Interpreting Devotion: The Poetry and Legacy of a Female Bhakti Saint of India

This book explores devotional religion through three interpretive gestures: The devotional subjectivity inscribed in the classical poetry of the female saint Karaikkal Ammaiyar; the domestication of her persona in an authoritative medieval hagiography; and present-day tellings of her story in ritual dramatizations. Poetry, story, and festival provide distinctive yet overlapping interpretations of the saint, revealing the selections and priorities of interpreters in the making of a living tradition.