Aryan Books

THE DUSSEHRA OF KULU: History and Analysis of a Cultural Phenomenon

By :- Karuna Goswamy

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Pages: xviii+314

Format: HB

ISBN-13: 978-81-7305-523-2

Place: New Delhi

Edition: 1st

Publisher: ARYAN BOOKS INTERNATIONAL

Size: 22cm x 28cm

Product Year: 2014

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In many ways, the Dussehra of Kulu has few parallels, not only as a religious ?festival? or a colourful annual ?fair?, but also as a cultural phenomenon. For more than three hundred and fifty years, the festival, participated in by hundreds of thousands of visitors or ?pilgrims? from all over the hills, and outside, has gone on being held, year after year. The history of it alone is absorbing in the extreme; what is even more remarkable is the manner in which it has kept changing but without losing its core. Year after year ?deotas? keep coming to Kulu, carried on their shoulders by devoted followers, walking scores of miles across hilly terrains; year after year Rama as ?Raghunathji? leaves his temple-home and camps in the chaugan of Kulu to receive their homage; year after year exchanges of the utmost courtesy keep taking place between gods and goddesses cast in different moulds, classical or folk. All this while, everything is bathed in the colours of marigold, and music fills the air. The present volume, the first of its kind, explores this fascinating territory and invites the reader to take the same journey. There is not only history in these pages, but also understanding: a measure of delight and spiritual upliftment.

Preface v Maps xi List of Illustrations xv 1. Introductory: Studying the Cultural Field 1 2. Historical and Cultural Background 18 3. Historical and Cultural Context (contd.) 41 4. Vaishnavism in Kulu and the Hills 95 5. Dussehra: The State, the Raja, and the Event 132 6. Recent Developments and the Dussehra Today 173 Appendices A. List of the Rajas of Kulu (from H. Shastri, ?Historical Documents of Kulu?) 183 B. The Nirmand Copper Plate of Samudrasena 188 C. An Account of Raja Jagat Singh of Kulu (from Hutchison & Vogel, 192 History of the Punjab Hill States) D. The Deotas of Kulu (from Rose, A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes 196 of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province) E. Entries from the Official Register of Deotas? Holdings as Prepared 219 in 1947-1949 F. Entries from the Census of Deotas of Kulu Carried Out in 1961 260 G. Copies of Three Different Registers 280 (a) Register of the Hazri of Deotas of Kulu (sample pages) (b) Register of the Nazrana Paid to the Deotas (c) Sample Page of the Tirhara Register Recording a 1/3 Share of the Offerings Received by the Deotas that has to be Sent to the Treta Nath Temple at Ayodhya, Together with the Announcement of the Holding of the Dussehra Festival H. (a) Copy of Standard Invitation by the Dussehra Committee to the Deotas 299 (b) Copy of Brochure of International Dussehra Festival, 1996 (c) Copy of Brochure of International Dussehra Festival, 2003 Bibliography 307

Karuna Goswamy is an eminent historian of Indian culture. Formerly Professor of History at the Panjab University, she has distinguished writing to her credit. She is the author of Vaishnavism in the Punjab Hills and Pahari Painting (Chandigarh, 1968); Wall Paintings of Sujanpur Tira (New Delhi, 1971); The Glory of the Great Goddess (Zurich, 1989); Kashmiri Painting: Assimilation and Diffusion, Production and Patronage (Shimla/New Delhi, 1998). Her most recent work is Wondrous Images: Krishna Seen as Shrinath-ji; Pichhwais of the Vallabha Sampradaya in the Collection of the Calico Museum and the Sarabhai Foundation (with B.N. Goswamy), Sarabhai Foundation, Ahmedabad, 2014. Currently, another book of Professor Goswamy is under print from the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla: Diliparanjani: An 18th Century Chronicle from a Hill State.

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