Download or read book In the Image of Fire The Vedic Experience of Heat written by David M. Knipe and published by Motilal Banarsidass. This book was released on 1975-01-01 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These volumes of the Sacred Books of the East series include translations of all the most important works of the seven non-Christian religions that have exercised a profound influence on the civilisations of the continent of Asia. The Vedic Brahmanic system claims 21 volumes, Buddhism 10, and Jainism 2;8 volumes comprise Sacred Books of the Paris; 2 volumes represent Islam; and 6 the two main indigenous systems of China. Translated by twenty leading authorities intheir respective fields, the volumes, Buddhism 10, and Jainism 2;8 volumes comprise Sacred Books of the Parsis; 2 volumes represent Islam; and 6 the two main indigenous systems of China. Translated by twenty leading authorities in their respective fields, the volumes have been edited by the late F. Max Muller. The inception, publication and the compilation of these books cover almost 34 years.
Download or read book In the Image of Fire written by David M. Knipe and published by Delhi : Motilal Banarsidass. This book was released on 1975 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Living and the Dead written by Liz Wilson and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection examines the social dimensions of death in South Asian religions, exploring the ritualized exchanges between the living and the dead performed by Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and other religious groups. Using ethnographic and historical tools associated with the comparative and historical study of religion, the contributors also record the voices and actions of marginalized groups—such as tribal peoples, women, and members of lower castes—who are often underrepresented in studies of South Asian deathways, which typically focus on the writings and practices of elite groups. For many religious people, death entails a journey leading to some new condition or place. As the ultimate experience of passage, it is highly ceremonial and ritualized, and those beliefs and practices associated with the moment of death itself—death-bed ceremonies, funerary rites, and rituals of mourning and of remembering—are examined here. The Living and the Dead offers historical depth, ethnographic detail, and conceptual clarity on a subject that is of immense importance in South Asian religious traditions.
Download or read book Vedic Voices written by David M. Knipe and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-01 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For countless generations families have lived in isolated communities in the Godavari Delta of coastal Andhra Pradesh, learning and reciting their legacy of Vedas, performing daily offerings and occasional sacrifices. They are the virtually unrecognized survivors of a 3,700-year-old heritage, the last in India who perform the ancient animal and soma sacrifices according to Vedic tradition. In Vedic Voices, David M. Knipe offers for the first time, an opportunity for them to speak about their lives, ancestral lineages, personal choices as pandits, wives, children, and ways of coping with an avalanche of changes in modern India. He presents a study of four generations of ten families, from those born at the outset of the twentieth century down to their great-grandsons who are just beginning, at the age of seven, the task of memorizing their Veda, the Taittiriya Samhita, a feat that will require eight to twelve years of daily recitations. After successful examinations these young men will reside with the Veda family girls they married as children years before, take their places in the oral transmission of a three-thousand-year Vedic heritage, teach the Taittiriya collection of texts to their own sons, and undertake with their wives the major and minor sacrifices performed by their ancestors for some three millennia. Coastal Andhra, famed for bountiful rice and coconut plantations, has received scant attention from historians of religion and anthropologists despite a wealth of cultural traditions. Vedic Voices describes in captivating prose the geography, cultural history, pilgrimage traditions, and celebrated persons of the region. Here unfolds a remarkable story of Vedic pandits and their wives, one scarcely known in India and not at all to the outside world.
Download or read book Encompassing a Fractal World written by Gil Daryn and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Encompassing a Fractal World presents a groundbreaking, innovative paradigm which opens up new perspectives for understanding and analyzing Hindu life and culture. This book is an interdisciplinary comparative work which attempts to 'connect the dots', moving beyond isolated local village-based studies in order to bridge the gulf between anthropology and Hindu studies.
Download or read book The Artful Universe written by William K. Mahony and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1998-01-01 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides an accessible introduction to the Vedic religious world by focusing on the role of divine and human imagination in sacred texts.
