The Lord Who Is Half Woman: Ardhanarisvara in Indian and Feminist Perspective
- 1st ed.
- Albany State University of New York Press 2002
- 193
As a contribution to Indology and religious studies the book offers a careful reading of the iconography of the androgyne (or perhaps, gynandro ), an innovative connection between ritual image and practice in the context of hathayoga, and a set of thoughtful reflections on the possibilities and limits of religion in re-imagining gendered identities. Journal of the American Academy of Religion A very sympathetic but also very critical look at the image from a variety of sophisticated hermeneutical perspectives. Goldberg is able to move through the image itself to the much broader issues of sexual differentiation, sexual justice, gender construction, androgyny across cultures, and more. The icon, in other words, acts as a kind of lens through which the author and her readers can see anew the world. I loved this book. It has the potential to become a classic Indological work. Jeffrey J. Kripal, author of Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna"
"As a contribution to Indology and religious studies the book offers a careful reading of the iconography of the androgyne (or perhaps, 'gynandro'), an innovative connection between ritual image and practice in the context of hathayoga, and a set of thoughtful reflections on the possibilities and limits of religion in re-imagining gendered identities." -- Journal of the American Academy of Religion