Of Gods and Books De Simini, Florinda
2016, 2016-11-07, Volume:
8
eBook
Open access
India has been the homeland of diverse manuscript traditions that do not cease to impress scholars for their imposing size and complexity. Nevertheless, many topics concerning the study of Indian ...manuscript cultures still remain to receive systematic examination. Of Gods and Books pays attention to one of these topics - the use of manuscripts as ritualistic tools. Literary sources deal quite extensively with rituals principally focused on manuscripts, whose worship, donation and preservation are duly prescribed. Around these activities, a specific category of ritual gift is created, which finds attestations in pre-tantric, as well as in smārta and tantric, literature, and whose practice is also variously reflected in epigraphical documents. De Simini offers a first systematic study of the textual evidence on the topic of the worship and donation of knowledge. She gives account of possible implications for the relationships between religion and power. The book is indsipensible for a deeper understanding of the cultural aspects of manuscript transmission in medieval India, and beyond.
The historical interplay of Hinduism as an ancient Indian religion and Christianity as a religion associated (in India, at least) with foreign power and colonialism, continues to animate ...Hindu-Christian relations today. On the one hand, The Routledge Handbook of Hindu-Christian Relations describes a rich history of amicable, productive, even sometimes syncretic Hindu-Christian encounters. On the other, this handbook equally attends to historical and contemporary moments of tension, conflict, and violence between Hindus and Christians. Comprising thirty-nine chapters by a team of international contributors, this handbook is divided into seven parts:
Theoretical and methodological considerations
Historical interactions
Contemporary exchanges
Sites of bodily and material interactions
Significant figures
Comparative theologies
Responses
The handbook explores: how the study of Hindu-Christian relations has been and ought to be done, the history of Hindu-Christian relations through key interactions, ethnographic reflections on current dynamics of Hindu-Christian exchange, important key thinkers, and topics in comparative theology, ultimately providing a framework for further debates in the area.
The Routledge Handbook of Hindu-Christian Relations is essential reading for students and researchers in Hindu-Christian studies, Hindu traditions, Asian religions, and studies in Christianity. This handbook will also be very useful for those in related fields, such as anthropology, political science, theology, and history.
Make Me a Man! argues that ideas about manhood play a key role in building and sustaining the modern nation. It examines a particular expression of nation and manliness: masculine Hinduism. This ...ideal, which emerged from India’s experience of British imperialism, is characterized by martial prowess, muscular strength, moral fortitude, and a readiness to go to battle. Embodied in the images of the Hindu soldier and the warrior monk, masculine Hinduism is rooted in a rigid “us versus them” view of nation that becomes implicated in violence and intolerance. Masculine Hinduism also has important connotations for women, whose roles in this environment consist of the heroic mother, chaste wife, and celibate, masculinized warrior. All of these roles shore up the “us versus them” dichotomy and constrict women’s lives by imposing particular norms and encouraging limits on women’s freedom.
Sikata Banerjee notes that the nationalism defined by masculine Hinduism draws on a more general narrative of nation found in many cultures. If the outcomes of this narrative are to be resisted, the logic of masculinity, armed manhood, and nation need to be examined in diverse contexts.
Manipuri is one of the oldest languages of Tibeto-Burman Languages family, spoken in Manipur, a north-eastern state of India. Manipuri has a long history of its own of about 2000 years old history. ...Manipuri was written in its own script, Meetei Mayek. But it was replaced by Bengali script in the late 19th and early part of 20th century. Oldest record of the written document in Manipuri is traced back as early as 14th century. But during the reign of King Garibniwaz, most of the written documents were burnt down publicly. Then some of the oldest books in Manipuri were rewritten during his period. So while trying to study the historical reconstruction of Manipuri, we face a lot of problems. A few scholars already made attempt to study the history of Manipuri. Still nobody has written a comprehensive history of Manipuri. In this paper I have tried to study the phonological structure of Manipuri during the period of King Garibniwaz, so called medieval period in the history of Manipuri. Conversion to Hinduism During the reign of King Garibniwaz, an important historical episode took place. Conversion to Hinduism and burning down of Manipuri manuscripts took place. During the same period Hindu-religion based art and literature were encouraged. Books related to new state religion were written in this period, mostly translated from Sanskrit and Bengali. These incidents influenced a lot of people in Manipur and these also influenced Manipuri language.
Multiculturalism in the United States is commonly lauded as a positive social ideal celebrating the diversity of our nation. But, in reality, immigrants often feel pressured to create a singular ...formulation of their identity that does not reflect the diversity of cultures that exist in their homeland. Hindu Americans have faced this challenge over the last fifteen years, as the number of Indians that have immigrated to this country has more than doubled.
InA Place at the Multicultural Table, Prema A. Kurien shows how various Hindu American organizations--religious, cultural, and political--are attempting to answer the puzzling questions of identity outside their homeland. Drawing on the experiences of both immigrant and American-born Hindu Americans, Kurien demonstrates how religious ideas and practices are being imported, exported, and reshaped in the process. The result of this transnational movement is an American Hinduism--an organized, politicized, and standardized version of that which is found in India.
This first in-depth look at Hinduism in the United States and the Hindu Indian American community helps readers to understand the private devotions, practices, and beliefs of Hindu Indian Americans as well as their political mobilization and activism. It explains the differences between immigrant and American-born Hindu Americans, how both understand their religion and their identity, and it emphasizes the importance of the social and cultural context of the United States in influencing the development of an American Hinduism.
The Bhagavad-Gītā Theodor, Ithamar
2021, 20200930, 2020, 2020-09-30
eBook
This volume is a systematic and comprehensive introduction to one of the most read texts in South Asia, the Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā is at its core a religious text, a philosophical treatise ...and a literary work, which has occupied an authoritative position within Hinduism for the past millennium.
This book brings together themes central to the study of the Gītā, as it is popularly known – such as the Bhagavad-gītā’s structure, the history of its exegesis, its acceptance by different traditions within Hinduism and its national and global relevance. It highlights the richness of the Gītā’s interpretations, examines its great interpretive flexibility and at the same time offers a conceptual structure based on a traditional commentarial tradition.
With contributions from major scholars across the world, this book will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of religious studies, especially Hinduism, Indian philosophy, Asian philosophy, Indian history, literature and South Asian studies.
This Special Issue of Religions brings together a talented group of international scholars who have studied and written on the Hindu tradition. The topic of religious experience is much debated in ...the field of Religious Studies, and here, we present studies of the Hindu religious experience explored from a variety of regions and perspectives. Our intention is to show that the religious experience has long been an important part of Hinduism, and should not be dismissed or considered as irrelevant. As a body of scholarship, these articles refine our understanding of the range and variety of religious experience in Hinduism. In addition to their substantive contributions, the authors also show important new directions in the study of the third-largest religion in the world, with over one billion followers.
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