Tryambakayajvan Is Almost Certainly The Famous Tryambakarayamakhin (Ad 1665-1750), Minister To Two Of The Maratha Kings Of Thanjavur (Sahaji And Serfoji). Famous In His Own Right As A Scholar Of Religious Law, He Is Described In A Contemporary Text As A Learned Minister, The Performer Of Vedic Sacrifices, And A Patron Of Scholars. In The Stridharmapaddhati, Tryambaka Summarizes For His Eighteenth-Century Audience A Tradition That Was Then Already Over A Thousand Years Old. The Treatise Advocates Conformity And Tryambaka Is Interested In Women Not As Individuals But As Parts That Fit Into And Strengthen The Whole. That Whole, For Him, Is Dharma. The Work Is, In Itself, An Admission Of The Power Of Non-Conformist Women To Wreck The Entire Edifice Of Hindu Society. For, When Women Are 'Corrupted', All Is Lost. Translated From The Sanskrit By I. Julia Leslie

This volume is about those who have investigated sex from antiquity to the present day.

This book examines the life of =Anandamay=i M=a, one of the most renowned Hindu holy women of modern times. Lisa Hallstrom paints a vivid portrait of this extraordinary woman, her ideas, and her continuing influence. In the process, the author sheds new light on important themes of Hindu religious life, including the centrality of the guru, the influence of living saints, and the apparent paradox of the worship of the divine feminine and the status of Hindu women.

This volume decodes the European representations of the Indian body, emotions, and mind in diverse representational discourses. Efforts have been made to counter the mind-centered approaches to body and emotions, reassessing the body's role in intellectual insight and insisting on the centrality of the body in the reproduction and transformation of cultural experiences. The book will be of interest to anyone concerned with Indian and cross-cultural studies. (Series: Studien zur Orientalischen Kirchengeschichte / Studies on the Oriental Church History - Vol. 49)

Between Poverty and the Pyre examines the history of the experience of widowhood across different cultures. It brings together a collection of essays by historians, anthropologists and philologists. The book shows how difficult it is to define the 'typical' widow, as the experiences of these women have differed so widely, not simply because of their different time periods and locations, but also becuase of their varying legal and religious status and economic conditions. The study is diverse with subjects ranging from: *Hindu wives who followed their husbands to the pyre *widows who were burned as witches *and widows who had to become prostitutes to stay alive. The book also explores Jesus's interest in widows and the experience of some well-known widows, such as Mohammed's first wife.

In recent decades there has been a rising interest among scholars of Hinduism and Judaism in engaging in the comparative studies of these ancient traditions. Academic interests have also been inspired by the rise of interreligious dialogue by the respective religious leaders. Dharma and Halacha: Comparative Studies in Hindu-Jewish Philosophy and Religion represents a significant contribution to this emerging field, offering an examination of a wide range of topics and a rich diversity of perspectives and methodologies within each tradition, and underscoring significant affinities in textual practices, ritual purity, sacrifice, ethics and theology. Dharma refers to a Hindu term indicating law, duty, religion, morality, justice and order, and the collective body of Dharma is called Dharma-shastra. Halacha is the Hebrew term designating the Jewish spiritual path, comprising the collective body of Jewish religious laws, ethics and rituals. Although there are strong parallels between Hinduism and Judaism in topics such as textual practices and mystical experience, the link between these two religious systems, i.e. Dharma and Halacha, is especially compelling and provides a framework for the comparative study of these two traditions. The book begins with an introduction to Hindu-Jewish comparative studies and recent interreligious encounters. Part I of the book titled “Ritual and Sacrifice,” encompasses the themes of sacrifice, holiness, and worship. Part II titled "Ethics," is devoted to comparing ethical systems in both traditions, highlighting the manifold ways in which the sacred is embodied in the mundane. Part III of the book titled "Theology," addresses common themes and phenomena in spiritual leadership, as well as textual metaphors for mystical and visionary experiences in Hinduism and Judaism. The epilogue offers a retrospective on Hindu-Jewish encounters, mapping historic as well as contemporary academic initiatives and collaborations.

Annotation. This volume of essays looks into the dynamic interconnection of class, caste and gender in the Indian political process. The focus is on interconnection (that is a relationship involving more than one category), while at the same time trying to understand each category by itself. The complex issues of caste, gender and class have been studied through a collection of essays that look into the people's struggle for social equality. Social oppression has been analyzed in the context of protests against such exploitation. Anti-caste movements and women's movements have been studied in much detail. The volume is divided into five sections and well-known specialists have contributed pertinent essays. This important book will contribute immensely in the understanding of the contemporary Indian political process.

This book is an engaging introduction to the complex religious tradition of Hinduism. Central to its focus is demonstrating the fundamental diversity within Hinduism through the multiplicity of its core beliefs and traditions. Chapters are divided into four historical categories – Vedic, Ascetic, Classical, and Contemporary Hinduism – with each examining one deity alongside one key term, serving as a twin focal point for a more complex discussion of related key texts, ideas, social structures, religious practices, festivals, and concepts such as ritual and sacrifice, music and devotion, and engagement and renunciation. The organization of this book requires that we see deities as not simply divine individuals who preside over one part of the Hindu world, but that each deity operates as a larger cultural category whose related persons, concepts, and practices provide a vivid lens through which Hindu devotees see and continue to readapt to the world in which they live. With study questions, glossaries, and lists of key contemporary figures, this book is an essential and comprehensive resource for students encountering the multiplicity of Hinduism for the first time.

Covering all aspects of Hinduism, this encyclopedia includes more ethnographic and contemporary material in contrast to the exclusively textual and historical approach of earlier works.