Spring Quarter 2015

TuTh 11:00-12:15, IV Theater 2

RELIGIOUS STUDIES 19:

THE GODS AND GODDESSES OF INDIA
Professor

Teaching Assistants

Barbara A. Holdrege
Department of Religious Studies
3034 Humanities & Social Sciences Building
Email: holdrege@religion.ucsb.edu
Office Hours: Thursdays 3:30 to 5:30 pm

Adam Krug (adam_c_krug@umail.ucsb.edu)

Sarah Veeck (sveeck@umail.ucsb.edu)
Kevin Whitesides (kevinwhitesides@umail.ucsb.edu)

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course provides an introduction to Hindu traditions through an analysis of the mythological
narratives, iconographic representations, sectarian movements, and pilgrimage traditions associated
with the gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon. The course is organized around three units
deities; the Vai
exploring the various manifestations of the goddess.
Note: This courses fulfills (1) the Culture and Thought (Area E) General Education
Requirement, (2) the World Cultures General Education Requirement, and (3) the Writing
Requirement.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
(1) Participation in all course activities: (i) class lectures; (ii) preparation of assigned readings; and (iii)
section discussions (10%)
(2) Essays (7 double-spaced pages), due in class on Tuesday, May 5, at 11:00 am. (30%)
(3) Take-Home Final (10 double-spaced pages), due on Wednesday, June 10, at 4:00 pm in
Professor Holdrege's mailbox, Humanities and Social Sciences Building, 3rd floor. (45%)
(4) Completion of two Website Exercises using multimedia websites developed for the course. (15%)
Note: Sections for Week 8 will be held in the computer lab, Phelps Hall 1513, at regular section
times.

REQUIRED TEXTS
Lecture Outline Packet (available at Alternative Copy Shop).
Course Reader (available at Alternative Copy Shop).
Diana L. Eck, Dar an: Seeing the Divine Image in India, 3rd ed. (Columbia University Press, 1998).
Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge University Press, 1996).
David R. Kinsley, The Sword and the Flute: K and
Dark Visions of the Terrible and the Sublime
in Hindu Mythology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000).
David Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988).

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UC POLICY ON STUDENT CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINE

Academic Integrity
All students are required to follow the University of California Standards of Academic Conduct.
As discussed in the official statement of these standards, excerpted below, acts of academic
dishonesty, including plagiarism and other forms of cheating, will not be tolerated and will
result in disciplinary action, including reporting of the incident to the UCSB Office of Judicial
Affairs.
University of California Standards of Academic Conduct
It is expected that students attending the University of California understand and
subscribe to the ideal of academic integrity, and are willing to bear individual
responsibility for their work. Any work (written or otherwise) submitted to fulfill an
academic requirement must represent a students original work. Any act of
academic dishonesty, such as cheating or plagiarism, will subject a person to
University disciplinary action. Cheating includes, but is not limited to, looking at
another students examination, referring to unauthorized notes during an exam,
providing answers, having another person take an exam for you, etc. Representing
the words, ideas, or concepts of another person without appropriate attribution is
plagiarism. Whenever another persons written work is utilized, whether it be a
single phrase or longer, quotation marks must be used and sources cited.
Paraphrasing anothers work, i.e., borrowing the ideas or concepts and putting
them into ones own words, must also be acknowledged. Although a persons
state of mind and intention will be considered in determining the University
response to an act of academic dishonesty, this in no way lessens the responsibility
of the student.

UCSB Campus Regulations, Chapter VIII, Student Conduct and Discipline.

Section A.2: General Standards of Conduct: Academic Conduct.
(http://www.sa.ucsb.edu/Regulations/student_conduct.aspx)

Unauthorized Copying and Distribution of Course Materials Is Prohibited

All course materialsclass lectures and discussions, handouts, examinations, web materials
and the intellectual content of the course itself are protected by United States Federal Copyright
Law, the California Civil Code. UC Policy 102.23 expressly prohibits students (and all other
persons) from recording lectures or discussions and from distributing or selling lecture notes
and all other course materials without the prior written permission of the instructor. Students
are permitted to make notes solely for their own private educational use. 1 In this course
students are forbidden from completing study guides and selling them to any person or
organization.

