Women's Renunciation in South Asia

Women's Renunciation in South Asia PDF Author: M. Khandelwal
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137104856
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
This volume brings together compelling new research on South Asian women who have renounced worldly life for spiritual pursuits. Documenting contemporary women's experiences with intimate ethnographic narratives, this book offers feminist insights into Jain, Buddhist, Hindu and Baul ascetic traditions.

Women's Renunciation in South Asia

Women's Renunciation in South Asia PDF Author: M. Khandelwal
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137104856
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 299

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume brings together compelling new research on South Asian women who have renounced worldly life for spiritual pursuits. Documenting contemporary women's experiences with intimate ethnographic narratives, this book offers feminist insights into Jain, Buddhist, Hindu and Baul ascetic traditions.

Women's Renunciation in South Asia

Women's Renunciation in South Asia PDF Author: Ann Grodzins Gold
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9781403972217
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
This volume brings together new ethnographic research on South Asian women who have abandoned worldly life for spiritual pursuits. All have renounced some combination of the following: marriage, sex, procreation, kin, financial security, concern with beauty, and sensual pleasures. Documenting contemporary women’s experiences with intimate ethnographic narratives, this book offers feminist insights into Jain, Buddhist, Hindu, and Baul ascetic traditions. This collection also considers the hardships endured by women committed to religious paths more commonly taken by men and offers a refreshing antidote to the relentless image of South Asian women as dependent on male kin and defined by their sexual and procreative roles.

Nuns, Yoginis, Saints, and Singers

Nuns, Yoginis, Saints, and Singers PDF Author: Meena Khandelwal
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Monastic and religious life of women
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
Vividly Showcasing New Ethnographic Research On Extraordinary South Asian Women Who Have Abandoned Worldly Life For Spiritual Pursuits, The Contributors To This Collection Offer Feminist Insights Into Jain, Buddhist, Hindu, Baud, And Bon Ascetic Traditions. With Intimate Narratives Documenting Contemporary Women S Experience, Contributors Explore The Lives Of Women Who Have Renounced Involvements Such As Sex, Financial Security, Kin, And The Pursuit Of Beauty, In Favour Of Higher Religious And Spiritual Ideals. The Authors Consider The Hardships Endured By Women Committed To Religious Paths More Commonly Taken By Men And Warn Against Any Easy Romanticization Of These Women S Lives. At The Same Time, The Book Offers A Refreshing Antidote To The Relentless Image Of South Asian Women As Dependent On Male Kin And Defined By Their Sexual And Procreative Roles.

Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia

Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia PDF Author: Kristin Hanssen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135135759X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Noted for their haunting melodies and enigmatic lyrics, Bauls have been portrayed as spiritually enlightened troubadours traveling around the countryside in West Bengal in India and in Bangladesh. As emblems of Bengali culture, Bauls have long been a subject of scholarly debates which center on their esoteric practices, and middle class imaginaries of the category Baul. Adding to this literature, the intimate ethnography presented in this book recounts the life stories of members from a single family, shining light on their past and present tribulations bound up with being poor and of a lowly caste. It shows that taking up the Baul path is a means of softening the stigma of their lower caste identity in that religious practice, where women play a key role, renders the body pure. The path is also a source of monetary income in that begging is considered part of their vocation. For women, the Baul path has the added implication of lessening constraints of gender. While the book describes a family of singers, it also portrays the wider society in which they live, showing how their lives connect and interlace with other villagers, a theme not previously explored in literature on Bauls. A novel approach to the study of women, the body and religion, this book will be of interest to undergraduates and graduates in the field of the anthropology. In addition, it will appeal to students of everyday religious lives as experienced by the poor, through case studies in South Asia. The book provides further evidence that renunciation in South Asia is not a uniform path, despite claims to the contrary. There is also a special interest in Bauls among those familiar with the Bengali speaking region. While this book speaks to that interest, its wider appeal lies in the light it sheds on religion, the body, life histories, and poverty.

