This book is an ode to the mythological heritage of Bharatanatyam. The visual narrative captures the rich heritage of this temple dance and its original exponents, the Devadasis or 'handmaidens of the deity'. Its repertoire of movements and moods bring alive the fascinating stories of Hindu gods and goddesses and their kaleidoscopic lives. In the following pages, the authors have traced the myths and legends that are cherished in our performing arts, to delight the culture-curious reader. And what is interesting is that in these stories, the reader will discover the inter-connectedness of ancient mythologies around the world. Perhaps such discoveries go a long way in validating the role that art plays in connecting civilisations. The book is designed to engage the reader without pedagogy or scholastic strictures, but with a lightness of touch, that entertains while it informs. Because the vision here is to weave information, anecdotes and trivia, together in the spirit of a popular cultural ranconteur. Replete with rare photographs curated from the Sohinimoksha World Dance and Communications archives, complemented by a lucid narrative that wraps facts in the language of romance and adventure, this book promises to be a collector's item for those who value the legacy of India's most celebrated dance form. For glimpses of some live performances by Sohini Roychowdhury, and her Sohinimoksha World Dance troupe, celebrating the music, dance, mythology of India and the World, go on-line to 'Dancing With The God.... with Sohinimoksha World Dance' at https://youtu.be/naR7p6SKiko

In this groundbreaking study, Michael Willis examines how the gods of early Hinduism came to be established in temples, how their cults were organized, and how the ruling elite supported their worship. Examining the emergence of these key historical developments in the fourth and fifth centuries, Willis combines Sanskrit textual evidence with archaeological data from inscriptions, sculptures, temples, and sacred sites. The centre-piece of this study is Udayagiri in central India, the only surviving imperial site of the Gupta dynasty. Through a judicious use of landscape archaeology and archaeo-astronomy, Willis reconstructs how Udayagiri was connected to the Festival of the Rainy Season and the Royal Consecration. Under Gupta patronage, these rituals were integrated into the cult of Vishnu, a deity regarded as the source of creation and of cosmic time. As special devotees of Vishnu, the Gupta kings used Udayagiri to advertise their unique devotional relationship with him. Through his meticulous study of the site, its sculptures and its inscriptions, Willis shows how the Guptas presented themselves as universal sovereigns and how they advanced new systems of religious patronage that shaped the world of medieval India.

THE TEACHINGS OF RAMANA MAHARSHI is a companion volume to Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Sel-Knowledge and contains many of his actual conversations with those who sought his guidance. It covers the whole religious and spiritual field from basic theories about God and the nature of human beings, to advice about the conduct of our daily lives. The questions, and the Bhagavan's replies, are expressed in the simplest language, and no previous knowledge of Hinduism is needed to understand what is being discussed. This is a practical and down-to-earth spiritual insight that works for our modern world.

Recent scholarship has shown that modern postural yoga is the outcome of a complex process of transcultural exchange and syncretism. This book doubles down on those claims and digs even deeper, looking to uncover the disparate but entangled roots of modern yoga practice. Anya Foxen shows that some of what we call yoga, especially in North America and Europe, is genealogically only slightly related to pre-modern Indian yoga traditions. Rather, it is equally, if not more so, grounded in Hellenistic theories of the subtle body, Western esotericism and magic, pre-modern European medicine, and late-nineteenth-century women's wellness programs. The book begins by examining concepts arising out of Greek philosophy and religion, including Pythagoreanism, Stoicism, Neo-Platonism, Galenic medicine, theurgy, and other cultural currents that have traditionally been categorized as "Western esotericism," as well as the more recent examples which scholars of American traditions have labeled "metaphysical religion." Marshaling these under the umbrella category of "harmonialism," Foxen argues that they represent a history of practices that were gradually subsumed into the language of yoga. Orientalism and gender become important categories of analysis as this narrative moves into the nineteenth century. Women considerably outnumber men in all studies of yoga except those conducted in India, and modern anglophone yoga exhibits important continuities with women's physical culture, feminist reform, and white women's engagement with Orientalism. Foxen's study allows us to recontextualize the peculiarities of American yoga-its focus on aesthetic representation, its privileging of bodily posture and unsystematic incorporation of breathwork, and above all its overwhelmingly white female demographic. In this context it addresses the ongoing conversation about cultural appropriation within the yoga community.

