Download or read book The Gitagovinda of Jayadeva written by Barbara Stoler Miller and published by Motilal Banarsidass. This book was released on 2016-01-01 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jayadeva's dramatic lyrical poem Gitagovinda is a unique work in Indian literature and a source of inspiration in both medieval and contemporary Vaisnavism. It concentrates on Krsna's love with the Cowherdess Radha. Intense earthly passion is the example Jayadeva uses to express the complexities of divine and human love. It describes the loves of Krsna and Radha in twelve cantos containing twenty-four songs. The songs are sung by Krsna or Radha or Radha's maid and are connected by a brief narrative of descriptive passages. The appropriate musical mode and rhythm for each song are noted in the text. This poem is really a kind of drama, of the ragakavya type, since it is usually acted. Critical acclaim of the poem has been high, but its frank eroticism has led many Indian commentators to interpret the love between Radha and Krsna as an allegory of the human soul's love for God. Learned and popular audiences in India and elsewhere have continued to appreciate the emotional lyricism the poem expresses in its variations on the theme of separated lover's passion.
Download or read book The Himalayas written by Andrew J. Hund and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2018-06-15 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thorough and detailed resource that describes the history, culture, and geography of the Himalayan region, providing an indispensable reference work to both general readers and seasoned scholars in the field. The Himalayas: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture serves as a convenient and authoritative reference for anyone exploring the region and seeking to better understand the history, events, peoples, and geopolitical details of this unique area of the world. It explores the geography and details of the demographics, discusses relevant historical events, and addresses socioeconomic movements, political intrigues and controversies, and cultural details as to give an overarching impression of the region as a coherent and cohesive whole. Readers will come away with a vastly heightened understanding of the geographical region we recognize as the Himalayas, and grasp the issues of geography, history, and culture that are central to contemporary understandings of the human culture in the region. The alphabetically arranged and succinct entries provide easy access to detailed, authoritative information. Additionally, sidebars throughout the book relate compelling facts that point readers to new and interesting avenues of exploration. The volume also includes a chronological overview of the region, ten primary source documents, and a comprehensive bibliography of supporting works.
Download or read book Who s Who of World Religions written by John R. Hinnells and published by Springer. This book was released on 1991-12-12 with total page 573 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In historical terms, religions do not exist apart from the people who practise them. This is the first collection of biographical studies of figures from religions around the globe and from traditions both ancient and modern. It represents the work of an enormous international team of scholars, and although many entries involve original research, this substantial work of reference is intended to be of use to both the specialist and the general reader. Particular care has been taken to ensure a balance between religions and to include figures from the diverse branches of the different religions. Indexes and an extensive bibliography make it an invaluable working tool.
Download or read book Dev written by John Stratton Hawley and published by Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. This book was released on 1998 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have severely limited the portrayal of the divine as feminine. But in Hinduism "God" very often means "Goddess." This extraordinary collection explores twelve different Hindu goddesses, all of whom are in some way related to Devi, the Great Goddess. They range from the liquid goddess-energy of the River Ganges to the possessing, entrancing heat of Bhagavati and Seranvali. They are local, like Vindhyavasini, and global, like Kali; ancient, like Saranyu, and modern, like "Mother India." The collection combines analysis of texts with intensive fieldwork, allowing the reader to see how goddesses are worshiped in everyday life. In these compelling essays, the divine feminine in Hinduism is revealed as never before--fascinating, contradictory, powerful.
Download or read book Devotional Poetics and the Indian Sublime written by Vijay Mishra and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1998-01-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combines Western theories of the sublime (from Longinus to Lyotard) with indigenous Indian modes of reading in order to construct a comprehensive theory of both the Indian sublime and Indian devotional verse.
Download or read book A Survey of Hinduism written by Klaus K. Klostermaier and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1994-01-01 with total page 734 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This revision reflects recent developments and events in India. In particular, a new Part has been added entitled "The Meeting of East and West in India" which contains a new chapter on Mahatma Gandhi. There is also a new chapter on the position of women in Hinduism. In addition to the added chapters, the entire book has been rewritten with many new illustrations and maps. This book provides a comprehensive survey of the Hindu tradition, dealing with the history of Hinduism, the sacred writings of the Hindus, the Hindu worldview, and the specifics of the major branches of Hinduism--Vaisnavism, S aivism, and S aktism. It also focuses on the geographical ties of Hinduism with the land of India, the social order created by Hinduism, and the various systems of Hindu thought. Klostermaier describes the new development of Hinduism in the 19th and 20th centuries, including present-day political Hinduism and the efforts to turn Hinduism into a modern-world religion. A unique feature of this book is its treatment of Hinduism in a topical fashion, rather than by chronological description of the development of Hinduism or by summary of the literature. The complexities of Hindu life and thought are thus made real to the reader. Hindus will recognize it as their own tradition.
Download or read book An Introduction to Hinduism written by Gavin D. Flood and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1996-07-13 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a much-needed thematic and historical introduction to Hinduism, the religion of the majority of people in India. Dr Flood traces the development of Hindu traditions from their ancient origins, through the major deities of Visnu, Siva and the Goddess, to the modern world. Hinduism is discussed as both a global religion and a form of nationalism. Emphasis is given to the tantric traditions, which have been so influential; to Hindu ritual, which is more fundamental to the life of the religion than are specific beliefs or doctrines; and to Dravidian influences from south India. An Introduction to Hinduism examines the ideas of dharma, particularly in relation to the ideology of kingship, caste and world renunciation. Dr Flood also introduces some debates within contemporary scholarship about the nature of Hinduism. It is suitable both for the student and for the general reader.
