• A Brahmin Woman
in The Life of Hinduism
December 2006; published online May 2012.
Chapter. Subjects: Hinduism. 4619 words.
This chapter fictionalizes a celebrated nineteenth-century event that vividly dramatized the costs of being a Nambudiri Brahmin woman. The Nambudiris of Kerala, at least in their own...
A City Where the Rivers Meet
in The Footsteps of Vishnu
November 2007; published online May 2008.
Chapter. Subjects: Hinduism. 6869 words.
This chapter looks at the archeological work performed by G. R. Sharma in Kaushambi. The economic, cultural, and political importance of that city, situated near the confluence of the...
• A Dalit Poet-saint
in The Life of Hinduism
December 2006; published online May 2012.
Chapter. Subjects: Hinduism. 8460 words.
This chapter describes the Shri Guru Ravidas Sabha of Woodside, Queens. The guru venerated in the title is one of the most important religious voices to have emerged from the “bottom” of...
• A Diasporic Hindu Creed
in The Life of Hinduism
December 2006; published online May 2012.
Chapter. Subjects: Hinduism. 1971 words.
This chapter, which looks at a different rubric for laying out some basic features of Hinduism, is aimed specifically at Hindus living in the diaspora and is prompted by the exigencies of...
A Garland of Nine Jewels: The Navamaṅimālai
in An Ornament for Jewels
December 2007; published online January 2008.
Chapter. Subjects: Hinduism. 2105 words.
A full translation of Venkatesha's Tamil prabandham, the Navamanimalai, with detailed thematic afterword and notes. Devotional themes include the poem's roots in classical Cankam Tamil...
A. K. Ramanujan
Overview page. Subjects: literature — Hinduism.
(1929–93),
Indian poet, born in Mysore, educated there and at Indiana University. Long resident in the USA, he was appointed Professor of Linguistics and of South East Asian Languages and ...
A Long and Winding Tail
in Hanuman's Tale
January 2007; published online May 2007.
Chapter. Subjects: Hinduism. 26814 words.
While surveying textual sources, iconography, and other historical evidence for the development of Hanuman's popular cult, this chapter also interrogates the explanatory narratives that...
A Necklace of Three Jewels for the Lord of Gods: The Mummaṇikkōvai
in An Ornament for Jewels
December 2007; published online January 2008.
Chapter. Subjects: Hinduism. 2440 words.
A full translation of Venkatesha's Tamil prabandham, the Mummanikkovai, with detailed thematic afterword and notes. The afterword situates Venkatesha's Tamil poem in the history of...
• A Ramayana on Air
in The Life of Hinduism
December 2006; published online May 2012.
Chapter. Subjects: Hinduism. 7360 words.
This chapter shows what happened when the Ramayana moved into the medium of television. For eighteen months in 1987 and 1988, the writer-producer Ramanand Sagar succeeded in gluing the eyes...
Abbé J. A. Dubois
Overview page. Subjects: Hinduism.
(1770–1848)
Author of a celebrated early Orientalist work on India, based on personal observation: Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies (1st pub. East India Company, 1816; and multiple reprints).