Pastoral deities in western India
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Pastoral deities in western India
Oxford University Press, 1989
- Other Title
-
Birobā, Mhaskobā und Khaṇḍobā
Available at 14 libraries
Note
Translation of: Birobā, Mhaskobā und Khaṇḍobā
Bibliography: p. 239-247
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This is a translation of a book by the internationally renowned German ethnographer Gunther-Dietz Sontheimer. Sontheimer here describes the religious system of a pastoralist area which includes parts of three linguistic regions (Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh). Making use of oral narratives collected from this area, he describes its gods and their worshippers: not only pastoralists, but also ferrymen, merchants, robbers and wandering holy men. Sontheimer places the oral material in its social, cultural and ecological context, showing how myths and ritual cycles give shape to the people's collective identity and attitudes toward other communities. This book represents hundreds of hours of interviews conducted under difficult fieldwork conditions. It not only presents a look at a virtually unstudied and fast disappearing way of life but makes a significant contribution to the understanding of Hindu tradition.
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