Download or read book Religion in India written by Fred W. Clothey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-01-24 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion in India is an ideal first introduction to India's fascinating and varied religious history. Fred Clothey surveys the religions of India from prehistory and Indo-European migration through to the modern period. Exploring the interactions between different religious movements over time, and engaging with some of the liveliest debates in religious studies, he examines the rituals, mythologies, arts, ethics and social and cultural contexts of religion as lived in the past and present on the subcontinent. Key topics discussed include: Hinduism, its origins and development over time minority religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism and Buddhism the influences of colonialism on Indian religion the spread of Indian religions in the rest of the world the practice of religion in everyday life, including case studies of pilgrimages, festivals, temples and rituals, and the role of women Written by an experienced teacher, this student-friendly textbook is full of clear, lively discussion and vivid examples. Complete with maps and illustrations, and useful pedagogical features, including timelines, a comprehensive glossary, and recommended further reading specific to each chapter, this is an invaluable resource for students beginning their studies of Indian religions.
Download or read book The Roots of Tantra written by Katherine Anne Harper and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among the many spiritual traditions born and developed in India, Tantra has been the most difficult to define. Almost everything about it—its major characteristics, its sources, its relationships to other religions, even its practices—are debated among scholars. In addition, Tantrism is not confined to any particular religion, but is a set of beliefs and practices that appears in a variety of religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. This book explores one of the most controversial aspects of Tantra, its sources or roots, specifically in regard to Hinduism. The essays focus on the history and development of Tantra, the art history and archaeology of Tantra, the Vedas and Tantra, and texts and Tantra. Using various disciplinary and methodological approaches, from history to art history and religious studies to textual studies, scholars provide both broad overviews of the beginnings of Tantra and detailed analyses of specific texts, authors, art works, and rituals.
Download or read book Religion of the Gods written by Kimberley Christine Patton and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In many of the world's religions, both polytheistic and monotheistic, a seemingly enigmatic and paradoxical image is found--that of the god who worships. Various interpretations of this seeming paradox have been advanced. Some suggest that it represents sacrifice to a higher deity. Proponents of anthropomorphic projection say that the gods are just "big people" and that images of human religious action are simply projected onto the deities. However, such explanations do not do justice to the complexity and diversity of this phenomenon.In Religion of the Gods, Kimberley C. Patton uses a comparative approach to take up anew a longstanding challenge in ancient Greek religious iconography: why are the Olympian gods depicted on classical pottery making libations? The sacrificing gods in ancient Greece are compared to gods who perform rituals in six other religious traditions: the Vedic gods, the heterodox god Zurvan of early Zoroastrianism, the Old Norse god Odin, the Christian God and Christ, the God of Judaism, and Islam's Allah. Patton examines the comparative evidence from a cultural and historical perspective, uncovering deep structural resonances while also revealing crucial differences.Instead of looking for invisible recipients or lost myths, Patton proposes the new category of "divine reflexivity." Divinely performed ritual is a self-reflexive, self-expressive action that signals the origin of ritual in the divine and not the human realm. Above all, divine ritual is generative, both instigating and inspiring human religious activity. The religion practiced by the gods is both like and unlike human religious action. Seen from within the religious tradition, gods are not "big people," but other than human. Human ritual is directed outward to a divine being, but the gods practice ritual on their own behalf. "Cultic time," the symbiotic performance of ritual both in heaven and on earth, collapses the distinction between cult and theology each time ritual is performed. Offering the first comprehensive study and a new theory of this fascinating phenomenon, Religion of the Gods is a significant contribution to the fields of classics and comparative religion. Patton shows that the god who performs religious action is not an anomaly, but holds a meaningful place in the category of ritual and points to a phenomenologically universal structure within religion itself.
Download or read book Miracles written by Patrick J. Hayes and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2016-01-11 with total page 673 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Miracles give hope to the hopeless and exemplify the intersection of the divine and the mundane. They have shaped world history and continue to influence us through their presence in films, television, novels, and popular culture. This encyclopedia provides a unique resource on the philosophical, historical, religious, and cross-cultural conceptions of miracles that cut across denominational lines. Multidisciplinary in approach, this informative yet entertaining encyclopedia covers major aspects of miraculous phenomena through more than 150 alphabetically arranged entries that document how humanity's belief in religious miracles over multiple places, periods, and faiths have affected society—even changed the course of history. Written for high school students and general readers, the coverage enables readers to learn about different civilizations and cultures, the controversies surrounding different beliefs, and the often uncomfortable engagement of religion with science. This single-volume book provides a one-stop ready-reference that addresses a broad variety of subject matter on miraculous phenomena and guides further investigations into the subject. Helpful illustrations and lucid explanations of the ancillary concepts associated with miraculous phenomena make learning about this topic more engaging. Readers will be able to link the doctrinal concepts, such as "grace" or "prayer," with the descriptions of miraculous events, especially those associated with saints or holy objects. The examination of the controversial aspects of different belief systems along with the book's balanced coverage of the interpretation of miracles will encourage students to weigh different explanations, thus fostering the development of their critical thinking skills.