The text has been approved by UC General Counsel. See University of California
Policy PACAOS-100: Policy on Student Conduct and Discipline, Section 102.23.
(http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/2710530/PACAOS-100)

Exceptions to accommodate students with disabilities may be granted with appropriate documentation.

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SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
I. INTRODUCTION
Week 1
Mar. 31 Tu Unity in Diversity: Many Faces of the Divine
Apr. 2

Th

Vedic Rituals: Regenerating the Cosmic Order

Week 2
Apr. 7

Tu Upani ads: Liberation through Knowledge

April 9

Th Post-Vedic Dharma Traditions: Maintaining the Cosmic Order and Sustaining the
Social Body

II. ZIVA
Week 3
Apr. 14 Tu

in Historical Perspective

Apr. 16 Th

as the Unity of Polarities

Week 4
Apr. 21 Tu

akti

Apr. 23 Th Images of

Week 5
Apr. 28 Tu

aiva Movements I: Asceticism and Bhakti

Apr. 30 Th

aiva Movements II: Tantra

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III. KRISHNA
Week 6
May 5 Tu Krishna in Historical Perspective
***MIDTERM ESSAYS DUE***
May 7 Th Images of Krishna I: Heroic Slayer of Demons, Cherished Friend, and Mischievous
Child

Week 7
May 12 Tu Images of Krishna II: The Divine Lover
May 14 Th Krishna in the Land of Braj

Week 8
May 19 Tu Krishna Bhakti Movements

IV. DEV*
Week 8
May 21 Th

in Historical Perspective
akti: The Paradoxical Power of the Feminine

Week 9
May 26 Tu

-Dharma: Cosmic Models and Social Norms for Hindu Women

May 28 Th Images of

Week 10
June 2

Tu Goddess Worship and the 108 P has

June 4

Th The Gods and Goddesses of India: A Kaleidoscope of Images

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REQUIRED READING
WEEK 1 (Mar. 31, Apr. 2)
Diana L. Eck, Dar an: Seeing the Divine Image in India, 3rd ed. (Columbia University Press,
1998).
Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 5-50
(Chapter 1, Points of Departure; Chapter 2, Ancient Origins).

WEEK 2 (Apr. 7, 9)
Barbara A. Holdrege, "Hindu Ethics," in A Bibliographic Guide to the Comparative Study of Ethics,
eds. John Carman and Mark Juergensmeyer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp.
12-35. (Reader)
Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 51-102
(Chapter 3, Dharma; Chapter 4, Yoga and Renunciation).

WEEK 3 (Apr. 14, 16)

Classical Hindu

, ed. and trans. Cornelia Dimmitt and J. A. B. van

Buitenen (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1978, pp. 147-218. (Reader)

WEEK 4 (Apr. 21, 23)

iva-

a, Vidye
3.6; 3.22-29. (Reader)

5-11; Ko irudra-

1; Rudra-

2.18-31; Rudra-

WEEK 5 (Apr. 28, 30)

Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 148-173
(Chapter 7, aiva and Tantric Religion).
Brian K. Smith, Tantrism: Hindu Tantrism. Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed.
Farmington Hills, Mich.: Macmillan Reference, Thomson Gale, 2005. (Reader)

WEEK 6 (May 5, 7)
David R. Kinsley, The Sword and the Flute: K and K
Dark Visions of the Terrible and the
Sublime in Hindu Mythology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), pp. 9-78.

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WEEK 7 (May 12, 14)

Bh gavata-Pur

a 10.1-9, 16, 22, 25, 29-33. (Reader)

Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 128-147
(Chapter 6, The Love of Vi u).

WEEK 8 (May 19, 21)

David Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), pp. 19-150, 197-211.

WEEK 9 (May 26, 28)

(Reader)
Susan S. Wadley, "Women and the Hindu Tradition," in Doranne Jacobson and Susan S. Wadley,
Women in India: Two Perspectives (Columbia, MO: South Asia Books, 1977), pp. 115-139.
(Reader)

WEEK 10 (June 2, 4)
Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 174-197
(Chapter 8,
).