Donors, Devotees, and Daughters of God: Temple Women in Medieval Tamilnadu

by Leslie C. Orr, Leslie Orrey

Through the use of epigraphical evidence, Leslie C. Orr brings into focus the activities and identities of the temple women (devadasis) of medieval South India. This book shows how temple women's initiative and economic autonomy involved them in medieval temple politics and allowed them to establish themselves in roles with particular social and religious meanings. This study suggests new ways of understanding the character of the temple woman and, more generally, of the roles of women in Indian religion and society.

Genres: Nonfiction

318 pages, Hardcover

First published March 9, 2000

About the author

1948-