Religious process
Subtitle: the Puranas and the making of a regional tradition
By: Kunal Chakrabarti.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: New Delhi; Oxford
Language: eng
Number of pages: 368
Subjects: Puranas; Brahmanism -- India -- Bengal
Description: "This book traces the evolution of a process of interaction between brahmanism and the indigenous social groups of Bengal during the early medieval period. Following the logic of cultural negotiation implicit in the regional Puranas, the book unravels a pattern that governed this relationship of reciprocity, contestation and domination. Two significant methodological issues have been addressed - the manner in which didactic Sanskritic texts can be read for the reconstruction of early Indian history, and the application of contemporary anthropological concepts to such texts to help elucidate cultural contestations in pre-modern India. Focussing on Bengal, Chakrabarti examines a civilizational process fundamental to the unfolding of Indian history."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Texts and traditions: the Bengal Puranas; title: Cultural interaction and religious process; title: The diffusion of Brahmanism and the transformation of Buddhism; title: Appropriation as a historical process: the cult of the goddess; title: Vratas: the transmission of Brahmanical culture; title: The making of regional tradition of Bengal.