Download or read book Everyday Life in South Asia written by Diane P. Mines and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2010-07-16 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now updated: An “eminently readable, highly engaging” anthology about the lives of ordinary citizens in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka (Margaret Mills, Ohio State University). For the second edition of this popular textbook, readings have been updated and new essays added. The result is a timely collection that explores key themes in understanding the region, including gender, caste, class, religion, globalization, economic liberalization, nationalism, and emerging modernities. New readings focus attention on the experiences of the middle classes, migrant workers, and IT professionals, and on media, consumerism, and youth culture. Clear and engaging writing makes this text particularly valuable for general and student readers, while the range of new and classic scholarship provides a useful resource for specialists.
Download or read book Courtly Culture and Political Life in Early Medieval India written by Daud Ali and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-06-24 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description
Download or read book The Philosophy of Desire in the Buddhist Pali Canon written by David Webster and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David Webster explores the notion of desire as found in the Buddhist Pali Canon. Beginning by addressing the idea of a 'paradox of desire', whereby we must desire to end desire, the varieties of desire that are articulated in the Pali texts are examined. A range of views of desire, as found in Western thought, are presented as well as Hindu and Jain approaches. An exploration of the concept of ditthi(view or opinion) is also provided, exploring the way in which 'holding views' can be seen as analogous to the process of desiring. Other subjects investigated include the mind-body relationship, the range of Pali terms for desire, and desire's positive spiritual value. A comparative exploration of the various approaches completes the work.
Download or read book Buddhist Poetry and Colonialism written by Stephen C. Berkwitz and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-01-21 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many researchers have explored the impact of British and French Orientalism in the reinterpretations of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Less noticed, however, and infrequently discussed is the impact of Portuguese colonialists and missionaries upon Buddhist communities in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries across Asia. Stephen C. Berkwitz addresses this theme by examining five poetic works by Alagiyavanna Mukaveti (b.1552), a renowned Sinhala poet who participated directly in the convergence of local and trans-local cultures in early modern Sri Lanka. Berkwitz follows the written works of the poet from his position in the court of a Sinhala king, through the cultural upheavals of warfare and the expansion of colonial rule, and finally to his eventual conversion to Catholicism and employment under the Portuguese Crown. In so doing, Berkwitz explores the transformations in religion and literature rendered by what was arguably the earliest sustained encounter between Asian Buddhists and European colonialists in world history. Alagiyavanna's poetic works give expression to both a discourse of nostalgia for the local religious and cultural order in the late sixteenth century, and a discourse of cultural assimilation with the new colonial order during its ascendancy in the early seventeenth century. Employing an interdisciplinary approach that combines Buddhist Studies, History, Literary Criticism, and Postcolonial Studies, this book yields important insights into how the colonial experience contributed to the transformation of Buddhist culture in early modernity.
Download or read book Toxic Histories written by David Arnold and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-02-15 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An analysis of the challenge that India's poison culture posed for colonial rule and toxicology's creation of a public role for science.
Download or read book Bollywood Cinema written by Vijay Mishra and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-08-21 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: India is home to Bollywood - the largest film industry in the world. Movie theaters are said to be the "temples of modern India," with Bombay producing nearly 800 films per year that are viewed by roughly 11 million people per day. In Bollywood Cinema, Vijay Mishra argues that Indian film production and reception is shaped by the desire for national community and a pan-Indian popular culture. Seeking to understand Bollywood according to its own narrative and aesthetic principles and in relation to a global film industry, he views Indian cinema through the dual methodologies of postcolonial studies and film theory. Mishra discusses classics such as Mother India (1957) and Devdas (1935) and recent films including Ram Lakhan (1989) and Khalnayak (1993), linking their form and content to broader issues of national identity, epic tradition, popular culture, history, and the implications of diaspora.
Download or read book Love and Liberation written by Sarah H. Jacoby and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-09-16 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Love and Liberation reads the autobiographical and biographical writings of one of the few Tibetan Buddhist women to record the story of her life. Sera Khandro Dew Dorj (1892Ð1940) was extraordinary not only for achieving religious mastery as a Tibetan Buddhist visionary and guru to many lamas, monastics, and laity in the Golok region of eastern Tibet, but also for her candor. This book listens to Sera KhandroÕs conversations with deities, dakinis, bodhisattvas, lamas, and fellow religious community members and investigates the concerns and sentiments relevant to the author and to those for whom she wrote. Sarah H. JacobyÕs analysis focuses on the status of the female body in Sera KhandroÕs texts, the virtue of celibacy versus the expediency of sexuality for religious purposes, and the difference between profane lust and sacred love between male and female Tantric partners. Her findings add new dimensions to our understanding of Tibetan Buddhist consort practice, complicating standard scriptural presentations of a male subject and a female aide. Sera Khandro depicts herself and her guru and consort, Drim zer, as inseparable embodiments of insight and method that together form the Vajrayana Buddhist vision of complete buddhahood. By advancing this complementary sacred partnership, Sera Khandro carved a place for herself as a female virtuoso in the male-dominated sphere of early twentieth-century Tibetan religion.
Download or read book Hinduism written by Jeaneane D. Fowler and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This introduction to hinduism sets out the major beliefs and practices which inform Hinduism at the end of the 1990s. It depicts the colour and diversity of the many dimensions of Hinduism, and deals with the fundamental beliefs which underpin the religion.
Download or read book World Religions written by Jeaneane D. Fowler and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 2000-09-01 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An introduction to the world religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Emphasis is placed on the living religion and the whole work is designed as a first-level introduction for those who have little or no previous knowledge of these religions.
Download or read book The Making of Romantic Love written by William M. Reddy and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-08-30 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here, Reddy illuminates the birth of a cultural movement that managed to regulate selfish desire and render it innocent - or innocent enough. Reddy strikes out from this historical moment on an exploration of love, contrasting the medieval development of romantic love in Europe with contemporaneous eastern traditions in Bengal.