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Wandering with sadhus : ascetics in the Hindu Himalayas / Sondra L. Hausner.
Van Pelt Library BL1241.53 .H385 2007
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Hausner, Sondra L.
- Series:
- Contemporary Indian studies
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Sadhus--India--Social conditions.
- Sadhus.
- Sadhus--Nepal--Social conditions.
- Sadhus--Social networks--India.
- Sadhus--Social networks--Nepal.
- Asceticism--Hinduism.
- Asceticism.
- Social networks.
- Social conditions.
- Nepal.
- India.
- Physical Description:
- xii, 247 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
- Place of Publication:
- Bloomington : Indiana University Press ; [Chicago] : In association with the American Institute of Indian Studies, [2007]
- Summary:
- In this moving ethnographic portrait of Hindu renouncers-sadhus or ascetics-in northern India and Nepal, Sondra L. Hausner considers a paradox that shapes their lives: while ostensibly defined by their solitary spiritual practice, the stripping away of social commitments, and their break with family and community renouncers in fact regularly interact with each other and with "householder" society. They form a distinctive, alternative community with its own internal structure, one that is not located in any single place. Highly mobile and dispersed across the subcontinent, its members are regularly brought together through pilgrimage circuits on festival cycles. Drawing on many years of fieldwork, Hausner presents intimate portraits of individual sadhus as she examines the shared views of space, time, and the body that create the ground of everyday experience. Written with an extraordinary blend of empathy, compassion, and anthropological insight, this study will appeal to scholars, students, and general readers alike.
- Contents:
- Introduction: Wandering with Renouncers 1
- 1 The Body and Sadhu Society 35
- 2 The Social Structures of Sadhu Life 61
- 3 Hardwar: The Ground of Space 91
- 4 Allahabad: The Community in Time 127
- 5 Kathmandu: The Body in Place 149
- Conclusion: The Culture of Hindu Renunciation 183
- Appendix Literatures on Renunciation & Embodiment 195.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages [219]-235) and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780253349835
- 0253349834
- 9780253219497
- 0253219493
- OCLC:
- 137325256
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