Download or read book Roots of Tamil Religious Thought written by Ganapathy Subbiah and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Study based on the earliest extant literary texts in Tamil.
Download or read book The Roots of Hinduism written by Asko Parpola and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-07-15 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hinduism has two major roots. The more familiar is the religion brought to South Asia in the second millennium BCE by speakers of Aryan or Indo-Iranian languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family. Another, more enigmatic, root is the Indus civilization of the third millennium BCE, which left behind exquisitely carved seals and thousands of short inscriptions in a long-forgotten pictographic script. Discovered in the valley of the Indus River in the early 1920s, the Indus civilization had a population estimated at one million people, in more than 1000 settlements, several of which were cities of some 50,000 inhabitants. With an area of nearly a million square kilometers, the Indus civilization was more extensive than the contemporaneous urban cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Yet, after almost a century of excavation and research the Indus civilization remains little understood. How might we decipher the Indus inscriptions? What language did the Indus people speak? What deities did they worship? Asko Parpola has spent fifty years researching the roots of Hinduism to answer these fundamental questions, which have been debated with increasing animosity since the rise of Hindu nationalist politics in the 1980s. In this pioneering book, he traces the archaeological route of the Indo-Iranian languages from the Aryan homeland north of the Black Sea to Central, West, and South Asia. His new ideas on the formation of the Vedic literature and rites and the great Hindu epics hinge on the profound impact that the invention of the horse-drawn chariot had on Indo-Aryan religion. Parpola's comprehensive assessment of the Indus language and religion is based on all available textual, linguistic and archaeological evidence, including West Asian sources and the Indus script. The results affirm cultural and religious continuity to the present day and, among many other things, shed new light on the prehistory of the key Hindu goddess Durga and her Tantric cult.
Download or read book Tamil Culture written by A. Kiruṭṭin̲an̲ and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time the Tamils have forgotten their glorious past, the hights of their achievements in political, social, cultural and civilization fields, when they have lost even their sense of self respect, this book apart from being a treasure of culture, I consider, is one that awakens them, reminds them and rekindles their interest to know about their past and implores them to create a greater feature. I fervently hope that the vision of the author is realized and all our wishes filfilled. I am sure that the sincere and enlightened work serve the purpose and the society. It has website effect scanning every minutes detail of the Tamil culture. We are sure when you come out you would be a scholar to be sought after. Hardbound
Download or read book The Many Faces of Murukan written by Fred W. Clothey and published by Munshirm Manoharlal Pub Pvt Limited. This book was released on 2005 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a study of one of the most persistent and popular gods in south India and traces the history of the god, dwelling especially on four periods: The earliest known Tamil civilization as portrayed in classical Tamil literature and archaeology; The Northern Epic period as depicted in Epic mythology; the Medieval South as depicted in the iconography and literature of the period; and contemporary Tamil Nadu as expressed in the ritual life of the cultus. In each period, an attempt is made to explore the cultural dynamics and symbolic meanings of the deity's mythology and cultic life. The god's development includes stages in which he is a lord of hill and hunt in the Early South; a deity who serves as prototype for both Ksatriya and brahmana communities in the Epic North; a god who serves as purveyor of Saiva Siddhanta thought and inspiration of Tamil literature in the Medieval South; and a `high god' who epitomizes the fullness of regional pride and religious aspiration in contemporary Tamil India. As one of the most popular deities in Tamil India today, Murukan is a particularly apt portrait of how a contemporary people in Asia find identity and meaning through traditional symbols. Murukan's history and meaning combines themes which are classical and `popular,' `Sanskrit' and `Tamil,' traditional and `modern,' Vaisnava and Saiva. That people of differing walks of life have perceived him in varying, yet consistent, ways even into the present moment makes the cultus of Murukan a fascinating example of man's persisting quest for meaning and fulfillment.
