Environmental squalor is a salient feature of Indian cities, standing in surprising contrast to clean private settings. This study of ideas and practices relating to cleanliness in a South Indian town found that im/purity concepts pertaining to hygiene are closely related to so-called ritual ideas of purity and pollution and are nearer to orthodox beliefs than to germ theories. The danger of dirt is less its direct threat to health but its impact on social status and on the mood of deities, who penalize with misfortune. Cleanliness is crucial for private well-being; public pollution is obsolete. Dissertation. [Subject: South Asian Studies, Sociology]

The focus of this book is on the first-generation Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in Berne, Switzerland. During the Sri Lankan civil war, tens of thousands of Tamil refugees migrated to Switzerland. For decades, they hoped for a return to their desired own state Tamiḻ Īlam and strove to preserve their social ties and home ‘culture’. At the core of their identity was the Tamil language. They essentialized their values as part of the patriotic project of an independent ‘Tamil’ state. Swiss ‘culture’ was seen as incompatible with Tamil ideals. The second generation, socialized in the host country, tended to adopt both ‘cultures’. After the defeat of the Tamil Tigers and the end of the war in 2009, the vision of a return to the homeland was shattered. Ten years later the first-generation Swiss Tamils have little desire to return to a country where all their relatives have left or died, and where the situation is seen as unsafe. The elderly Tamils seem prepared to spend their old age in the Swiss exile, the homeland of their children.

In the Bengali speaking regions of Bangladesh and India, the Bengali term bede today often evokes stereotypical imaginations of itinerant people. Of highly contested origin, the term has in the last two hundred years become the pivotal element for categorising and portraying diverse service nomads of the Bengal region. Besides an analysis of their portrayal in ethnographic and Bengali fictional literature, this book traces causes, reasons, and processes that have led to an increasing perception of these so-called `Bedes' as being ethnically different from the sedentary majority population.

After offering the reader the general context of Tibetan forced migration to India evoking Tibetan history, culture, the book looks closely at different methodologies using images. Classic ethnographic tools, such as film or relatively new methods, like photovoice or self-picturing are compared. The study sits at the crossroads of social science disciplines, such as history, ethnography, and geography and is based on original field research conducted in India since 2008. Majnu Ka Tilla is the name of the Tibetan colony in New Delhi and the preferential location of an experimental study related to memory and the spatial features of memory. The bridge is an ethnic frontier and a memorial urban point of reference creating the spatial memory. This publication is the result of years of experimental methodology using fixed and moving images with the Tibetan diaspora in India.

A fine collection of Discourses on the greatest saints of the twentieth century in Advaita tradition. All from the wisdom of Swami Akhandananda Saraswati Ji Maharaj of Vrindavan for seekers of Truth from around the world.

This book is a seven in the series of a compilation of spiritual discourses rendered by Sri Sakthi Amma, from Sripuram, Sri Narayani Peedam, Thirumalaikodi, Vellore District, Tamilnadu, India. This book contains short stories with moral values. Many topics that are essential to lead a good life of joy and contentment is covered in this book. It is also a bible for a spiritual seeker.

Embrace the imminent transformation of your hologram. Prepare to witness a profound shift where everything falls into perfect alignment. This book serves as a compass, guiding you on a transformative journey. I have channeled alongside my spiritual family, my higher self, and heavenly helpers. Together, we explore the profound tools and concepts that illuminate the path to understanding how to authentically live and embrace the totality of existence. Within these pages, you will discover the art of perceiving the divine in all things and unlocking the magic intertwined throughout every facet of your life. This transcends the boundaries of religion and linear thinking. Instead, it channels the boundless power of unconditional love and universal truths, liberating and expanding your consciousness. You are timeless, infinite, and eternal—an embodiment of godliness and divinity in human form. Beyond the confines of space and time, the wisdom you seek lies within. Like a radiant crystal awaiting discovery, your essence radiates God's infinite frequencies across the vast grid of consciousness. You are here to realize that with a simple shift in thoughts and perspectives, nothing becomes something. Embrace your limitless nature, transcending the confines of linear equations and surpassing all boundaries. You are a multidimensional, multifaceted being, interconnected to the universal oneness that permeates all existence. As the perfect creator of your own reality, you are divinely orchestrated, resonating precisely where you are meant to be, here and now.

Re-examining Mary Douglas' work on pollution and concepts of purity, this volume explores modern expressions of these themes in urban areas, examining the intersections of material and cultural pollution. It presents ethnographic case studies from a range of cities affected by globalization processes such as neoliberal urban policies, privatization of urban space, continued migration and spatialized ethnic tension. What has changed since the appearance of Purity and Danger? How have anthropological views on pollution changed accordingly? This volume focuses on cultural meanings and values that are attached to conceptions of 'clean' and 'dirty', purity and impurity, healthy and unhealthy environments, and addresses the implications of pollution with regard to discrimination, class, urban poverty, social hierarchies and ethnic segregation in cities.

Margaret Plant presents a wide-ranging cultural history of the city from the fall of the Republic in 1797, until 1997, showing how it has changed and adapted and how perceptions of it have shaped its reality.