Loving Stones is a study of devotees' conceptions of and worshipful interactions with Mount Govardhan, a sacred mountain located in the Braj region of north-central India that has for centuries been considered an embodied form of Krishna. It is often said that worship of Mount Govardhan "makes the impossible possible." In this book, David L. Haberman examines the perplexing paradox of an infinite god embodied in finite form, wherein each particular form is non-different from the unlimited. He takes on the task of interpreting the worship of a mountain and its stones for a culture in which this practice is quite alien. This challenge involves exploring the interpretive strategies that may explain what seems un-understandable, and calls for theoretical considerations of incongruity, inconceivability, and other realms of the impossible. This aspect of the book includes critical consideration of the place and history of the pejorative concept of idolatry (and its twin, anthropomorphism) in the comparative study of religions. Loving Stones uses the worship of Mount Govardhan as a site to explore ways in which scholars engaged in the difficult work of representing other cultures struggle to make "the impossible possible."

Jews often consider Hinduism to be Avoda Zara, idolatry, due to its worship of images and multiple gods. Closer study of Hinduism and of recent Jewish attitudes to it suggests the problem is far more complex. In the process of considering Hinduism's status as Avoda Zara, this book revisits the fundamental definitions of Avoda Zara and asks how we use the category. By appealing to the history of Judaism's view of Christianity, author Alon Goshen-Gottstein seeks to define what Avoda Zara is and how one might recognize the same God in different religions, despite legal definitions. Through a series of leading questions, the discussion moves from a blanket view of Hinduism as idolatry to a recognition that all religions have aspects that are idolatrous and non-idolatrous. Goshen-Gottstein explains how the category of idolatry itself must be viewed with more nuance. Introducing this nuance, he asserts, leads one away from a globalized view of an entire tradition in these terms.

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aEloquently written. . . . Highly Recommended.a--"G.R. Thursby, Choice"

aLongtime Hare Krishna observer Rochford shows that devotees, formerly known for their public chanting and controversial fundraising practices, have largely moved out of the temples, taken jobs, and established nuclear families. Using survey data and extensive interviews, Rochford investigates the attitudes of the original members' children (some of whom suffered abuse in the early Hare Krishna schools), the changing roles of women, differing modes of affiliation with the organization, and the increasing influence of Indian Hindu immigrants in what is formally known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). His findings are generally clear and convincing, and he lets the devotees speak for themselves in frequent quotes. . . . This story of accommodation within a movement that forged its identity through strict rejection of secular culture provides valuable insight into how new religions evolve.a
--"Publishers Weekly"

"Burke Rochford is the most notable scholarly interpreter of Krishna Consciousness in America, and Hare Krishna Transformed is the most insightful and informative book written on the organizational evolution of the movement."
--David G. Bromley, Virginia Commonwealth University

Most widely known for its adherents chanting "Hare Krishna" and distributing religious literature on the streets of American cities, the Hare Krishna movement was founded in New York City in 1965 by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Formally known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON, it is based on theHindu Vedic scriptures and is a Western outgrowth of a popular yoga tradition which began in the 16th century.

In its first generation ISKCON actively deterred marriage and the nuclear family, denigrated women, and viewed the raising of children as a distraction from devotees' spiritual responsibilities. Yet since the death of its founder in 1977, there has been a growing women's rights movement and also a highly publicized child abuse scandal. Most strikingly, this movement has transformed into one that now embraces the nuclear family and is more accepting of both women and children, steps taken out of necessity to sustain itself as a religious movement into the next generation. At the same time, it is now struggling to contend with the consequences of its recent outreach into the India-born American Hindu community.

