The Puranic World

Environment Gender Ritual and Myth

Vijay Nath (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

310 Seiten

2024
Manohar Publishers and Distributors (Verlag)
978-81-7304-801-2 (ISBN)

Titel nicht im Sortiment

Artikel merken

A collection of essays written at different points of time, and published in various reputed journals and books. What blends them together is the use of the primary source material in the form of a vast compendium of Pur?n_ic literature (backed by epigraphic, archaeological and anthropological data), which has been utilized to arrive at conclusions pertaining to changes in Indian society and religion during the later half of first millennium ad, when the major Pur?]nas were being compiled.

The period represents a watershed in Indian history, for it marked a transition from a commercially viable economic order to a closed feudal economy. The social and religious dimensions of the Brahmanical system were particularly impacted by such a transition resulting in some innovative forms of restructuring.

It has been the purpose behind most of the present articles to re-assess and utilize the available Pur?n_ic evidence for getting fresh insights into the rationale and precise nature of these changes. The key areas of thrust in these articles are changes in material culture, awareness, and mode of dealing with environmental issues, gender based differentiation, recent ritual formations, such as M?h?d?na and T?rthas, as well as the utilization of myth as a mode of expressing historical reality.

Vijay Nath retired as the Associate Professor, Department of History, Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi. She is the author of books, Dana: Gift-system in Ancient India and Puranas and Acculturation: A Historico-Anthropological Perspective, and has contributed papers dealing with ancient Indian social and ritual formations in leading journals and anthologies. She was the sectional president of the Indian History Congress held in Kolkata, 2001.

Preface 9
Abbreviations 17
Part I: Introduction
I. The Material Milieu of Puranic Hinduism 21
2. Environmental Issues and Ecological Concerns: The Puranic Approach 44
Part II: Gender Differentiation
3. Women as Property and their Right to Inherit Property 73
4. Gender Differentiation or Gender Parity: In the Light of the Matsya and the Mc7rkandeya Pw-anas 95
Part III: Rituals
5. Brahmanical Rituals: The Changing Paradigm 119
6. Mahadana: Dynamics of Gift Economy 137
7. Tirtha: Instrument of Acculturation? 166
8. Puranic Tirthas: Their Indigenous Origins and Transformation 202
Part IV: Myth
9. King Vena, Nisada and Prthu: A Recurrent Puranic Myth Re-examined 253
Bibliography 271
Index 293

Erscheint lt. Verlag	20.11.2024
Verlagsort	New Delhi
Sprache	englisch
Maße	150 x 230 mm
Gewicht	700 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Hinduismus
ISBN-10	81-7304-801-0 / 8173048010
ISBN-13	978-81-7304-801-2 / 9788173048012
Zustand	Neuware