Renunciation and Empowerment of Buddhist Nuns in Myanmar-Burma

Renunciation and Empowerment of Buddhist Nuns in Myanmar-Burma PDF Author: Hiroko Kawanami
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004234403
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Myanmar-Burma has one of the largest concentrations of Buddhist nuns and monks in the world today. In Renunciation and Empowerment of Buddhist Nuns in Myanmar-Burma, Kawanami traces the nun's scholarly lineage in modern Myanmar history and examines their contemporary religious position in Myanmar's social and political contexts. Although their religious status may appear ambiguous from a textual viewpoint, it is argued that their large presence is a clear indication as to the important functions Buddhist nuns perform in the monastic community. Sagaing Hill where the main research was conducted, occupies an important educational centre for Myanmar nuns in consolidating their scholarly lineage and spreading the network of dhamma teachers. The book examines transactions that take place in their everyday lives and reveals the essence of their religious lives that make Buddhist nuns an essential bridge between sangha and society. Book jacket.

Brides of the Buddha

Brides of the Buddha PDF Author: Karen Muldoon-Hules
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498511465
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
For young women in early South Asia, marriage was probably the most important event in their lives, as it largely determined their socioeconomic and religious future. Yet there has been little in the way of systematic examinations of the evidence on marriage customs among Buddhists of this time, and our understanding of the lives of early Buddhist women is still quite limited. This study uses ten stories from the Avadānaśataka, the collection of Buddhist narratives compiled from the second to fifth centuries CE, to examine the social landscape of early India. The author analyzes marital customs and the development of nuns’ hagiographies, while revealing regional variations of Buddhism in South Asia during this period.

Women Under the Bo Tree

Women Under the Bo Tree PDF Author: Tessa J. Bartholomeusz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521461290
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
A lively examination of female world-renunciation on Buddhist Sri Lanka.

Making Fields of Merit

Making Fields of Merit PDF Author: Monica Lindberg Falk
Publisher: NIAS Press
ISBN: 8776940195
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
"This anthropological study addresses religion and gender relations through the lens of the lives, actions and role in Thai society of an order of Buddhist nuns (mae chii). It presents a unique ethnography of these Thai Buddhist nuns, examines what it implies to be a female ascetic in contemporary Thailand and analyses how the ordained state for women fits into the wider gender patterns found in Thai society. The study also deals with the nuns' agency in creating religious space and authority for women. In addition, it raises questions about how the position of Thai Buddhist nuns outside the Buddhist sanhga affects their religious legitimacy and describes recent moves to restore a Theravada order of female monks." -- BACK COVER.

Gender and the Path to Awakening

Gender and the Path to Awakening PDF Author: Martin Seeger
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788776942588
Category : Buddhist convents
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"In this book Seeger lays out the nuances and varying conceptions of female renunciation in modern Thai Buddhism. Centered on long-term textual and ethnographic research on six remarkable female practitioners, Seeger considers trends and changes over the last 140 years in the practices of female renunciants and their devotees. He also investigates understandings of female sainthood in Thai Buddhism, its expressions in material culture, and the importance of orality and memory in Thai Buddhist epistemology. Supported by interviews and careful study of sermons, hagiographies, and hitherto untranslated and rare Thai sources, this book examines the social backgrounds, modes of expression, veneration, and historical contexts of Thai women pursuing the Buddhist ideal. Rich in ethnographic detail and with additional grounding in foundational Indian Buddhist texts, this book offers new insights into the complexities of female renunciation and gender relations in modern Thai Buddhism."--Publisher's description

The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security

The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security PDF Author: Sara E. Davies
Publisher:
ISBN: 0190638273
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 921

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Book Description
Passed in 2000, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and subsequent seven Resolutions make up the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda. This agenda is an international policy framework addressing the gender-specific impacts of conflict on women and girls, including protection against sexual and gender-based violence, promotion of women's participation in peace and security processes and support for women's roles as peace builders in the prevention of conflict and rebuilding of societies after conflict. The handbook addresses the concepts and early history behind WPS; international institutions involved with the WPS agenda; the implementation of WPS in conflict prevention and connections between WPS and other UN resolutions and agendas.