Download or read book Puru a written by Matthew I Robertson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024-02-02 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Puruá1£a: Personhood in Ancient India is a study of what ancient Indian traditions say about personhood. It describes a way of thinking that suggests that persons are deeply confluent with the world and indistinguishable from their environments. Dealing with classic works and addressing the fields of religion, politics, philosophy, medicine, and literature, this book brings ancient India into a new light, giving readers a novel perspective on what it means to be a person and what it means to be in the world.
Download or read book The Origins Development of Classical Hinduism written by A.L. Basham and published by Motilal Banarsidass. This book was released on 2016-01-01 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modelled on A.L. Bashamís monumental work The Wonder That Was India, this account of the Origins and Development of Classical Hinduism represents a lifetime of reflection on the subject, and offers an intriguing introduction to one of richest of all Asian traditions. The late A. L. Basham was one of the world s foremost authorities on ancient Indian culture and religion. Modelled on his monumental work The Wonder That Was India, this account of the origins and development of classical Hinduism represents a lifetime of reflection on the subject, and offers an intriguing introduction to one of richest of all Asian traditions. Synthesizing Basham s great knowledge of the art, architecture, literature, and religion of South Asia, this concise history traces the spiritual life of Indian from the time of the Indus Culture through the crystallization of classical Hinduism in the first centuries of the common era, and includes a final chapter by the editor, Kenneth G. Zysk, on Hinduism after the classical period. Uniquely comprehensive, it chronicles as well the rise of other mystical and ascetic traditions, such as Buddhism and Jainism, and follows Hinduism s later incarnations in the West. With its vivid presentation of Hinduism s sources and its clearly written explanations and analyses of the major Hindu texts-among them the Rg-veda, the Brahmanas, Upanisads, and the Mahabharata and Ramayana-The Origins of Classical Hinduism clarifies much of Hinduism s enduring mystique. Offering an especially helpful bibliography, numerous illustrations of jHindu art never before published, and a lucid, accessible style, this book is must reading for anyone who has ever been intrigued by this fascinating religion.
Download or read book Beyond Sacred Violence written by Kathryn McClymond and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2008-07-02 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that the modern Western world's reductive understanding of sacrifice simplifies an enormously broad and dynamic cluster of religious activities, drawing on a comparative study of Vedic and Jewish sacrificial practices to demonstrate not only that sacrifice has no single, essential, identifying characteristic, but also that the elements most frequently attributed to such acts--death and violence--are not universal.
Download or read book Love Divine written by Karel Werner and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-16 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the nature and function of bhakti or devotional involvement in religious practice in India in areas where it is seldom sought or where its existence has been doubted or even denied.
Download or read book D na written by Ellison Banks Findly and published by Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. This book was released on 2003 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that donation is one of the central practices in early Buddhism for, without it, Buddhism would not havesurvived and flourished in the many centuriesof its development and expansion. Buddhist relationship between donors and renunciants developed quickly into a complex web that involves material life and the views about how to attend to it. Buddhist dana`s great success is due to the early and continuing use of accomodation with other faiths as a foundational value,thus allowing the tradition to adapt to changing circumstances.
Download or read book Reflections on Resemblance Ritual and Religion written by Brian K. Smith and published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishe. This book was released on 1998 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classical Vedic texts that deal with large-scale sacrificial ritual and those writings that deal with domestic ritual have traditionally been treated as unrelated. The former are devoted to the explication of rituals that are dominated by wealthy male elites; the latter concern humble private ceremonies more open to famale participation. Reflections on Resemblance, Ritual and Religion argues that there is in fact, a fundamental connection between these two large and important bodies of Indic religious literature.
Download or read book Historical Dictionary of Hinduism written by Jeffery D. Long and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2011-09-09 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Historical Dictionary of Hinduism relates the history of Hinduism through a chronology, an introductory essay, photos, an extensive bibliography, and over 1,000 cross referenced dictionary entries on Hindu terminology, names of major historical figures and movements, gods and goddesses, prominent temples, terms for items used in Hindu practice, major texts, philosophical concepts, and more. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Hinduism.
