Western Responses to Indian Popular Religion: The Example of Firewalking

FAIN: FT-13586-77

Alfred J. Hiltebeitel
George Washington University (Washington, DC 20052-0001)

To continue work on a study of the firewalking cult of Draupadi, a heroine in the Hindu Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata. PI will focus on the cult as an example of Indian popular religion, and on the late 18th and 19th century Western responses to popular Hinduism in general, on firewalking practices in particular, and with popular reactions to Westerners as reflected in Indian folklore.