Toward a History of the Navarātra, the Autumnal Festival of the Goddess

In this essay, I wish to address the problems a historian encounters while explaining the function and origin of ancient rituals. One is particularly confronted by these problems when dealing with a ritual such as the Navarātra. With regard to its function, the festival resists sharp distinctions between the sacred and the temporal because it simultaneously propitiates a deity and solemnizes the authority of a ruler. It seems to be two things at the same time: a rite of religious power and a rite of political power. In fact, in the Southern Navarātra, for instance as celebrated in Vijayanagara, the