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.

One, God, Two Goddesses presents three studies, one of Tamil myths of the god Murugan and two of goddess rituals: Gangamma in Tirupati and Paiditalli in Vizianagaram, both in Andhra Pradesh. All three essays search for lineaments of the cosmos that these deities inhabit and shape. These cosmoi are characterised by the dynamism of their incessant interior movement. Should they become still, they would die. Deities activate and regenerate such a cosmos. The dynamism of Murugan’s cosmos eliminates the chaotic. Through ritual, Gangamma regenerates her cosmos through feminising it. Through ritual, Paiditalli annually re-grows the historic little kingdom of Vizianagaram, regenerating its kingship. All three studies point to the need to rethink cosmology in South India.

A Largely Rewritten Version Of A Classic History Of Early India Concerned Not Only With The Past But Also With The Interaction Of The Past And The Present. Romila Thapar S Penguin History Of Early India Brings To Life Many Centuries Of The Indian Past. Dynastic History Provides A Chronological Frame But The Essential Thrust Of The Book Is The Explanation Of The Changes In Society And Economy. The Mutation Of Religious Beliefs And Practices, The Exploration Of Areas Of Knowledge In Which India Excelled, Its Creative Literature, Are All Woven Into A Historical Context. In This Version, The Opening Chapters Explain How The Interpretations Of Early Indian History Have Changed. Further, Although The Diversity Of Sources And Their Readings Are Well Known, Nevertheless, This Narrative Provides Fresh Readings And Raises New Questions. Romila Thapar Gives A Vivid And Nuanced Picture Of The Rich Mosaic Of Varied Landscapes, Languages, Kingdoms And Beliefs, And The Interaction Between These That Went Into The Making Of A Remarkable Civilization.

Opening with a critical appreciation of Alan Dundes (M. Carroll) and Dundes's own cross-cultural study of the cockfight, Volume 18 includes chapters on psychoanalysis and Hindu sexual fantasies (W. Doniger); the modern folk tale "The Boyfriend's Death" (M. Carroll); a gruesome Eskimo bedtime story (R. Boyer); the homosexual implications of Argentinean soccer (M. Suarez-Orozco); and the symbolism of a Malaysian religious festival (E. Fuller).

Many Hindus today are urban middle-class people with religious values similar to those of their professional counterparts in America and Europe. Just as modern professionals continue to build new churches, synagogues, and now mosques, Hindus are erecting temples to their gods wherever their work and their lives take them. Despite the perceived exoticism of Hindu worship, the daily life-style of these avid temple patrons differs little from their suburban neighbors. Joanne Waghorne leads her readers on a journey through this new middle-class Hindu diaspora, focusing on their efforts to build and support places of worship. She seeks to trace the changing religious sensibilities of the middle classes as written on their temples and on the faces of their gods. She offers detailed comparisons of temples in Chennai (formerly Madras), London, and Washington, D.C., and interviews temple priests, devotees, and patrons. In the process, she illuminates the interrelationships between ritual worship and religious edifices, the rise of the modern world economy, and the ascendancy of the great middle class. The result is a comprehensive portrait of Hinduism as lived today by so many both in India and throughout the world. Lavishly illustrated with professional photographs by Dick Waghorne, this book will appeal to art historians as well as urban anthropologists, scholars of religion, and those interested in diaspora, transnationalism, and trends in contemporary religion. It should be especially appealing for course use because it introduces the modern Hinduism practiced by the friends and neighbors of students in the U.S. and Britain.

Analyzing the ways in which ideas of heroic discourse and the socio-religious and political needs of the period moulded iconography, this book explores the evolution of the iconography of the early mediaeval Hindu temples of the Indian peninsula, over the course of the sixth-twelfth centuries C.E. In order to study the socio-religious and political atmosphere in which the early mediaeval temple iconography grew and developed its specific forms, the author makes use of the inscriptions, archaeological and the literary materials ranging from the fourth centuries B.C.E. to the thirteenth century C.E., as these give an idea of the continuities and discontinuities in the ideas of heroic and political discourses which lie at the back of the visual art forms that they created. Of particular interest are the royal charters, issued in Sanskrit and Tamil, the religious narratives from the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas, iconographic canons that form a part of the religious texts known as the Agamas, written in Sanskrit, the court literature of the early mediaeval period and the early historical Sangam Tamil literature, apart from the archaeological material from the Indian peninsula. The author focuses particularly on exploring the ideas of power current in the society that created the narrative iconography of the period and the region studied.