The strides of Vishnu : Hindu culture in historical perspective
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The strides of Vishnu : Hindu culture in historical perspective
Oxford University Press, 2008
Available at 6 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Bibliography: p. [217]-224
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Most books about Hinduism begin by noting the immense size and complexity of the subject. Hinduism is vast and diverse, they say. Or it doesn't exist at all - Hinduism is merely a convenient (and foreign) term that masks a plurality of traditions. In either case, readers are discouraged by the sense that they are getting only a tiny sample or a shallow overview of something huge and impossible to understand. This book is designed to be accessible and comprehensive
in a way that other introductions are not, maintaining an appealing narrative and holding the reader's interest in the unfolding sequence of ideas through time and place. Each of the 13 chapters combines historical material with key religious and philosophical ideas, supported by substantial
quotations from scriptures and other texts. The overarching organizational principle is a historical narrative largely grounded in archaeological information. Historic places and persons are fleshed out as actors in a narrative about the relation of the sacred to ordinary existence as it is mediated through arts, sciences, rituals, and philosophical ideas. Although many books purport to introduce the Hindu tradition, this is the only one with a broad historical focus that emphasizes
archaeological as well as textual evidence. It will nicely complement Vasuda Narayanan's forthcoming introduction, which takes the opposite approach of focusing on the lived experience of Hindu believers.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Chapter 1:The Dig and the Temple
- Chapter 2:Sacred Knowledge and Indian Origins
- Chapter 3:A City Where the Rivers Meet
- Chapter 4:King Janaka's Contest
- Chapter 5:Vedic Science: The Grammar of Reality
- Chapter 6:Kanishka and Krishna
- Chapter 7:Performing Arts and Sacred Models
- Chapter 8:The Second Rationality
- Chapter 9:Maps and Myths in the Matsya Purana
- Chapter 10:Shankara and Kumarila: Between Brahman and Dharma
- Chapter 11:Devotion and Knowledge:
- Chapter 12:The Eternal Dharma
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
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