Female Ascetics in Hinduism

Female Ascetics in Hinduism PDF Author: Lynn Teskey Denton
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791484629
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
Female Ascetics in Hinduism provides a vivid account of the lives of women renouncers—women who renounce the world to live ascetic spiritual lives—in India. The author approaches the study of female asceticism by focusing on features of two dharmas, two religiously defined ways of life: that of woman-as-householder and that of the ascetic, who, for various reasons, falls outside the realm of householdership. The result of fieldwork conducted in Varanasi (Benares), the book explores renouncers' social and personal backgrounds, their institutions, and their ways of life. Offering a first-hand look at and an insightful analysis of this little-known world, this highly readable book will be indispensable to those interested in female asceticism in the Hindu tradition and women's spiritual lives around the world.

Female Ascetics in Hinduism

Female Ascetics in Hinduism PDF Author: Lynn Teskey Denton
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791484629
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 229

Get Book

Book Description
Female Ascetics in Hinduism provides a vivid account of the lives of women renouncers—women who renounce the world to live ascetic spiritual lives—in India. The author approaches the study of female asceticism by focusing on features of two dharmas, two religiously defined ways of life: that of woman-as-householder and that of the ascetic, who, for various reasons, falls outside the realm of householdership. The result of fieldwork conducted in Varanasi (Benares), the book explores renouncers' social and personal backgrounds, their institutions, and their ways of life. Offering a first-hand look at and an insightful analysis of this little-known world, this highly readable book will be indispensable to those interested in female asceticism in the Hindu tradition and women's spiritual lives around the world.

Female Ascetics

Female Ascetics PDF Author: Wendy Sinclair-Brull
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136789456
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
This book examines in rich detail the neglected topic of female ascetics. Based on field research, it documents the social forces which facilitated the establishment of an Order of Ascetics for women, defying tradition in many respects. It describes the subtle methods by which the individual is transformed into a full member of the Order, and how hierarchy and purity are indeed integral to the process.

Women in Ochre Robes

Women in Ochre Robes PDF Author: Meena Khandelwal
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791485951
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Meena Khandelwal offers an engaging and intimate portrait of extraordinary Hindu women in India who wear "ochre robes," signifying their renunciation of marriage and family for lives of celibacy, asceticism, and spiritual discipline. While the largely male Hindu ascetic tradition of sannyasa renders its initiates ritually "dead" to their previous identities, the women portrayed here are very much alive. They struggle with, and joke about, the tensions and ironies of living in the world while trying not to be of it. Khandelwal juxtaposes the common refrain that "in renunciation there is no male and female" with arguments that underscore the importance of gender. In exploring these apparent contradictions, she brings together worldly and otherworldly values within renunciation and argues that these create tensions that are at once emotional, social, and philosophical.

Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women

Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women PDF Author: Julia Leslie
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
ISBN: 9788120810365
Category : Hindu women
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
The considerable interest currently being expressed in women and religion has thrown down an important challenge; the need to see women not merely as the passive victims of an oppressive ideology but also perhaps primarily as the active agents of their own positive constructs. This book therefore aims to fill a notable gap in the literature. Twelve contributors study the role of women in Hindu religion by examining textual studies of the part played by women in a variety of religion rituals, both past and present, by exploring the socio-religious context of their various communites; and by using specialist material to draw on cross-cultural conclusions.

Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism

Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism PDF Author: Patrick Olivelle
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438414994
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description
Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism is the critical edition and translation of a twelfth-century Sanskrit text written by Yadava Prakasaa, whose life and activities are of historical interest because, according to tradition, he was the teacher of the great Vais'n'ava theologian Ramanuja. This text is the oldest and most comprehensive example of medieval Sanskrit literature devoted to examining the duties of ascetics. Yadava Prakasaa is the only one who explicitly examines the thorny question of whether asceticism is a legitimate way of life for Brahmins. His topics include the people qualified to become ascetics; the rite for becoming an ascetic; the clothes and belongings of an ascetic; techniques of meditation; daily routines such as bathing, divine worship, and begging; proper conduct and etiquette; the manner of wandering; residence during the rains; expiatory penances; and the funeral. In his introduction, Patrick Olivelle examines the place of Yadava's text within the literary and institutional history of Brahman'ical asceticism. He discusses the origins of asceticism in India; its incorporation into the Brahman'ical mainstream; and its variations within Hindu sects, as well as in Buddhist and Jain traditions.