Download or read book Material Devotion in a South Indian Poetic World written by Leah Elizabeth Comeau and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-03-19 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Material Devotion in a South Indian Poetic World contributes new methods for the study and interpretation of material religion found within literary landscapes. The poets of Hindu devotion are known for their intimate celebration of deities, and while verses over a thousand years old are still treasured, translated, and performed, little attention has been paid to the evocative sensorial worlds referenced by these literary compositions. This book offers a material interpretation of an understudied poem that defined an entire genre of South Asian literature -Tirukkovaiyar-the 9th-century Tamil poem dedicated to Shiva. The poetry of Tamil South India invites travel across real and imagined geography, naming royal patrons, ancient temple towns, and natural landscapes. Leah Elizabeth Comeau locates the materiality of devotion to Shiva in a world unique to the South Indian vernacular and yet captivating to audiences across time, place, and tradition.
Download or read book The Many Faces of Murukan written by Fred W. Clothey and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2019-05-20 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The series Religion and Society (RS) contributes to the exploration of religions as social systems - both in Western and non-Western societies; in particular, it examines religions in their differentiation from, and intersection with, other cultural systems, such as art, economy, law and politics. Due attention is given to paradigmatic case or comparative studies that exhibit a clear theoretical orientation with the empirical and historical data of religion and such aspects of religion as ritual, the religious imagination, constructions of tradition, iconography, or media. In addition, the formation of religious communities, their construction of identity, and their relation to society and the wider public are key issues of this series.
Download or read book A History of Indian Literature 500 1399 written by Sisir Kumar Das and published by Sahitya Akademi. This book was released on 2005 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Present Volume Deals With The First Nine Hundred Years Of The Medieval Period Of Indian Literary History.A History Of Indian Literature Is An Account Of The Literary Activities Of The Indian People Carried Through In Many Languages And Under Different Social Conditions. It Is The Story Of A Multilingual Literature, A Plurality Of Linguistic Expressions And Cultural Experience And Also Of The Remarkable Unity Underlying Them.
Download or read book Tamil written by David Shulman and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-26 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spoken by eighty million people, Tamil is one of the great world languages, and one of the few ancient languages that survives as a mother tongue. David Shulman presents a comprehensive cultural history of Tamil, emphasizing how its speakers and poets have understood the unique features of their language over its long history.
Download or read book The Transformation of Tamil Religion written by Srilata Raman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-04-26 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyses the religious ideology of a Tamil reformer and saint, Ramalinga Swamigal of the 19th century and his posthumous reception in the Tamil country and sheds light on the transformation of Tamil religion that both his works and the understanding of him brought about. The book traces the hagiographical and biographical process by which Ramalinga Swamigal is shifted from being considered an exemplary poet-saint of the Tamil Śaivite bhakti tradition to a Dravidian nationalist social reformer. Taking as a starting point Ramalinga’s own writing, the book presents him as inhabiting a border zone between early modernity and modernity, between Hinduism and Christianity, between colonialism and regional nationalism, highlighting the influence of his teachings on politics, particularly within Dravidian cultural and political nationalism. Simultaneously, the book considers the implication of such an hagiographical process for the transformation of Tamil religion in the period between the 19th –mid-20th centuries. The author demonstrates that Ramalinga Swamigal’s ideology of compassion, cīvakāruṇyam, had not only a long genealogy in pre-modern Tamil Śaivism but also that it functioned as a potentially emancipatory ethics of salvation and caste critique not just for him but also for other Tamil and Dalit intellectuals of the 19th century. This book is a path-breaking study that also traces the common grounds between the religious visions of two of the most prominent subaltern figures of Tamil modernity – Iyothee Thass and Ramalingar. It argues that these transformations are one meaningful way for a religious tradition to cope with and come to terms with the implications of historicization and the demands of colonial modernity. It is, therefore, a valuable contribution to the field of religion, South Asian history and literature and Subaltern studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315794518 has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Download or read book Rethinking Media Studies written by Ananta Kumar Giri and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-05-13 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reconsiders media studies from different philosophical and theoretical perspectives from around the world. It brings together diverse views and visions from thinkers such as Sr Aubrobindo, Jurgen Habermas, Paul Ricoeur, Pope Francis, and Satyajit Ray, among others. The authors focus on the issues of ethics, aesthetics, meditation, and communication in relation to media studies and explore the links between media and mindfulness. The volume includes case studies from India, United States, Switzerland, and Denmark and presents empirical works on new horizons of critical media studies in different fields such as American news media and creative media lab. A unique contribution, this book will be indispensable for students and researchers of journalism, communication studies, social media, behavioural sciences, sociology, philosophy, cultural studies, and development studies.
