Structure and Cognition, Third Edition Aspects of Hindu Caste and Ritual

by Das, Veena

• ISBN13: 9780198077404
• ISBN10: 0198077408
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780195626513
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details
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Summary

Sociological analysis of Hindu caste and ritual has primarily been confined to the empirical study of local communities. In this classic work, the author adds a new dimension to such analysis by basing her data on an examination of selected myths in Puranic and Sutra literature, in particular the Dharmaranya Purana and the Grihya Sutra, going thereby to the sources of the ideology that have given local communities their particular shape and character. The book places the discussion in the wider setting of discussions on Hinduism. This original approach, bridging the gulf that divides Indology from Sociology, resolves many questions that had previously defied definitive explanation, and charts a fruitful alternative direction for future sociological inquiry. The Third Edition comes includes a new Preface by the author.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Third Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Note on Transliteration
1. Introduction
2. On the Categories: Brahman, King, and Sanyasi
3. Of Jatis
4. Concepts of Space
5. The Sacred and the Profane in Hinduism
Epilogue
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
References, Index