"Pongala" is the ritual cooking of porridge for the goddess Bhagavati in the Dravidian tradition in Kerala, South India. Each spring over a million women of many religions, castes, and classes line the streets of the capital city, which shuts down in support of the women who perform the ritual for the health and prosperity of their families. Rooted in the indigenous "dalit" tradition, but now done by women of all communities, its themes are: the essential equality of all people and religions, the necessity to share life sustaining resources, the inherent power of women who demand justice, and the recognition of immanent divinity in each girl and woman. Dianne's study examines Pongala at Attukal Temple from the viewpoint of thirty Hindu, Moslem and Christian women. She used ethnographic material and a research methodology she helped develop, Organic Inquiry, which enabled her to explicitly incorporate the sacred wisdom and practices of this tradition and her own evolving transformation as part of the inquiry. She also produced video documentation to attempt to convey the intense experience of Pongala. This study provides insight into a goddess tradition in Kerala, a state notable for its high quality of life, low resource use, tolerance of religious diversity, and equitable treatment of women.

Ph.D. Dissertation, September 1999

Dianne Jenett made six trips to Kerala, India for field research for her dissertation. She served as Executive Director of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology's Global Program, is co-founder of Serpentina, which promotes "Women-centered Research for Everybody" and co-founder of the ongoing lecture series "Goddess is Alive!" which feature's cutting edge research by women scholars. She has presented her work at numerous conferences, authored "Red Rice for Bhagavati" Revision, Winter, 1998 and co-authored a chapter in "Honoring Human Experience: Transpersonal Research Methods for the Social Sciences." Previously, she was a software sales executive.