Religion, Language, and Power
Religion, Language, and Power

Author: Nile Green

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2008-07-15

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 1135892873

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Religion, Language and Power shows that the language of ‘religion’ is far from neutral, and that the packaging and naming of what English speakers call ‘religious’ groups or identities is imbued with the play of power. Religious Studies has all too often served to amplify voices from other centers of power, whether scripturalist or otherwise normative and dominant. This book’s de-centering of English classifications goes beyond the remit of most postcolonial studies in that it explores the classifications used in a range of languages — including Arabic, Sanskrit, Chinese, Greek and English — to achieve a comparative survey of the roles of language and power in the making of ‘religion’ . In contextualizing these uses of language, the ten contributors explore how labels are either imposed or emerge interactively through discursive struggles between dominant and marginal groups. In dealing with the interplay of religion, language and power, there is no other book with the breadth of this volume.

Samkara's Advaita Vedānta
Samkara's Advaita Vedānta

Author: Jacqueline Suthren Hirst

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9780415355490

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This is a detailed introduction to the thought of Samkara, who is the most well-known and perhaps the most authoritative Hindu thinker of all time.

Samkara's Advaita Vedanta
Samkara's Advaita Vedanta

Author: Jacqueline G. Suthren Hirst

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2005-03-31

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1134254415

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Samkara (c.700 CE) has been regarded by many as the most authoritative Hindu thinker of all time. A great Indian Vedantin brahmin, Samkara was primarily a commentator on the sacred texts of the Vedas and a teacher in the Advaitin teaching line. This book serves as an introduction to Samkara's thought which takes this as a central theme. The author develops an innovative approach based on Samkara's ways of interpreting sacred texts and creatively examines the profound interrelationship between sacred text, content and method in Samkara's thought. The main focus of the book is on Samkara's teaching method. This method is, for Samkara, based on the Upanishads' own; it is to be employed by Advaitin teachers to draw pupils skilfully towards that realisation which is beyond all words. Consequently, this book will be of interest not only to students and scholars of Indian philosophy, but to all those interested in the relation between language and that which is held to transcend it.

The Embodiment of Bhakti
The Embodiment of Bhakti

Author: Karen Pechilis Prentiss

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2000-01-06

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 0195351908

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This book offers an interpretive history of bhakti, an influential religious perspective in Hinduism. Prentiss argues that although bhakti is mentioned in every contemporary sourcebook on Indian religions, it still lacks an agreed-upon definition. "Devotion" is found to be the most commonly used synonym. Prentiss seeks a new perspective on this elusive concept. Her analysis of Tamil (south Indian) materials leads her to suggest that bhakti be understood as a doctrine of embodiment. Bhakti, she says, urges people towards active engagement in the worship of God. She proposes that the term "devotion" be replaced by "participation," emphasizing bhakti's call for engagement in worship and the necessity of embodiment to fulfill that obligation.

The Embodiment of Bhakti
The Embodiment of Bhakti

Author: Karen Pechilis

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 0195128133

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In this interpretive history of bhakti, both chronicle and comparison are used to identify and analyze bhakti as understood by various Tamil Siva-bhakti authors and authorities."--BOOK JACKET.

Medieval Bhakti Movements in India
Medieval Bhakti Movements in India

Author: Narendra Nath Bhattacharyya

Publisher:

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13:

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Description: Although some aspects of the medieval bhakti movements are known or have been viewed by the historians from their own angles of vision, much remains to be known, understood and interpreted. The present volume, issued on the occasion of the Quincentenary of Mahaprabhu Sri Caitanya, is an attempt to understand a little more of the medieval bhakti movements of India. The contributors to the volume who have enthusiastically agreed to participate in this project are all specialists in their own fields and their valuable papers are expected to throw new light on many hitherto unknown or known features of the great historical movement, the far-reaching consequences of which are very much lively in the heart of the Indian masses even today. The contributors to this volume are Bimanbehari Majumdar, Niharranjan Ray, G.S. Chhabra, Manorama Kohli, G.V. Saroja, J.C. Jain, M.S. Ahluwalia, H.A. Qureshi, Manjula Bhattacharyya, Uma S. Deshpande, P.S. Mukharya, B.D. Gupta, Hafiz Md. Tahir Ali, N. Jagadesan, R. Champakalakshmi, S.K. Pathak, N. Subrahmanian, R. Meena, K.K. Kusuman, N.H. Kulkarnee, Prabhat Mukherjee, S.N. Sharma, Sarat Chandra Goswami, S. Dutta, N.N. Acharya, Bhaskar Chatterjee, Neal Delmonico, Sachin Majumdar, David Kopf and Pranabananda Jash. A detailed bibliography containing list of books and articles used by the contributors in preparing their papers and also other works pertaining to the bhakti concept has also been supplied. This handy volume has been edited by N.N. Bhattacharyya with an informative introduction.

The Making of Early Medieval India
The Making of Early Medieval India

Author: Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya

Publisher:

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13:

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These essays explore the processes of change in Indian society over the period from about the seventh to the thirteenth century. Departing radically from the current historiography on the period, the author posits change as represented by processes of progressive transformation, not by the breakdown of an earlier social order. Within this framework, he discusses such diverse themes as irrigation, urbanization, the formation of a dominant ruling caste, and the structure of polity in general.

Gifts of Power
Gifts of Power

Author: James Heitzman

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13:

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This is a study of state formation, religious institutions, and the economy in southern India during the Chola period (AD 849--1279). The author uses locational and statistical methodologies to analyse the relationship between ritual and administration in a dynamic empire. The authorinvestigates the processes that supported the efflorescence of temple art and architecture, the expansion of trade networkes, and the dominance of the Chola state. Discussions focus on the means and relations of agricultural production, including the construction of irrigation networks: the nature and role of urbanization in a pre-modern economy; the interaction between ritual and administration; the structure of the state; and the relationship betweengovernment and intermediate authorities.