Henry Whitehead's survey of the village deities of South India, first published in 1916 and issued in a revised second edition by Oxford University Press in 1921. Whitehead, an Anglican bishop of Madras, documented the cults of goddesses such as Mariamman and Ellamma and guardian gods such as Aiyanar across Tamil and Telugu districts, describing their shrines, priesthoods, possession and festival practice as a religious system intertwined with, but distinct from, Brahmanical Hinduism. Its strength is detailed early ethnographic description still drawn on a century later. Its limit is the colonial-era missionary vantage it was written from, read critically alongside its ethnographic detail.
Facts
Citation
AuthorHenry Whitehead
PublisherOxford University Press
Publication Year1921
Source Typeacademic monograph
Assessment
Reliability Tier2
A foundational, still widely cited early ethnography of South Indian village religion, valuable for direct fieldwork detail though written from a colonial-era missionary vantage read critically today. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Mariamman directly: "the cults of goddesses such as Mariamman and Ellamma and guardian gods such as Aiyanar across Tamil and Telugu districts, describing their shrines, priesthoods, possession and festival practice as a..."
This source names Tamils directly: "Henry Whitehead's survey of the village deities of South India, first published in 1916 and issued in a revised second edition by Oxford University Press in 1921."
Claims Backed By This Source (39 claims)
This source backs 39 claims across the atlas. As facts: 24 well-attested. As cited relationships: 12 holds. Plus 3 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Deities, 31 claims: 18 well-attested, 10 holds, 3 general references.
- Sources, 8 claims: 6 well-attested, 2 holds.
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