Based on three decades of in-depth research and participant observation, Hare Krishna Transformed explores dramatic changes in this new religious movement over the course of two generations from its founding.

Historically, Kashmir was one of the most dynamic and influential centers of Sanskrit learning and literary production in South Asia. In Poetry as Prayer in the Sanskrit Hymns of Kashmir, Hamsa Stainton investigates the close connection between poetry and prayer in South Asia by studying the history of Sanskrit hymns of praise (stotras) in Kashmir. The book provides a broad introduction to the history and general features of the stotra genre, and it charts the course of these literary hymns in Kashmir from the eighth century to the present. In particular, it offers the first major study in any European language of the Stutikusumanjali, an important work of religious literature dedicated to the god Siva and one of the only extant witnesses to the trajectory of Sanskrit literary culture in fourteenth-century Kashmir. The book also contributes to the study of Saivism by examining the ways in which Saiva poets have integrated the traditions of Sanskrit literature and poetics, theology (especially non-dualism), and Saiva worship and devotion. It substantiates the diverse configurations of Saiva bhakti expressed and explored in these literary hymns and the challenges they present for standard interpretations of Hindu bhakti. More broadly, this study of stotras from Kashmir offers new perspectives on the history and vitality of prayer in South Asia and its complex relationships to poetry and poetics.

In this groundbreaking study, Michael Willis examines how the gods of early Hinduism came to be established in temples, how their cults were organized, and how the ruling elite supported their worship. Examining the emergence of these key historical developments in the fourth and fifth centuries, Willis combines Sanskrit textual evidence with archaeological data from inscriptions, sculptures, temples, and sacred sites. The centre-piece of this study is Udayagiri in central India, the only surviving imperial site of the Gupta dynasty. Through a judicious use of landscape archaeology and archaeo-astronomy, Willis reconstructs how Udayagiri was connected to the Festival of the Rainy Season and the Royal Consecration. Under Gupta patronage, these rituals were integrated into the cult of Vishnu, a deity regarded as the source of creation and of cosmic time. As special devotees of Vishnu, the Gupta kings used Udayagiri to advertise their unique devotional relationship with him. Through his meticulous study of the site, its sculptures and its inscriptions, Willis shows how the Guptas presented themselves as universal sovereigns and how they advanced new systems of religious patronage that shaped the world of medieval India.

Imagining Religious Communities tells the story of the Gupta family through the personal and religious narratives they tell as they create and maintain their extended family and community across national borders. Based on ethnographic research, the book demonstrates the ways that transnational communities are involved in shaping their experiences through narrative performances. Jennifer B. Saunders demonstrates that narrative performances shape participants' social realities in multiple ways: they define identities, they create connections between community members living on opposite sides of national borders, and they help create new homes amidst increasing mobility. The narratives are religious and include epic narratives such as excerpts from the Ramayana as well as personal narratives with dharmic implications. Saunders' analysis combines scholarly understandings of the ways in which performances shape the contexts in which they are told, indigenous comprehension of the power that reciting certain narratives can have on those who hear them, and the theory that social imaginaries define new social realities through expressing the aspirations of communities. Imagining Religious Communities argues that this Hindu community's religious narrative performances significantly contribute to shaping their transnational lives.

This second half of Bhishma describes the events from the beginning of the fifth day till the end of the tenth of the great battle between the K&#225uravas and the P&#225ndavas. Despite grandfather Bhishma's appeal to conclude peace with the P&#225ndavas, Dury&#243dhana continues the bloody battle. The key strategist is general Bhishma, commander of the K&#225urava forces. Even though he is compelled to fight on the side of the K&#225uravas, Bhishma's sympathies are with the P&#225ndavas. After the ninth day of war, when Bhishma has wreaked havoc with their troops, the P&#225ndavas realise that they will be unable to win as long as invincible Bhishma is alive. Bhishma willingly reveals to them how he can be destroyed. Strictly observing the warrior code, he will never fight with Shikh&#225ndin, because he was originally born a woman. Bhishma advises the P&#225ndava brothers that &#193rjuna should strike him from behind Shikh&#225ndin's back, and they follow the grandfather's advice.

