ebooks Understanding Race and Ethnic Relations (5th Edition) by Vincent N. Parrillo in History

Description

Stories about Posts is the magnum opus of Madeleine Biardeau; one of the most influential Indologists of the twentieth century. Nearly twenty years in the making; it connects her varied studies on the Sanskrit epics; the Hindu Goddess; Vedic sacrifice; rural India; and the interpretation of Hinduism.After exploring several ethnographic facts that have escaped the notice of previous observers; Biardeau presents a variety of hunches; hypotheses; and insights building up to the provocative thesis of Stories about Posts: that the variations found in the contemporary cult of the Goddess—in both her royal and rural village aspects—reveal untraced regional histories of the Vedic sacrificial post; the yupa. Biardeau's work opens up new ways of thinking about Vedic sacrificial themes and elements as they recur in post-Vedic texts and iconographies. It also connects wayside stones in Maharashtra named after the buffalo to stones; posts; and people named after a so-called Buffalo King in Maharashtra; Andhra Pradesh; Karnataka; and Tamilnadu.A work of magnificent scholarship and fieldwork; Stories about Posts; in ways no previous work has attempted; much less accomplished; unravels much of the mystery surrounding contemporary Hindu ritual by connecting it to the ancient Sanskrit epics. As such; it will fascinate students of Indology; religious studies; and anthropology for years to come.