Religions of India in Practice.

AuthorZelliot, Eleanor
PositionReview

Edited by DONALD S. LOPEZ, JR. Princeton Readings in Religion. Princeton, N.J.: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1995. Pp. 655.

Although I am a historian, I was asked to review this book because of my efforts to record the experience of Hinduism in a volume of essays under that title. In contrast, this exceptionally wise and full selection of well annotated readings deals with the practice of Indian religions. It is not the usual collection of sacred texts but an imaginative assembly of folk literature, songs, stories, litanies, and highly selective texts. Richard Davis' lengthy introduction to the hook is the most balanced brief history of religion in India that I have seen. I would have placed early Maharashtrian bhakti in the period of pre-Islamic influence and included the heterodox sect of the Mahanubhavs, but as a fifty-page journey documenting the varied Indian religion scene through time, it is amazingly lucid and complete.

The four fold organization of the material reflects the emphasis on practice. "Songs of Devotion and Praise" includes translations from Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Sindhi and Urdu, Tamil and, surprisingly, Sanskrit. What makes the collection even more unusual is that each selection has been prepared for this volume by someone who knows and loves the material. One can think of omissions, but one cannot quarrel with the truly devotional tone of the section. An example of the breath of the approach is a text of a Qawwali of the Sabri Brothers taken from a cassette recording.

"Rites and Instructions" follows the same format of specially chosen and...

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