Drama as a Mode of Religious Realization
Author : Donna Marie Wulff
Publisher :
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 38,6 MB
Release : 1984
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN :
Acting as a Way of Salvation
Author : David L. Haberman
Publisher : Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 27,60 MB
Release : 2001
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9788120817944
Book Description
Sixteenth-century Hindu theologian Rupa Gosvamin established a technique by which, in imitating one of the significant figures in Krsna`s dramatic world, a devotee might actually come to inhabit the world of the character whose part he or she was playing.
Theatre and Religion on Krishna’s Stage
Author : D. Mason
Publisher : Springer
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 21,48 MB
Release : 2009-05-25
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 0230621589
Book Description
Theatre and Religion on Krishna s Stage examines the history and form of India's râs lila folk theatre, and discusses how this theatre functions as a mechanism of worship and spirituality among Krishna devotees in India. From analyses of performances and conversations with performers, audience, and local scholars, Mason argues that râs lila actors and audience alike actively assume roles that locate them together in the spiritual reality that the play represents. Correlating Krishna devotion and theories of religious experience, this book suggests that the emotional experience of theatrical fiction may arise from the propensity of audiences to play out roles of their own through which they share a performance's reality.
Tastes of the Divine
Author : Michelle Voss
Publisher : Fordham Univ Press
Page : 263 pages
File Size : 49,2 MB
Release : 2014-06-16
Category : Religion
ISBN : 082325741X
Book Description
The intensity and meaningfulness of aesthetic experience have often been described in theological terms. By designating basic human emotions as rasa, a word that connotes taste, flavor, or essence, Indian aesthetic theory conceptualizes emotional states as something to be savored. At their core, emotions can be tastes of the divine. In this book, the methods of the emerging discipline of comparative theology enable the author’s appreciation of Hindu texts and practices to illuminate her Christian reflections on aesthetics and emotion. Three emotions vie for prominence in the religious sphere: peace, love, and fury. Whereas Indian theorists following Abhinavagupta claim that the aesthetic emotion of peace best approximates the goal of religious experience, devotees of Krishna and medieval Christian readings of the Song of Songs argue that love communicates most powerfully with divinity. In response to the transcendence emphasized in both approaches, the book turns to fury at injustice to attend to emotion’s foundations in the material realm. The implications of this constructive theology of emotion for Christian liturgy, pastoral care, and social engagement are manifold.
The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Hinduism
Author : Gavin Flood
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 660 pages
File Size : 15,31 MB
Release : 2022-05-23
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1119144868
Book Description
An accessible and up-to-date survey of scholarly thinking about Hinduism, perfect for courses on Hinduism or world religions The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Hinduism examines the historical trajectories that have led to the modern religion of Hinduism. Covering main themes such as philosophy, practice, society, and science, this comprehensive volume brings together a variety of approaches and perspectives in Hindu Studies to help readers better appreciate the richness, complexity, and diversity of Hinduism. Essays by acknowledged experts in the field present historical accounts of all major traditions, analyze key texts, engage with Hindu theology and philosophy, address contemporary questions of colonialism and identity, and more. Throughout the text, the authors highlight the links, common threads, and issues that reoccur in the history of Hinduism. Fully revised and updated, the second edition of the Companion incorporates the most recent scholarship and reflects the trend away from essentialist understandings of Hinduism. New chapters examine the Goddess tradition, Hindu diaspora, Hinduism and inter-religious comparison, Hindu philosophy, and Indian astronomy, medicine, language, and mathematics. This edition places further emphasis on the importance of region-specific studies in analyzing Hinduism, discusses important theoretical issues, and offers fresh perspectives on current discourse in Hindu society and politics. Provides a thorough overview of major texts, their histories, and the traditions that preserve them Describes the major textual traditions in Sanskrit with examples in different Indian vernacular languages Addresses major issues and contemporary debates about the nature and study of Hinduism Discusses the importance of systematic, rational thinking in Indian sciences, philosophy, and theology Examines key socio-political themes in Hinduism that are of particular relevance to the modern world The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, Second Edition is an excellent text for undergraduate courses on Hinduism in Religious Studies and Philosophy departments, and an invaluable resource for scholars and researchers in Hindu Studies.
Devī
Author : John Stratton Hawley
Publisher : Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Page : 380 pages
File Size : 32,29 MB
Release : 1998
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9788120814912
Book Description
The monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have severely limited the portrayal of the divine as feminine. But in Hinduism "God" very often means "Goddess." This extraordinary collection explores twelve different Hindu goddesses, all of whom are in some way related to Devi, the Great Goddess. They range from the liquid goddess-energy of the River Ganges to the possessing, entrancing heat of Bhagavati and Seranvali. They are local, like Vindhyavasini, and global, like Kali; ancient, like Saranyu, and modern, like "Mother India." The collection combines analysis of texts with intensive fieldwork, allowing the reader to see how goddesses are worshiped in everyday life. In these compelling essays, the divine feminine in Hinduism is revealed as never before--fascinating, contradictory, powerful.
