Whose Goddess? Kālī as Cultural Champion in Kerala

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Catalogue identifier: klm000092
Alternate titles and import identifiers: KLM000092
Author or attribution: Sarah L. Caldwell
Record type: Article
Language: English
Date / edition: 1999; inspected reprint 2012
Source / repository: Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora; inspected Manohar reprint, New Delhi
Access: Open access
Subjects: KLM Research Sources — Second Set, 5 November 2026; Regional traditions; Ethnography; Oral narratives; Social history; Book Chapters

Description and curator notes

A focused study of Kālī in Kerala oral narratives and ritual performance, based substantially on fieldwork in 1991–92. Caldwell examines who claims the goddess and how myths become arguments about local cultural authority, caste, patronage and identity. The chapter connects the goddess and Mutiyettu performance to changing political and social settings, while considering the interpretive uses of Aryan and Dravidian categories.

This record covers only the named chapter/article/royal-order translation, not the entire linked proceedings, journal issue or annual volume.

Curator research source KLM000092, second set dated 5 November 2026. Verification, chronology, completeness, access and licence statements below are supplied by the curator, not a new independent audit by this library. Full texts are linked, not reproduced. Abstract languages do not change the full work's language label.

Whose Goddess? Kālī as Cultural Champion in Kerala

Author and date: Sarah L. Caldwell • 1999; inspected reprint 2012

Publication: Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora; inspected Manohar reprint, New Delhi. In Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia: Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology, edited by Johannes Bronkhorst and Madhav M. Deshpande, pp. 85–106. Originally 1999; inspected Manohar 2012 reprint, ISBN 978-81-7304-918-7. Academia display title adds “Oral Narratives”.

Language: English

Kali relevance: Direct Kali-centered regional study, not generic Western reception. Concentrates on Kerala narrative, ritual authority and social history.

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Publication or repository record

Subjects: Regional traditions; Ethnography; Oral narratives; Social history

Dates: 1999; inspected reprint 2012 modern scholarly publication; composition dates of cited traditional texts are separate and not established here; The complete modern edition or author-deposited copy identified in the publication details; not an ancient manuscript witness.

Verification and limits: Complete author-deposited chapter transcription through final references inspected. The 1999 original and 2012 reprint count as one work. Fieldwork dates and historical categories require context.

Source and alternate access links:
Read the complete text: https://www.academia.edu/1016456/Whose_Goddess_Kali_as_Cultural_Champion_in_Kerala_Oral_Narratives
Publication or repository record: https://www.academia.edu/1016456/Whose_Goddess_Kali_as_Cultural_Champion_in_Kerala_Oral_Narratives

Source access

Read or locate the original source at Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora; inspected Manohar reprint, New Delhi

Rights and reading conditions

Citation

Sarah L. Caldwell. Whose Goddess? Kālī as Cultural Champion in Kerala. Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora; inspected Manohar reprint, New Delhi. In Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia: Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology, edited by Johannes Bronkhorst and Madhav M. Deshpande, pp. 85–106. Originally 1999; inspected Manohar 2012 reprint, ISBN 978-81-7304-918-7. Academia display title adds “Oral Narratives”. 1999; inspected reprint 2012. https://www.academia.edu/1016456/Whose_Goddess_Kali_as_Cultural_Champion_in_Kerala_Oral_Narratives

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.