The thousand-year-old Sanskrit classic the Bhagavatapurana, or "Stories of the Lord," is the foundational source of narratives concerning the beloved Hindu deity Krishna. For centuries pious individuals, families, and community groups have engaged specialist scholar-orators to give week-long oral performances based on this text. Seated on a dais in front of the audience, the orator intones selected Sanskrit verses from the text and narrates the story of Krishna in the local language. These sacred performances are thought to bring blessings and good fortune to those who sponsor, perform, or attend them. Devotees believe that the narratives of Krishna are like the nectar of immortality for those who can appreciate them. In recent years, these events have grown in number, scale, and popularity. Once confined to private homes or temple spaces, contemporary performances now fill vast public arenas, such as sports stadiums, and attract live audiences in the tens of thousands while being simulcast around the world. In Seven Days of Nectar, McComas Taylor uncovers the factors that contribute to the explosive growth of this tradition. He explores these events through the lens of performance theory, integrating the text with the intersecting worlds of sponsors, exponents and audiences. This innovative approach, which draws on close textual reading, philology, and ethnography, casts new light on the ways in which narratives are experienced as authentic and transformative, and more broadly, how texts shape societies.

Originally published in 1953, this book investigates the most important problems connected with the clan system of the Vedic Brahmans, and also presents the textual evidence for the details of that system at the end of the Vedic period. The volume is composed of an English translation of the Gotra-Pravara-Manjari of Purusottama-Pandita, together with an extensive introduction and critical notes. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the Brahmanical system and perspectives on Indian religion and society.

When the colonial slave trade, and then slavery itself, were abolished early in the 19th century, the British empire brazenly set up a new system of trade using Indian rather than African laborers. The new system of "indentured" labor was supposed to be different from slavery because the indenture, or contract, was written for an initial period of five years and involved fixed wages and some specified conditions of work. From the workers' point of view, the one redeeming feature of the system was that most of their workmates spoke their language and came from the same area of India. Because this allowed them to develop some sense of community, by the end of the initial five years most of the Indian laborers chose to stay in the land to which they had been taken. In time that land became the place in which they joined with others to build a new homeland. In this fieldwork-based study, Paul Younger looks at the present day descendents of these workers and their post-indenture societies in Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad, South Africa, Fiji, and East Africa. He finds that they still cling to the fact that it was an arbitrary British decision that took them there and made the society pluralistic. This plurality seems to require them to search their memory for a distinctive religious tradition that they can pass on to their children. They know that there was a loss of culture involved in their move to these locations and consider it important to recover from that loss. But they are also intensely proud of their new identity, and insist that they have established a new religious tradition in their new homeland. For generations, says Younger, these people had struggled in their situation and now they had come up with a sense of community and purpose and were prepared to make the historical claim that they had developed an appropriate religious tradition for their specific community.

Law is too often perceived solely as state-based rules and institutions that provide a rational alternative to religious rites and ancestral customs. The Spirit of Hindu Law uses the Hindu legal tradition as a heuristic tool to question this view and reveal the close linkage between law and religion. Emphasizing the household, the family, and everyday relationships as additional social locations of law, it contends that law itself can be understood as a theology of ordinary life. An introduction to traditional Hindu law and jurisprudence, this book is structured around key legal concepts such as the sources of law and authority, the laws of persons and things, procedure, punishment and legal practice. It combines investigation of key themes from Sanskrit legal texts with discussion of Hindu theology and ethics, as well as thorough examination of broader comparative issues in law and religion.

