CONTENTS:- 1. Some incidents in the history of the God Khandoba. 2. The Mallari/Khandoba myth as reflected in folk art and ritual. 3. Dasara at Devaragudda: ritual and play in the cult of Mailar/Khandoba. 4. Rudra and Khandoba: continuity in folk religion. 5. Between ghost and God: a folk deity of the Deccan. 6. The myth of the God and his two wives: two pastoral versions from Maharashtra. 7. God as the king for all: the Sanskrit Mallari Mahatmya and its context. 8. Bhakti in the Khandoba cult. 9. All the God's wives. 10. King Khandoba's hunt and his encounter with Banai, the Shepherdess.
DESCRIPTION
The collection brings together the German indologist Gunther Sontheimer's articles spanning two decades. The articles show how his thoughts on Khandoba developed, the great breadth of his understanding of the cult and the traditions of castes and tribes for whom Khandoba is an important god. He makes use of a wide variety of source materials like oral epics, songs, statements and local literature. Sontheimer understood the Khandoba cult to be a 'mirror of Hinduism'. His writings on Khandoba provide an extra-ordinarily rich glimpse into that mirror.
