The Garu A Pur A

The study of Hindu mythology explores the significance of the most prominent Hindu dieties as they are envisioned by the Hindus themselves. Referred to by its adherents as the "eternal religion," Hinduism recognizes for each age and each country a new form of revelation--and for each person, according to his or her stage of development, a different path of realization. This widely praised study of Hindu deities reveals the message of tolerance and adaptability at the heart of this ancient religion.

This book provides an account of the organisation, practices and history of the Daśanāmī-Saṃnyāsīs, one of the largest sects of sādhu-s (‘holy men’) in South Asia, founded, according to tradtion, by the legendary philosopher Śaṅkarācārya.

New New York is the hub of Planet Earth in 3000 years. We have engineered nature, mobilized artificial intelligence and prospered in a spirit of unity and harmony until rumors of aliens in other worlds cause troubles in our own. It is up to Liera, an important official, to take action. But before he can act, forces beyond his grasp intervene. Wizards, bureaucrats, politicians, lovers, aliens and robots set in motion wheels that keep turning. Liera cannot figure himself out, let alone figure out who is friend and who is foe. Yet he must save the people of Planet Earth from themselves. What will humankind learn? What price will the heroes pay?

Pura Besakih is the paramount Hindu temple on Bali. Located high on the slopes of the volcano Mt Agung, it has developed over more than a thousand years into a great complex of 22 separate temples, the largest and central being Pura Penataran Agung. The annual cycle of more than seventy rituals, which symbolically link the temples into a whole, culminates in the centenary ceremony called Ekadasa Rudra (last held in 1979). The temple complex, state-supported at least since the fifteenth century, has undergone a series of architectural and ritual changes. This study combines an analysis of textual and historical sources with the fieldwork methods of anthropology in creating a unified interpretation of this great temple.

Essays on Telugu and South Indian literature and culture by distinguished Telugu scholar Narayana Rao. Velcheru Narayana Rao’s contribution to understanding Indian cultural history, literary production, and intellectual life—specifically from the vantage of the Andhra region—has few parallels. He is one of the very rare scholars to be able to reflect magisterially on the precolonial and colonial periods. He moves easily between Sanskrit and the vernacular traditions, and between the worlds of orality and script. This is because of his mastery of the “classical” Telugu tradition. As Sanjay Subrahmanyam puts it in his Introduction, “To command nearly a thousand years of a literary tradition is no small feat, but more important still is VNR’s ability constantly to offer fresh readings and provocative frameworks for interpretation.” The essays and reflections in Text and Tradition in South India bring together the diverse and foundational contributions made by Narayana Rao to the rewriting of India’s cultural and literary history. The book is for anyone interested in the history of Indian ideas, the social and cultural history of South India, and the massive intellectual traditions of the subcontinent.

The hymn is one of the great highlights of Welsh literature. In this volume, Professor E. Wyn James, an acknowledged expert on Welsh hymnology, draws together the late Professor H. A. Hodges's writings on William Williams Pantycelyn, Ann Griffiths and the Welsh hymn, including his acclaimed English translations of Ann Griffiths's hymns and letters and his unpublished notes on them.