Religions of India in Practice
Edited by Donald S. Lopez Jr.

Paper | 1995 | $37.50 / £22.50
648 pp. | 6 x 9

Shopping Cart | Reviews | Table of Contents

The inaugural volume of Princeton Readings in Religions brings together the work of thirty scholars of the religions of India in a new anthology designed to reshape the ways in which the religious traditions of India are understood. The book contains translations of forty-five works, most of which have never before been available in a Western language. Many of these highlight types of discourse (especially ritual manuals, folktales, and oral narratives) and voices (vernacular, esoteric, domestic, and female) that have not been sufficiently represented in previous anthologies and standard accounts of Indian religions.

The selections are drawn from ancient texts, medieval manuscripts, modern pamphlets, and contemporary fieldwork in rural and urban India. They represent every region in South Asia and include Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, and Muslim materials. Some are written texts reflecting elite concerns, while others are transcriptions of oral narratives told by nonliterate peasants. Some texts are addressed to a public and pan-Indian audience, others to a limited coterie of initiates in an esoteric sect, and still others are intended for a few women gathered in the courtyard for a household ceremony. The editor has reinforced this diversity by arranging the selections within several overarching themes and categories of discourse (hymns, rituals, narratives, and religious interactions), and encourages us to make our own connections.

Reviews:

"The very nature of this anthology suggests that the contemporary student be taught to learn in the context of uncertain borders, of conflicting and of ambiguous worlds. . . . The Religions of India in Practice should be in the hands of every teacher-scholar of religions in India and then in the hands of their students."--The Journal of Asian Studies

"A volume in the valuable series of Princeton Readings in Religion.... [A] most useful set of penetrating studies ... their writers are among the most prominent scholars in the field."--The Journal of Indo-European Studies

Table of Contents

This book has been translated into:

• Polish

Other Princeton books by Donald S. Lopez Jr.:

• Asian Religions in Practice: An Introduction.
• Buddhism in Practice: Abridged Edition.
• Elaborations on Emptiness: Uses of the Heart Sutra.
• Religions of Asia in Practice: An Anthology.
• Religions of China in Practice.
• Religions of Tibet in Practice: Abridged Edition.

Series:

• Princeton Readings in Religions
  Donald S. Lopez Jr., Editor

Subject Areas:

• Mind, Body, Spirit
• Asian and Asian American Studies
• Philosophy

Cloth: Not for sale in South Asia

Shopping Cart:

For customers in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Australia
Paper: $37.50 ISBN13: 978-0-691-04324-1

For customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India
Paper: £22.50 ISBN13: 978-0-691-04324-1

Prices subject to change without notice

File created: 7/1/2008

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