In 1587, Abu al-Faz l ibn Mubarak - a favourite at the Mughal court and author of the Akbarnamah - completed his Preface to the Persian translation of the Mahabharata. This book is the first detailed study of Abu al-Faz l's Preface. It offers insights into manuscript practices at the Mughal court, the role a Persian version of the Mahabharata was meant to play, and the religious interactions that characterised 16th-century India.

Sourindro Mohan Tagore (1840-1914), musicologist, educationist and patron of Indian music, was a member of a highly influential family in nineteenth-century Calcutta that was renowned for its support of the arts. His work to generate understanding in the West of music's role in Indian culture and heritage was recognised worldwide and he is remembered today through his extensive writings, donations of musical instruments to leading institutions, and the Royal College of Music's prestigious Tagore gold medal. His valuable compilation of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English writings on Indian music by learned Europeans was first printed for private circulation in 1875. It includes a catalogue of Indian musical instruments, illustrated notes by the orientalist William Ouseley (1767-1842), and a pioneering essay by Sir William Jones (1746-94), the Enlightenment polymath whose collected works are also reissued in this series.

A collection of more than 50 talks on the vast range of inspiring and universal truths that have captivated millions in Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi. Readers will find these talks alive with the unique blend of all-embracing wisdom, encouragement, and love for humanity that have made the author one of our era's most revered and trusted guides to the spiritual life.

Hinduism is perhaps the oldest major religion. The comprehensive book explores its rich historical and cultural development, from its Indian roots to its vibrant application in the present, global context. Over 500 photographs, plus a useful introduction, a clear timeline and a full glossary of Indian terms. This accessible book provides the perfect reference for anyone wishing to explore the compelling faith and culture that is Hinduism. Updated 2019.

While living in India for sixteen years, James Robert Ballantyne (1813 64) taught oriental languages to Indian pupils and became fascinated by Hindu philosophy, seeking to harmonise it with the Western tradition. He produced grammars of Hindi, Sanskrit and Persian, translations of Indian linguistics, and a science primer in English and Sanskrit (also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection). Intended for the Tyro missionary and published in 1859, this work offers a summary of Hinduism (covering the Nyaya, Sankhya and Vedanta schools) and argues for the truth of Christianity, while acknowledging certain shared ideas. It contains a facing Sanskrit translation (with redactions of parts considered to be of no importance to 'those whom the missionary has to teach'). A valuable primary source for scholars of orientalism, this work helps to illuminate the religious dimensions of British imperialism.

A bold retelling of the origins of contemporary Hinduism, and an argument against the long-established notion of religious reform. By the early eighteenth century, the Mughal Empire was in decline, and the East India Company was making inroads into the subcontinent. A century later Christian missionaries, Hindu teachers, Muslim saints, and Sikh rebels formed the colorful religious fabric of colonial India. Focusing on two early nineteenth-century Hindu communities, the Brahmo Samaj and the Swaminarayan Sampraday, and their charismatic figureheads-the "cosmopolitan" Rammohun Roy and the "parochial" Swami Narayan-Brian Hatcher explores how urban and rural people thought about faith, ritual, and gods. Along the way he sketches a radical new view of the origins of contemporary Hinduism and overturns the idea of religious reform. Hinduism Before Reform challenges the rigid structure of revelation-schism -reform-sect prevalent in much history of religion. Reform, in particular, plays an important role in how we think about influential Hindu movements and religious history at large. Through the lens of reform, one doctrine is inevitably backward-looking while another represents modernity. From this comparison flows a host of simplistic conclusions. Instead of presuming a clear dichotomy between backward and modern, Hatcher is interested in how religious authority is acquired and projected. Hinduism Before Reform asks how religious history would look if we eschewed the obfuscating binary of progress and tradition. There is another way to conceptualize the origins and significance of these two Hindu movements, one that does not trap them within the teleology of a predetermined modernity.