Ascetics of Kashi

Ascetics of Kashi PDF Author: Surajit Sinha
Publisher: Varanasi : N.K. Bose Memorial Foundation
ISBN:
Category : Asceticism
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Anthropological study of the Hindu ascetics of Varanasi.

The Graceful Guru

The Graceful Guru PDF Author: Karen Pechilis
Publisher:
ISBN: 0195145372
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
A distinctive aspect of Hindu devotion is the veneration of a human guru, who is not only an exemplar and a teacher but is also understood to be an embodiment of the divine. Historically, the role of guru in the public domain has been exclusive to men. The new visibility of female gurus in India and the U.S. today, and indeed across the globe, has inspired this first-ever scholarly study of the origins, variety, and worldwide popularity of Hindu female gurus. In the Introduction, Karen Pechilis examines the historical emergence of Hindu female gurus with reference to the Hindu philosophy of the self, women spiritual exemplars as wives and saints, Tantric worship of the Goddess, and the internationalization of gurus in the U.S. in the twentieth century. Nine essays profile specific female gurus, presenting biographies of these remarkable women while highlighting overarching issues and themes concerning women's status as religious leaders; these themes are nuanced in the afterword to the volume. The essays explore how Hindu female gurus embody grace in both senses--as a feminine ideal and an attribute of the divine-and argue that their status as leaders is grounded in their negotiation of these two types of grace. This book provides biographical profiles of the following female gurus plus sensitive scholarly analysis of their spiritual paths: Ammachi, Anandamayi Ma, Gauri Ma, Gurumayi, Jayashri Ma, Karunamayi Ma, Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, Mother Meera, Shree Maa and Sita Devi.

Woman as Fire, Woman as Sage

Woman as Fire, Woman as Sage PDF Author: Arti Dhand
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791479889
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
The Hindu tradition has held conflicting views on womanhood from its earliest texts—holding women aloft as goddesses to be worshipped on the one hand and remaining deeply suspicious about women's sexuality on the other. In Woman as Fire, Woman as Sage, Arti Dhand examines the religious premises upon which Hindu ideas of sexuality and women are constructed. The work focuses on the great Hindu epic, the Mahābhārata, a text that not only reflects the cogitations of a momentous period in Hindu history, but also was critical in shaping the future of Hinduism. Dhand proposes that the epic's understanding of womanhood cannot be isolated from the broader religious questions that were debated at the time, and that the formation of a sexual ideology is one element in crafting a coherent religious framework for Hinduism.

Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism

Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism PDF Author: Raymond Brady Williams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108421148
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
An Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism, third edition, offers a comprehensive study of a contemporary form of Hinduism. Begun as a revival and reform movement in India 200 years ago, it has now become one of the fastest growing and most prominent forms of Hinduism. The Swaminarayan Hindu transnational network of temples and institutions is expanding in India, East Africa, the UK, USA, Australasia, and in other African and Asian cities. The devotion, rituals, and discipline taught by its founder, Sahajanand Swami (1781-1830) and elaborated by current leaders in major festivals, diverse media, and over the Internet, help preserve ethnic and religious identity in many modern cultural and political contexts. Swaminarayan Hinduism, here described through its history, divisions, leaders, theology and practices, provides valuable case studies of contemporary Hinduism, religion, migrants, and transnationalism. This new edition includes up-to-date information about growth, geographic expansion, leadership transitions, and impact of Swaminarayan institutions in India and abroad.

The Hindus

The Hindus PDF Author: Wendy Doniger
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9781594202056
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 808

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Book Description
An engrossing and definitive narrative account of history and myth that offers a new way of understanding one of the world's oldest major religions, The Hindus elucidates the relationship between recorded history and imaginary worlds. The Hindus brings a fascinating multiplicity of actors and stories to the stage to show how brilliant and creative thinkers have kept Hinduism alive in ways that other scholars have not fully explored. In this unique and authoritative account, debates about Hindu traditions become platforms to consider history as a whole.