Book

The gift of a virgin: women, marriage, and ritual in a Bengali society

Rutgers University PressNew Brunswick, N.j.Published In 1982 • Pages:

By: Fruzzetti, Lina M..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a rich study of Bengali marriage from the women's point of view. Fruzzetti makes a complex argument regarding the importance of marriage in Bengali social system. According to Fruzzetti, women, marriage and its associated rituals are the pivot on which caste and lineage systems turn. She discusses a core set of rituals (STRIACAR) performed by women during marriage ceremony and afterwards in the home on a regular basis. She argues that the symbolism of these rituals is a key to understanding the role and status of women in Bengali society and Bengali kinship and caste system.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Marriage
Household
Gender roles and issues
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Bengali
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2002
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Asia
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
South Asia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
Book
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnographer
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Ian Skoggard ; 2000
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1967-1973
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1967-1973
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Vishnupur, West Bengal, India
NotesAdditional notes
Lina M. Fruzzetti
Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-169) and index
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
81015337
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Bengalis