Download or read book Shared Idioms Sacred Symbols and the Articulation of Identities in South Asia written by Kelly Pemberton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-01-13 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work focuses on processes of articulating identity. The notions of "shared idioms" and "sacred symbols" shaping this volume suggest both a search for common ground and boundary-drawing processes. Individual chapters locate "sites" of these modes and the conditions that engender them, problematizing the truth-claims of unitary markers of identity.
Download or read book The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology written by Wendy Doniger and published by Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. This book was released on 1988 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work deals at length with various theories about relgion prevalent at the time when Megasthenes visited India very interesting and scholarly views have been put forth regarding investigations of Megasthenes their reliability and the reliability of his reporters.
Download or read book A History of Religious Ideas Volume 2 written by Mircea Eliade and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-12-16 with total page 581 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In volume 2 of this monumental work, Mircea Eliade continues his magisterial progress through the history of religious ideas. The religions of ancient China, Brahmanism and Hinduism, Buddha and his contemporaries, Roman religion, Celtic and German religions, Judaism, the Hellenistic period, the Iranian syntheses, and the birth of Christianity—all are encompassed in this volume.
Download or read book Memorialising Premodern Monarchs written by Gabrielle Storey and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-11-22 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the legacies and depictions of monarchs in an international context, focusing on both self-representation and commemoration by others. Spanning ancient India through to eighteenth-century Russia, this volume offers several case studies to demonstrate trends and patterns in how different societies chose to commemorate and remember their rulers in a variety of mediums. Contributions highlight several lesser known rulers, alongside more famous ones such as Henry VIII of England, to develop a deeper understanding of how memory and monarchy functioned when drawn together. Memorialising Premodern Monarchs brings to the fore the importance of memory and memorialisation when considering the legacies and records of past rulers and their societies, and allows a deeper reflection on how these rulers live on through the historical record and popular culture.
Download or read book Self Surrender prapatti to God in Shrivaishnavism written by Srilata Raman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-01-24 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Filling the most glaring gap in Shrivaishnava scholarship, this book deals with the history of interpretation of a theological concept of self-surrender-prapatti in late twelfth and thirteenth century religious texts of the Shrivaishnava community of South India. This original study shows that medieval sectarian formation in its theological dimension is a fluid and ambivalent enterprise, where conflict and differentiation are presaged on "sharing", whether of a common canon, saint or rituals or two languages (Tamil and Sanskrit), or of a "meta-social" arena such as the temple. Srilata Mueller, a member of the Shrivaishnava community, argues that the core ideas of prapatti in these religious texts reveal the description of a heterogeneous theological concept. Demonstrating that this concept is theologically moulded by the emergence of new literary genres, Mueller puts forward the idea that this original understanding of prapatti is a major contributory cause to the emergence of sectarian divisions among the Shrivaishnavas, which lead to the formation of two sub-sects, the Tenkalai and the Vatakalia, who stand respectively, for the "cat" and "monkey" theological positions. Making an important contribution to contemporary Indian and Hindu thinking on religion, this text provides a new intellectual history of medieval Indian religion. It will be of particular interest to scholars of Shrivaishnava and also Hindu and Indian religious studies.
Download or read book Proceedings written by Indian History Congress and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 1214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Religion Caste and Nation in South India written by V. Ravi Vaithees and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Departing sharply from the principal focus on language and the 'secular-modern' in contemporary nationalism studies, this volume examines the religious roots of nationalism, specifically the religious roots of non-Brahmin Tamil nationalism and the Dravidian movement in India. The book argues that it was the anti-Aryan, anti-Sanskritic imperatives and spirit of the neo-Saivite movement that came to inform and animate the neo-Saivite readings of the Tamil and Indian past and indeed the articulation of neo-Saivism as a form of non-Brahmin Tamil nationalism.
