{"product_id":"2026200013870-secondhand-oh-terrifying-mother-sexuality-violence-and-worship-of-the-goddess-kali","title":"Oh Terrifying Mother: Sexuality, Violence And Worship Of The Goddess Kali","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Worn\/faded, no tears\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Light wear on jacket and some tanning on block - does not extend internally. Good copy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the lush ritual landscapes of Kerala, South India, a goddess both terrifying and transcendent demands blood, trance, and devotion — and Sarah Caldwell's Oh Terrifying Mother: Sexuality, Violence and Worship of the Goddess Kali is a fearless scholarly journey into the heart of that sacred frenzy. Drawing on extensive fieldwork among the practitioners of Bhagavati cult rituals, Caldwell presents a richly detailed ethnographic account of how the goddess Kali — simultaneously mother, destroyer, and sexual being — is embodied, performed, and worshipped through the ancient ritual theatre form known as Mudiyettu. Through a bold psychoanalytic and feminist lens, she argues that Kali's mythology encodes complex cultural negotiations around female power, male anxiety, and the transgressive force of the divine feminine.\n\nCaldwell's work sits at a compelling crossroads of anthropology, gender studies, and religious scholarship, weaving together Freudian theory, performance studies, and South Asian textual traditions into a cohesive and provocative whole. Her prose is both rigorously academic and vividly evocative, bringing the smoke-filled temple courtyards and the ecstatic possession of ritual performers to life on the page. Oh Terrifying Mother challenges readers to reconsider the boundaries between the sacred and the erotic, the nurturing and the violent — leaving one to wonder what other truths lie hidden in the fierce, many-armed embrace of the goddess.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49203118833883,"sku":"2026200013870-SECONDHAND","price":250.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/7d32cf5c-e7d8-48d8-8209-98c95d3287d0.png?v=1788144451","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200013870-secondhand-oh-terrifying-mother-sexuality-violence-and-worship-of-the-goddess-kali","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}