Haḍimbā Becoming Herself: A Himalayan Goddess in Change

Open this record in the interactive library

Catalogue identifier: klm000044
Alternate titles and import identifiers: KLM000044
Author or attribution: Ehud Halperin
Record type: Dissertation
Language: English
Date / edition: 2012
Source / repository: Columbia University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Columbia University Libraries Academic Commons
Access: Open access
Subjects: KLM Research Sources — Batch 11; Theses and Dissertations; Contemporary Worship and Living Traditions; Temples, Sacred Places, and Historical Worship

Description and curator notes

Halperin examines the changing cult of Haḍimbā in the Kullu Valley of Himachal Pradesh through ethnography, local narratives, temple practice and historical comparison. Three major chapters investigate the goddess’s identity, disputes over buffalo sacrifice, and religious responses to environmental change. The sustained section on pages 165–172 is particularly valuable for a Kali library: it documents how priests, mediums and other devotees identify Haḍimbā with Kālī when explaining sacrificial practice to themselves and to visitors. Interviews and observations connect temple arrangements, bodily performance and familiar Kali iconography. Halperin distinguishes these contemporary identifications from the absence of the same equation in the epic and older accounts he examines. This makes the dissertation evidence for negotiated regional identity rather than proof that every Himalayan goddess was originally Kali. It also shows how a recognizable pan-Indian goddess can mediate tensions between local ritual authority and outsiders’ expectations. The whole dissertation is freely available from Columbia, including its bibliography. It is a distinct earlier research version of the later, substantially revised Oxford book already listed on the website, and the relationship should remain visible rather than treating them as unrelated works.

Research source KLM000044, Batch 11 export dated 5 November 2026.
The access, completeness, rights and reading assessments below come from the curator export, not a new independent verification by this library.

Haḍimbā Becoming Herself: A Himalayan Goddess in Change
English title: Haḍimbā Becoming Herself: A Himalayan Goddess in Change
Author or attribution: Ehud Halperin
Publication date: 2012
Publisher or repository: Columbia University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Columbia University Libraries Academic Commons
Edition details: PhD dissertation, 2012; 296 PDF pages, preliminary matter and 283 numbered pages.
Language: English
Type: Doctoral dissertation
Subjects: Theses and Dissertations; Contemporary Worship and Living Traditions; Temples, Sacred Places, and Historical Worship
Halperin examines the changing cult of Haḍimbā in the Kullu Valley of Himachal Pradesh through ethnography, local narratives, temple practice and historical comparison. Three major chapters investigate the goddess’s identity, disputes over buffalo sacrifice, and religious responses to environmental change. The sustained section on pages 165–172 is particularly valuable for a Kali library: it documents how priests, mediums and other devotees identify Haḍimbā with Kālī when explaining sacrificial practice to themselves and to visitors. Interviews and observations connect temple arrangements, bodily performance and familiar Kali iconography. Halperin distinguishes these contemporary identifications from the absence of the same equation in the epic and older accounts he examines. This makes the dissertation evidence for negotiated regional identity rather than proof that every Himalayan goddess was originally Kali. It also shows how a recognizable pan-Indian goddess can mediate tensions between local ritual authority and outsiders’ expectations. The whole dissertation is freely available from Columbia, including its bibliography. It is a distinct earlier research version of the later, substantially revised Oxford book already listed on the website, and the relationship should remain visible rather than treating them as unrelated works.
Kali relevance: Substantial dedicated discussion of Haḍimbā’s identification with Kālī, printed pp.165–172 (PDF178–185), including interviews, iconography and sacrifice. Contextual regional source, not a Kali-only monograph.
Read complete source text
Source or repository record
Rights: Copyright Ehud Halperin 2012, all rights reserved, explicitly on PDF and institutional In Copyright statement. Free to read and download; link only, no republication permission inferred.
Evidence class: Columbia doctoral research; scholarly ethnographic interpretation incorporating named interviews and local testimony. Testimony and the author’s analysis are not ancient textual proof.
Reading limits: Title, contents, dedicated Kali section and ending inspected, with representative surrounding text. Not a line-by-line reading of all 296 pages or independent verification of every fieldwork claim. Haḍimbā is not automatically equated with Kālī outside the documented contexts.
Composition date: Contemporary doctoral research completed in 2012; the ethnography concerns modern Kullu Valley practice, including field observations in 2011.
Witness date: 2012 author-submitted doctoral PDF, held by Columbia University Academic Commons; verified 5 November 2026.
Access verification: Complete 296-page institutional PDF downloaded freely without login or payment on 2026-11-05. Title, copyright, contents, substantive Kali section and final bibliography inspected.
Related sources: Related but distinct revised monograph already on website: https://kalidevotion.com/library/keepers-724fb305c0f9cd9ea9b1 . Institutional publication record identifies the later book as a significant revision: https://cris.tau.ac.il/en/publications/the-many-faces-of-a-himalayan-goddess-hadimba-her-devotees-and-re/

Source and repository links:
https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8KP8884/download
https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8N30412

Source access

Read or locate the original source at Columbia University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Columbia University Libraries Academic Commons

Rights and reading conditions

Citation

Ehud Halperin. Haḍimbā Becoming Herself: A Himalayan Goddess in Change. Columbia University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Columbia University Libraries Academic Commons. 2012. PhD dissertation, 2012; 296 PDF pages, preliminary matter and 283 numbered pages.

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.