Passions of the Tongue
  Acknowledgments
  Note on Transliteration
 expand sectionPreface

 expand section1. Introduction
 expand section2. One Language, Many Imaginings
 collapse section3. Feminizing Language
 •The Poetics and Politics of Praise
 collapse sectionTamil as Deity: Pietistics of Tamil Devotion
 collapse sectionTamiḻtteyvam: Portrait of a Goddess
 •“You were there, even before the mighty Himalayas emerged, and Kumari Nadu submerged!”
 •“There is no one like you! This is indeed the truth”
 •“She encircles the resounding world”
 •“You are sovereign of the fine Tamil world”
 •“You are knowledge itself”
 •“She is the goddess who commands the gods who guard us”
 •“The supreme one who has no beginning and no end, ardently desires you”
 •“I am your devotee; you are my refuge”
 •Profiling the Pious Devotee
 •The Ideology of Pious Devotion
 expand sectionTamil as Mother: Somatics of Tamil Devotion
 •Tamil as Maiden: Erotics of Tamil Devotion
 •On the Feminization of Language
 •Visualizing Tamiḻttāy
 •Notes
 expand section4. Laboring for Language
 expand section5. To Die For
 expand section6. Conclusion

  Abbreviations
  Plates
  References
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