Puja: Worship at Outdoor Shrines

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Catalogue identifier: kali-0053
Alternate titles and import identifiers: KALI-0053
Author or attribution: Smithsonian Institution
Record type: Article
Language: English
Date / edition: 1997
Source / repository: Smithsonian Institution
Access: Open access
Subjects: Kali Library Research Catalogue; Temples, Sacred Places, and Historical Worship; Contemporary Worship and Living Traditions; Philosophy, Theology, and Comparative Religion

Description and curator notes

This concise educational text describes a Kali-Ma shrine in eastern Uttar Pradesh. It explains how a sacred tree, a stone form, tridents, and terracotta offerings make the outdoor setting a place of worship. The account is valuable evidence for forms of local devotion that do not depend on a monumental temple or an anthropomorphic image. Its statements about the benefits worshippers seek are descriptions of religious belief. The entire short essay is available, with institutional attribution and a 1997 copyright notice.

KALI-0053 — Kali Library Research Catalogue.
Access and reliability assessments below are supplied by the curator's 4–5 November 2026 research release, not a new independent verification.

Author / attribution: Smithsonian Institution
Publication: Smithsonian Institution · 1997
Format / language: Institutional educational essay · English
Kali relevance: Direct description of a rural Kali-Ma shrine and its votive practices.
Context: Eastern Uttar Pradesh; local shrine worship.
Subjects: Temples, Sacred Places, and Historical Worship; Contemporary Worship and Living Traditions; Philosophy, Theology, and Comparative Religion
Evidence / reliability: Institutional or scholarly secondary source
Access / rights: Complete text checked 2026-11-05. Free to read; copyright retained. Link to the source; no blanket republication permission established.

Source and alternate access links:
Read complete text: https://archive.asia.si.edu/pujaonline/puja/shrines.html

Source access

Read or locate the original source at Smithsonian Institution

Rights and reading conditions

Complete text checked 2026-11-05. Free to read; copyright retained. Link to the source; no blanket republication permission established. This library links to the source and does not reproduce its full text.

Citation

Smithsonian Institution. Puja: Worship at Outdoor Shrines. Smithsonian Institution · 1997.

This page supplies catalogue metadata and links. It does not reproduce the underlying source text. Historical, religious, healing and interpretive claims belong to the cited sources, not to an independent verification by this catalogue.