The series Religion and Society (RS) contributes to the exploration of religions as social systems – both in Western and non-Western societies; in particular, it examines religions in their differentiation from, and intersection with, other cultural systems, such as art, economy, law and politics. Due attention is given to paradigmatic case or comparative studies that exhibit a clear theoretical orientation with the empirical and historical data of religion and such aspects of religion as ritual, the religious imagination, constructions of tradition, iconography, or media. In addition, the formation of religious communities, their construction of identity, and their relation to society and the wider public are key issues of this series.

This book is an in-depth account of people’s cultural and religious life in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It brings out the significance of Sufi and deity shrines as alternative places of worship that give meaning and purpose to people’s lives. It includes sites and practices commonly associated with Islam/Sufism and Hinduism as spaces of shared culture. Most of the existing literature of Jammu and Kashmir is on Kashmir focusing mostly on topics such as politics, state, identity, conflict or violence. This book proposes to go beyond these works by delimiting the focus and area of the study to culture, society and religion. It explores the sites of religious pluralism and tolerance in the violence-ridden territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The chapters are mainly based on ethnographic data collected through qualitative methods like observation – participant and non-participant, case studies, in-depth interviews and oral history. The book is of interest to researchers, both faculty and graduate students, in the areas of sociology of religion, social anthropology, religious studies, cultural studies, Sufism, shrines and deity worship in South Asia.

Originally published in 1974, the conclusions of the book are based on intensive field-work during 1963-66 in a village in south-east Rajasthan, India. Although the marriages of 158 boys and 163 girls were studied, the relevance of the conclusions drawn extends far beyond the village and its region since it reveals the changing themes and values in Indian society at the time. The perceptive analysis of rites and ceremonies of marriage further illuminates the central problem of the book – how the themes of the Dharmasastras are interpreted and acted upon in village life and what kinds of reinforcements and incentives to change they provide to the various units of social structure. The author contends that the series of marriage rites manifest the continuity of tradition, a ritual epitomisation of caste interdependence and means of systematic social advancement. At the time ritual idioms and patterns of social exchange were beginning to change, more often in observance than in content. Traditional sources of status aggrandisement continued to provide new pathways to the forces of modernisation and unveil several clues to the innovative strategies of change. This scholarly study filled the need for a realistic appraisal of the relationship between marriage practices, religious values and the changing social structure.

This important textbook provides a critical introduction to the social anthropology of religion, focusing on more recent classical ethnographies. Comprehensive, free of scholastic jargon, engaging, and comparative in approach, it covers all the major religious traditions that have been studied concretely by anthropologists - Shamanism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and its relation to African and Melanesian religions and contemporary Neopaganism. Eschewing a thematic approach and treating religion as a social institution and not simply as an ideology or symbolic system, the book follows the dual heritage of social anthropology in combining an interpretative understanding and sociological analysis. The book will appeal to all students of anthropology, whether established scholars or initiates to the discipline, as well as to students of the social sciences and religious studies, and for all those interested in comparative religion.

This book is a sociological study of the resilience of Tingkao Ragwang Chapriak – one of the indigenous religions of the Rongmei people of Manipur. It examines the underlying factors contributing towards the ability of the adherents of Tingkao Ragwang Chapriak to continue with their religion despite stigmatisation, conversion and persecution by sections of Christians. This book reflects the contemporary relevance of the legacies of the religious movements under Jadonang Malangmei and Rani Gaidinliu. Thus, the book also examines the continuity between the past and the present religious movements with complex underlying factors contributing to the resilience of an indigenous religion. The Rongmei people following Tingkao Ragwang Chapriak, a reformed religion, are seen to be not shying away from changes in their religious beliefs and practices. Interestingly, however, despite all the reformations consciously heralded the idea of primordiality in the sense of unchanging is a sincere atavism among the adherents of Tingkao Ragwang Chapriak. Methodologically speaking, the emphasis of the book is on theoretical and methodological triangulation. Both social change theory and social identity theory are used to understand the resilience of the indigenous faith of the Rongmei people amidst dominant Hindus and tribal Christians. It is observed that the idea of change is indispensable in understanding the resilience of an indigenous faith despite the commonly held belief in the essentiality of primordiality in a religion. The book is intended to serve the academic interests of researchers working on indigenous religions. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the print version of this book in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.