The Goddess as Role Model
Author : Heidi R.M. Pauwels
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 576 pages
File Size : 21,24 MB
Release : 2008-10-09
Category : Religion
ISBN : 019045153X
Book Description
This book seeks to understand the major mythological role models that mark the moral landscape navigated by young Hindu women. Traditionally, the goddess Sita, faithful consort of the god Rama, is regarded as the most important positive role model for women. The case of Radha, who is mostly portrayed as a clandestine lover of the god Krishna, seems to challenge some of the norms the example of Sita has set. That these role models are just as relevant today as they have been in the past is witnessed by the popularity of the televised versions of their stories, and the many allusions to them in popular culture. Taking the case of Sita as main point of reference, but comparing throughout with Radha, Pauwels studies the messages sent to Hindu women at different points in time. She compares how these role models are portrayed in the most authoritative versions of the story. She traces the ancient, Sanskrit sources, the medieval vernacular retellings of the stories and the contemporary TV versions as well. This comparative analysis identifies some surprising conclusions about the messages sent to Indian women today, which belie the expectations one might have of the portrayals in the latest, more liberal versions. The newer messages turn out to be more conservative in many subtle ways. Significantly, it does not remain limited to the religious domain. By analyzing several popular recent and classical hit movies that use Sita and Radha tropes, Pauwels shows how these moral messages spill into the domain of popular culture for commercial consumption.
Vedānta, Bhakti, and Their Early Modern Sources
Author : Rosina Pastore
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 374 pages
File Size : 11,30 MB
Release : 2023-12-31
Category : History
ISBN : 3111063836
Book Description
This volume considers the Prabodhacandrodaya Nāṭaka (c. 1760 CE), an allegorical drama composed by Brajvāsīdās in Brajbhāṣā. It contributes to the study of vernacular nāṭakas with its first complete English translation. Moreover, the critical analysis shows that the foundational Sanskrit texts for Vedānta and those for Bhakti play a part in the Prabodhacandrodaya Nāṭaka's philosophical and religious edifice. At the same time, the investigation demonstrates that Brajvāsīdās expresses several philosophical ideas by adaptively reusing the Rāmcaritmānas by Tulsīdās (c. 1574 CE). Brajvāsīdās composes a dohā by combining one line of his invention with a line from the Mānas. This method is employed throughout all the personified metaphysical concepts. That Brajvāsī not only read Bhakti but also Vedānta through the Rāmcaritmānas highlights the philosophical and literary creativity in 18th c. North India. It points to the necessity to rethink the sources of Vedānta philosophies, by including works non-conventional for language and genre, because not in Sanskrit and not śāstras. Such sources may not be original in their contribution per se but are essential to understand how early modern philosophy was done, conceived and transmitted.
The Place of Devotion
Author : Sukanya Sarbadhikary
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 293 pages
File Size : 14,47 MB
Release : 2015-08-24
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0520287711
Book Description
"The anthropology of Hinduism has amply established that Hindus have strong involvement with sacred geography. The Hindu sacred topography is dotted with innumerable pilgrimage places, and popular Hinduism is abundant with spatial imaginings. Thus Shiva and his partner, the mother goddess, live in the Himalayas, goddesses descend on earth as beautiful rivers, the goddess Kali's body parts are imagined to have fallen in various sites of Hindu geography sanctifying them as sacred centres, and yogis meditate in forests. Bengal similarly has a thriving culture of exalting sacred centres and pilgrimage places, one of the most important among them being the Navadvip-Mayapur sacred complex, Bengal's greatest site of guru-centred Vaishnavite pilgrimage and devotional life. The main question my book seeks to answer is what sites and senses of place beyond physical geographical ones can do to our notions of space/place, affect, and sanctity. While the contemporary anthropology of place and embodiment, following Edward Casey's philosophy (1993), is dominated by the idea of body-in-place, my book seeks to extend his formulations by also analysing cultural constructions and experiences of place in the body, mind etc. Traveling through both exterior and interior landscapes, I show that the practitioner inhabits Krishna's world through every daily religious practice. The synaesthesia that results from the overlap of these different planes of experience confirms the intensely transformative power of Vaishnava ritual processes"--Provided by publisher.
The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism
Author : Gavin Flood
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 616 pages
File Size : 17,64 MB
Release : 2008-04-15
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0470998687
Book Description
An ideal resource for courses on Hinduism or world religions, this accessible volume spans the entire field of Hindu studies. It provides a forum for the best scholars in the world to make their views and research available to a wider audience. Comprehensively covers the textual traditions of Hinduism Features four coherent sections covering theoretical issues, textual traditions, science and philosophy, and Hindu society and politics Reflects the trend away from essentialist understandings of Hinduism towards tradition and regional-specific studies Includes material on Hindu folk religions and stresses the importance of region in analyzing Hinduism Ideal for use on university courses.
