The nine essays are based on the author's fieldwork in Puri, Orissa between 1975 and 1993. During this eighteen-year period she focused on two sets of rituals - one in and around the temple of Jagannatha, studied mostly through the lens of the rituals of the Devadasis; the other, the festival of Raja Parba at Bali Haracandi which celebrates the menses of the earth, the sea, the goddess, and women.