Goddesses of Kathmandu Valley

Goddesses of Kathmandu Valley

Author: Arun Gupto

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-10-30

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 131736922X

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In South Asia goddesses are conceptualized and worshipped in a fascinating range of forms — from cosmic beings to bacterial manifestations, from human-like appearances to creatures with animal and insect semblances. This book maps the diverse identities of goddesses through metaphors of grace, rage and knowledge, and offers an in-depth insight into femininity, sexual politics, ritual worships, religion, ecology and gender. Grace manifests as motherly sublimity, warring protectors, and varying personifications of sexuality. Rage encapsulates the fearful aspects of goddesses and independent identities of women. Knowledge evokes associations with order, reason and intellect in conflating gendered binaries of body/mind and nature/culture. The volume explores how these deity attributes are expressed and embedded through anthropomorphic as well as inorganic forms of nature, beautiful women, multi-legged and many-armed animals, epistemic selves, demonic beings, glamorous personifications as also grotesque sub-humans. A methodological combination of critical theory, mythological and philosophical concepts, along with popular ethnographic narratives and lived experiences, this monograph will greatly interest scholars and researchers of religious studies, cultural studies, folklore, art, literature, sociology and gender studies, especially those interested in Nepal and Hinduism.


Light

Light

Author: Bruce Watson

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2016-02-02

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1620405598

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Light begins at Stonehenge, where crowds cheer a solstice sunrise. After sampling myths explaining First Light, the story moves on to early philosophers' queries, then through the centuries, from Buddhist temples to Biblical scripture, when light was the soul of the divine. Battling darkness and despair, Gothic architects crafted radiant cathedrals while Dante dreamed a "heaven of pure light." Later, following Leonardo's advice, Renaissance artists learned to capture light on canvas. During the Scientific Revolution, Galileo gathered light in his telescope, Descartes measured the rainbow, and Newton used prisms to solidify the science of optics. But even after Newton, light was an enigma. Particle or wave? Did it flow through an invisible "ether"? Through the age of Edison and into the age of lasers, Light reveals how light sparked new wonders--relativity, quantum electrodynamics, fiber optics, and more. Although lasers now perform everyday miracles, light retains its eternal allure. "For the rest of my life," Einstein said, "I will reflect on what light is." Light explores and celebrates such curiosity.