The Place of Devotion
The Place of Devotion

Author: Sukanya Sarbadhikary

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2015-08-07

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 0520962664

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s new open access publishing program for monographs. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Hindu devotional traditions have long been recognized for their sacred geographies as well as the sensuous aspects of their devotees' experiences. Largely overlooked, however, are the subtle links between these religious expressions. Based on intensive fieldwork conducted among worshippers in Bengal’s Navadvip-Mayapur sacred complex, this book discusses the diverse and contrasting ways in which Bengal-Vaishnava devotees experience sacred geography and divinity. Sukanya Sarbadhikary documents an extensive range of practices, which draw on the interactions of mind, body, and viscera. She shows how perspectives on religion, embodiment, affect, and space are enriched when sacred spatialities of internal and external forms are studied at once.

The Song of Vrindavan
The Song of Vrindavan

Author: Sharath Komarraju

Publisher:

Published: 2017-10-02

Total Pages: 163

ISBN-13: 9781549879722

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

'In the house of Nanda and Yashoda, Vrindavan reared a boy that would first grow into a man, then a warrior, a statesman, a lover, a sage - and finally, a god.'There are armed soldiers at Nanda's door. They have come from the palace of Kamsa, Mathura's High King, on orders to kill every newborn babe in the city. Krishna and Balarama are at their mothers' breasts, and tending to their needs is a thirteen-year-old cowherd girl.Her name is Radha. And it is she who must protect the two princes from the tyrant's men.Then there are dangers that spring from within. Mandira, the pregnant wife of the merchant Shaunaka, dreams of chieftainship for her to-be son, and for that to happen, Nanda's heirs will have to be dispensed with. She comes to Yashoda's hut bearing warm smiles and venom-filled breasts.Will Radha succeed in saving the two infants from being suckled to death?Written in the same lyrical style of the previous Hastinapur books, The Song of Vrindavan tells the true story of the first sixteen years of Krishna's life, and the role that Radha played in making him the man he would eventually become.Sharath Komarraju beautifully breathes life once again into the silences that permeate the epic we all know so well. If you're a mythology or fantasy fan, this is a must-read.

TRYST WITH FILMS
TRYST WITH FILMS

Author: Harish Shah

Publisher: Notion Press

Published: 2018-04-26

Total Pages: 138

ISBN-13: 1642492523

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Tryst with Films is about how a rank outsider ventures into the film industry without any knowledge of filmmaking and how he becomes a film producer, writer and then a director too! It depicts how he becomes known in the film line, meets the cream of the industry, works with the topmost actors, befriends them and then how ups and downs affect him.

Text and Tradition in Early Modern North India
Text and Tradition in Early Modern North India

Author: Tyler Williams

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-01-03

Total Pages: 601

ISBN-13: 0199091676

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Early modern India—a period extending from the fifteenth to the late eighteenth century—saw dramatic cultural, religious, and political changes as it went from Sultanate to Mughal to early colonial rule. Witness to the rise of multiple literary and devotional traditions, this period was characterized by immense political energy and cultural vibrancy. Text and Tradition in Early Modern North India brings together recent scholarship on the languages, literatures, and religious traditions of northern India. It focuses on the rise of vernacular languages as vehicles for literary expression and historical and religious self-assertion, and particularly attends to ways in which these regional spoken languages connect with each other and their cosmopolitan counterparts. Hindu, Muslim, and Jain idioms emerge in new ways, and the effect of the volume as a whole is to show that they belong to a single complex cultural conversation.

Mobilizing Krishna's World
Mobilizing Krishna's World

Author: Heidi Pauwels

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2017-11-01

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0295742240

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Savant Singh (1694–1764), the Rajput prince of Kishangarh-Rupnagar, is famous for commissioning beautiful works of miniature painting and composing devotional (bhakti) poetry to Krishna under the nom de plume Nagaridas. After his throne was usurped by his younger brother, while Savant Singh was on the road seeking military alliances to regain his kingdom, he composed an autobiographical pilgrimage account, “The Pilgrim’s Bliss” (Tirthananda); a hagiographic anthology, “Garland of Anecdotes about Songs” (Pad-Prasang-mala); and a reworking of the story of Rama, “Garland of Rama’s Story” (Ram-Carit-Mala). Through an examination of Savant Singh’s life and works, Heidi Pauwels explores the circulation of ideas and culture in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries in north India, revealing how Singh mobilized soldiers but also used myths, songs, and stories about saints in order to cope with his personal and political crisis. Mobilizing Krishna’s World allows us a peek behind the dreamlike paintings and refined poetry to glimpse a world of intrigue involving political and religious reform movements.

Temple to Love
Temple to Love

Author: Pika Ghosh

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9780253344878

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Includes 82 stunning black-and-white images of rarely photographed structures.Published in association with the American Institute of Indian Studies

Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore

Author: Reba Som

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2017-05-15

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 9351189392

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Gitanjali, the book of poems for which Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, was in fact a collection of songs. Much of what Tagore experienced-joy and frustration, grief and devastation-was expressed through music, and during his lifetime, Tagore was most renowned for his songwriting. The distinction of his musical oeuvre lay in the near-perfect balance he achieved between the evocative lyrics, the matching melody and the rhythmic structure in which each song was bound. The Singer and His Song is a unique biography of Tagore with music as its leitmotif. It traces the musical journey of the poet with anecdotes and allusions, and includes translations of some of his most resonant songs. Written in elegant prose and accompanied by relevant photographs and paintings, this highly original book is a fitting tribute to Tagore's enduring musical legacy.

The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism
The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism

Author: Gavin Flood

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2008-04-15

Total Pages: 616

ISBN-13: 0470998687

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An ideal resource for courses on Hinduism or world religions, this accessible volume spans the entire field of Hindu studies. It provides a forum for the best scholars in the world to make their views and research available to a wider audience. Comprehensively covers the textual traditions of Hinduism Features four coherent sections covering theoretical issues, textual traditions, science and philosophy, and Hindu society and politics Reflects the trend away from essentialist understandings of Hinduism towards tradition and regional-specific studies Includes material on Hindu folk religions and stresses the importance of region in analyzing Hinduism Ideal for use on university courses.

The Poet’s Song
The Poet’s Song

Author: Priyanka Basu

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-08-27

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1000960889

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book explores the ‘folk’ performance genre of Kobigaan, a dialogic song-theatre form in which performers verse-duel, in contemporary West Bengal in India and Bangladesh. Thought to be a nearly extinct form, the book shows how the genre is still prevalent in the region. The author shows how like many other ‘folk’ practices in South and South-East Asia, the content and format of this genre has undergone vital changes thus raising questions of authenticity, patronage and cultural politics. She captures live performances of Kobigaan through ethnographies spread across borders — from village rituals to urban festivals, and from Bengali cinema to television and new media. While understanding Kobigaan from the practitioners’ points-of-view, this book also explores the crucial issues of gender, marginalization and representation that is true of any performance genre. Drawing on case studies, it underlines the issues of artistic agency, empowerment, cultural labour and heritage, ritual, authenticity, creative industries, media, gender, and identity politics. Part of the ‘South Asian History and Culture’ series, this book is a major intervention in South Asian folklore and performance studies. It also expands into the larger disciplines of literature, social and cultural movements in South Asia, ethnomusicology and the politics of performance.