Refiguring the body : embodiment in South Asian religions / edited by Barbara A. Holdrege and Karen Pechilis.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Holdrege, Barbara A., 1950- editor.

Pechilis, Karen, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human body--Religious aspects.

Hinduism.

Buddhism.

South Asia--Religion.

South Asia.

Religion.

Buddhism--South Asia.

Hinduism--South Asia.

Physical Description:

viii, 368 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2016]

Summary:

Refiguring the Body provides a sustained interrogation of categories and models of the body grounded in the distinctive idioms of South Asian religions, particularly Hindu and Buddhist traditions. The contributors engage prevailing theories of the body in the Western academy that derive from philosophy, social theory, and feminist and gender studies. At the same time, they recognize the limitations of applying Western theoretical models as the default epistemological framework for understanding notions of embodiment that derive from non-Western cultures. Divided into three sections, this collection of essays explores material bodies, embodied selves, and perfected forms of embodiment; divine bodies and devotional bodies; and gendered logics defining male and female bodies. The contributors seek to establish theory parity in scholarly investigations and to re-figure body theories by taking seriously the contributions of South Asian discourses to theorizing the body. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part 1 Material Bodies, Embodied Selves, and Perfected Embodiments

1 Perfected Embodiment: A Buddhist-Inspired Challenge to Contemporary Theories of the Body / Michael Radich Radich, Michael 17

2 Body, Self, and Embodiment in the Sanskrit Classics of Ayurveda / Anthony Ceruili Ceruili, Anthony 59

3 Bodily Gestures and Embodied Awareness: Mudra as the Bodily Seal of Being in the Trika Saivism of Kashmir / Kerry Martin Skora Skora, Kerry Martin 89

4 Bodied, Embodied, and Reflective Selves: Theorizing Performative Selfhood in South Indian Performance / Harshita Mruthinti Kamath Kamath, Harshita Mruthinti 109

Part 2 Divine Bodies and Devotional Bodies

5 Observations on the Bodies of the Gods in the Mahabharata / Kendall Busse Busse, Kendall 133

6 Bhakti and Embodiment: Bodies of Devotion and Bodies of Bliss in Krsna BJiakti / Barbara A. Holdrege Holdrege, Barbara A. 159

7 To Body or Not to Body: Repulsion, Wonder, and the Tamil Saint Karaikkal Ammaiyar / Karen Pechilis Pechilis, Karen 199

8 Bodies of Desire, Bodies of Lament: Marking Emotion in a South Indian Vaisnava Messenger Poem / Steven P. Hopkins Hopkins, Steven P. 229

Part 3 Gendered and Engendering Bodies

9 Defining Women's Bodies in Indian Buddhist Monastic Literature / Carol S. Anderson Anderson, Carol S. 255

10 Murderer, Saint, and Midwife: The Gendered Logic of Engendering in Buddhist Narratives of Angulimala's Conversion / Liz Wilson Wilson, Liz 285

11 Fruitful Austerity: Paradigms of Embodiment in Hindu Women's Vrat Performances / Tracy Pintchman Pintchman, Tracy 301.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Refiguring the body

ISBN:

9781438463155

1438463154

OCLC:

947816317