The Goddesses' Henchmen: Gender in Indian Hero Worship

This book examines the worship of ancestral heroes in Rajasthan, India. Arguing that Rajput hero stories and songs encapsulate and express ideals of perfection and masculinity, it analyzes representations of wives and goddesses as tacit allies dispatching sacrificed heroes to heavenly paradise (Virgati) and rendering them Bherujis, their goddesses' divine henchmen.