Prathik was a young ayurvedic physician, fresh out of college, and studying one of the Sanskrit medical classics, the A????gah?daya,at Mookkamangalam gurukula in India’s southwestern state of Kerala when he told me this.2 Prathik and I had spoken about his education over the course of several days, and he was always candid about the differences he saw betwee…
From Abhang to Zodiac, these two volumes contain over 2,5 thoroughly cross-referenced entries that clearly define terms and concepts related to the beliefs, practices, and history of Hinduism. • Complete with black-and-white photos illustrating architectural, biographical, geographical, and mythological entries. • Charts and maps provide added information. • 16 category indexes direct the…
ABOUT THE SERIES: 'Encyclopedia of World Religions' explores the major religions of the world, emphasising the living faiths & their background. It provides access to the theological concepts, personalities, historical events, institutions, and movements that helped shape the history of each religion and the way it is practiced.
The contributions collected in this volume deal with the complex history of the Indian deity Vi??u-N?r?yana. This conception of God evolved in various traditions in India, especially in South India, during the first millennium CE. The history of this development is reconstructed here by various means, including philological exegesis, the history of ideas, and iconographic evidence.
For millennia, one of the most consistent characteristics of Hindu traditions has been variation. Scholarly work on contemporary Hinduism and its premodern antecedents ably captures this complexity, paying attention to a wide spectrum of ideologies, practices, and positions of authority. Studies of religion in ancient India stress doctrinal variation in the period, when ideas about pe…
When one had almost reached the Hindu shrine of Kedarnath, there used to be a point along the footpath following the Mandakini River where, in good weather, the top of the temple came into view against the backdrop of a bright, wide Himalayan panorama. In the related languages of Hindi and Garhwali, such vantage points bear the title of “Sight-of-God” (Hindi: devdarshini, deod…