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Charming beauties and frightful beasts : non-human animals in South Asian myth, ritual and folklore / edited by Fabrizio M. Ferrari and Thomas Dähnhardt.
- Format:
- Book
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Animals--Mythology.
- Animals.
- South Asia--Religion.
- South Asia.
- Religion.
- South Asia--Religious life and customs.
- Animals--South Asia--Religious aspects.
- Animals--South Asia--Folklore.
- Animals--Mythology--South Asia.
- Genre:
- Folklore.
- Physical Description:
- xvii, 272 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Sheffield ; Bristol, Connecticut : Equinox Publishing. Ltd., 2013.
- Summary:
- The study of non-human animals as other-than-human persons (including animal-spirits and divine animals) has marked a significant shift in the ethics and politics of the academic study of religion. Charming Animals and Frightful Beasts investigates how South Asian religions, with their sacred narratives, ritual and non-ritual practices and performances, bear witness to the active presence of non-human animals as both culture makers/bearers and symbols of spirituality. With bourgeoning debates on religion, indigeneity, ecotheology and environmentalism, this volume urges for a promotion and an in-depth analysis of the roles and places of animals in South Asian traditions. The structure of the book reflects that of the most popular collection of folktales on animals in South Asia, the Pancatantra. Such an arrangement creates the backbone for an articulate, clear and reasoned discussion on animals and the concept of animality in different South Asian traditions, or various aspects of the same tradition. Like the original Sanskrit text, the volume is divided into five books (tantras), each dealing with themes as different as South Asian animals as divine messengers, restorers of order, symbols of cultural identity, exemplary beings, spiritual teachers, objects of human reverence and portents symbolizing the life cycle, including its inevitable end. Book jacket.
- Contents:
- Talking animals : explorations in an Indian literary genre / Patrick Olivelle
- Monstrous animals on Hindu temples, with special reference to Khajuraho / David Smith
- Her Majesty's servants : the tame and the wild under the British Raj / Davide Torri
- Beware the crocodile : female and male nature in Aśvaghoṣa's Saundarananda / Alice Collett
- Sparrows and lions : fauna in Sikh imagery, symbolism and ethics / Eleanor Nesbitt
- Tigers, tiger spirits and were-tigers in tribal Orissa / Stefano Beggiora
- Falling rain, reigning power in reptilian affairs : the balancing of religion and the environment / Ivette Vargas-O'Bryan
- Guardian spirits, omens and meat for the clans : the place of animals among the Apatanis of Arunachal Pradesh / Sarit K. Chaudhuri
- Karman and compassion : animals in the Jain universal history / Eva De Clercq
- Horses that weep, birds that tell fortunes : animals in South Asian Muslim ritual and myth / David Pinault
- Winged messengers, feathered beauties and beaks of divine wisdom : the role of birds in Hindi-Urdu allegorical love stories / Thomas Dähnhardt
- The biggest star of all : the elephant in Hindi cinema / Rachel Dwyer
- Dark shades of power : the crow in Hindu and Tantric religious traditions / Xenia Zeiler
- Fear, reverence and ambivalence : divine snakes in contemporary South India / Amy L. Allocco
- The silent killer : the donkey as personification of illness in North Indian folklore / Fabrizio M. Ferrari.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 9781908049582
- 1908049588
- 9781908049599
- 1908049596
- OCLC:
- 846540213
- Publisher Number:
- 99956763333
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