival of Mumbādevī, the ongoing popularity of Goddess worship in Mumbai and the failure of Hindu fundamentalists to subordinate the Mother Goddesses of Mumbai to a more limited range of Hindu Gods.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , March 2009 , pp. 511 - 541
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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