The head beneath the altar : Hindu mythology and the critique of sacrifice / Brian Collins.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Collins, Brian (Brian H.), author.

Series:

Studies in violence, mimesis, and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hindu mythology.

Sacrifice--Hinduism.

Sacrifice.

Violence--Religious aspects--Hinduism.

Violence.

Girard, René, 1923-2015.

Girard, René.

Physical Description:

x, 310 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

East Lansing : Michigan State University Press, [2014]

Summary:

In the beginning, says the ancient Hindu text the Rg Veda, was the Man. And from the Man's sacrifice and dismemberment came the entire world, including the hierarchical ordering of human society. The Head Beneath the Altar is the first book to present a wide-ranging study of Hindu texts read through the lens of Rene Girard's mimetic theory of the sacrificial origin of religion and culture. For those interested in Girard and comparative religion, the book also performs a careful reading of Girard's work, drawing connections between his thought and the work of theorists like Georges Dumézil and Giorgio Agamben. Brian Collins examines the idea of sacrifice from the earliest recorded rituals through the flowering of classical mythology and the ancient Indo-European institutions of the duel, the oath, and the secret warrior society. He also uncovers implicit and explicit critiques in the tradition, confirming Girard's intuition that Hinduism offers an alternative anti-sacrificial worldview to the one contained in the Christian Gospels. Book jacket.

Contents:

Rivalries 43

Priests and Kings, Oaths and Duels 83

Epic Variations on a Mimetic Theme 137

Meaning: The Secret Heart of the Sacred 181

Yajnanta: The End of Sacrifice 237.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781611861167

1611861160

OCLC:

854285483