Burning the dead : Hindu nationhood and the global construction of Indian tradition / David Arnold.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Arnold, David, 1946- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hindu funeral rites and ceremonies--India.

Hindu funeral rites and ceremonies.

Cremation--Religious aspects--Hinduism.

Cremation.

Death--Religious aspects--Hinduism.

Death.

Cremation--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Hinduism--Customs and practices.

Hinduism.

History.

India--Religious life and customs.

India.

India--Death and burial--History--19th century.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xviii, 249 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2021]

Summary:

"Burning the Dead traces the evolution of cremation in India and the South Asian diaspora across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through interconnected histories of movement, space, identity, and affect, it examines how the "traditional" practice of Hindu cremation on an open-air funeral pyre was culturally transformed and materially refashioned under British rule, following intense Western hostility, colonial sanitary acceptance, and Indian adaptation. The book examines the critical reception of Hindu cremation abroad, particularly in Britain, where India formed a primary reference point for the cremation debates of the late nineteenth century, and it explores the struggle for the official recognition of cremation among Hindu and Sikh communities around the globe. Above all, David Arnold foregrounds the growing public presence and assertive political use made of Hindu cremation, its increasingly social inclusivity, and its close identification with Hindu reform movements and modern Indian nationhood"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. ONE THE SPECTACLE OF FIRE

1. Burning Issues

2. Colonial Necro-Politics and the Polysemic Corpse

pt. TWO QUESTING FIRE

3. The City and Its Dead

4. Consuming Fire

5. The Global Dead

pt. THREE THE FIRE TRIUMPHANT

6. The Rebirth of Cremation

7. Cremation and the Nation.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Arnold, David, 1946- Burning the dead

ISBN:

9780520379343

0520379349

OCLC:

1159636880

Publisher Number:

99986764983