The book will explore contemporary manifestations of the worship of Siva that have transmigrated to the West. It explores Hindu vernacular traditions or 'village Hinduism' especially in the context of the Hindu diaspora, where the general assumption is that such forms of Hinduism cannot survive as they lack the infrastructure and the rural environment. Based on extensive fieldwork in Britain and India, the author shows that significant developments are taking place where Hindu communities have achieved sufficient concentration for various movements to appear that reproduce 'folk traditions' connected to a particular locale in the subcontinent. These movements often display a focus on the pragmatic or apotropaic motivation for worship of deities associated with healing. The focus is on the Baba Balaknath communities originating in the Punjab and Himachal Pradesh; the worship of Murugan amongst Tamil populations and the Community of the Many Names of God in Wales which originated in the worship of Subramaniyam in Shri Lanka. The book will not only throw some clarity on changing beliefs and practices in the Hindu diaspora, particularly the role of the apotropaic or pragmatic dimension, it will also help to understand important theoretical concepts such as Sanskritisation and the relationship between the 'Little Tradition' and the 'Great Tradition' or All-India and local traditions.

Sanskrit narrative is the lifeblood of Indian culture, encapsulating and perpetuating insights and values central to Indian thought and practice. This volume brings together eighteen of the foremost scholars across the globe, who, in an unprecedented collaboration, accord these texts the integrity and dignity they deserve. The last time this was attempted, on a much smaller scale, was a generation ago, with Purāṇa Perennis (1993). The pre-eminent contributors to this landmark collection use novel methods and theory to meaningfully engage Sanskrit narrative texts, showcasing the state of contemporary scholarship on the Sanskrit epics and purāṇas.

Indo-European Fire Rituals is a comparative study of Indo-European fire rituals from modern folklore and ethnography in Scandinavia and archaeological material in Europe from the Bronze Age onwards to the Vedic origins of cosmos in India and today’s cremations on open pyres in Hinduism. Exploring Indo-European fire rituals and sacrifices throughout history and fire in its fundamental role in rites and religious practices, this book analyses fire rituals as the unifying structure in time and space in Indo-European cultures from the Bronze Age onwards. It asks the question how and why was fire the ultimate power in culture and cosmology? Fire as an agent and divinity was fundamental in all major sacrifices. In Europe, ritual fires in relation to agriculture and fertility may also explain the enigma of cremation. Cremated remains were ground and used in fertility rituals, and ancestral fires played an essential role in metallurgy and the creation of cosmos. Thus, the role of fire rituals in culture and cosmology enables a unique understanding of historic developmental processes. For students and academics studying Indo-European culture history from the Bronze Age onwards, this book has a broad interdisciplinary audience including archaeology, ethnography, folklore, religious and Indo-European studies.