Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia : Living with Bengali Bauls.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of figures -- Acknowledgements -- Glossary -- Key characters -- Preface -- Introduction -- A historical perspective -- Coming to know a family of Vaishnavas and Bauls -- Chapter outline -- Style of writing -- Notes -- 1. Life stories: taking the plunge -- Sunita: housekeeping -- Muni Baba: seeking spiritual wisdom -- Tara: a young girl goes begging -- Tara's first flow -- Ceremony of initiation: a mother and a daughter -- Courtship: love between neighbors -- Karun: playing the flute, herding the cows -- Kalpana: a promising student -- Tara's Vaishnava wedding: white and yellow flowers -- Building a house -- Nothing new -- Notes -- 2. Caste, honor and devotion -- Caste and class -- The Brahman caste -- The greatest caste -- Rai Das: a caste framed as dirty -- Muchi Ram Das I: a loving low-caste man -- Muchi Ram Das II: love and dirt -- Suffering as self-restraint -- Mother Santasi: women suffer more -- Setting themselves apart -- Householders and sadhus -- Worshiping Mother Sarasvati: "Brahmans are ignorant" -- Brahman and Vaishnava ceremonies of initiation -- Worshiping Shiva: the head and the phallus -- Notes -- 3. Gardens of delight: food and yogic sex -- Body songs -- Retaining seed -- Lentil soup -- Seed in body substances -- Flowers in the body -- Rup -- At the ashram -- Thoughts and emotions -- Performing songs -- Muni Baba suffers from tuberculosis -- Notes -- 4. Begging and initiation -- Reciprocity -- Singing on the trains -- The guru-disciple bond -- Dayal guru -- Substances exuded by the guru -- Greed and desire -- Mantras and seed -- Red and white -- Will Papay get a sannyas mantra? -- Shame as a key emotion -- Visiting Dayal guru -- Notes -- 5. Festivals and programs -- Women's dress and comportment -- The festival called Paus.

The festival called Shaktighar in Kolkata -- The festival called Jay Deb -- Singing in villages -- Money and food: dakshina and seva -- Lack of patrons -- Concluding remarks -- Notes -- 6. Death in the family -- The mouth fire ceremony -- The Jat Vaishnava burial -- Honey in the mouth of the dead -- Salting the body of the dead -- Are Jat Vaishnava ignorant? -- Jat Vaishnava self-control -- The demise of Hira's grandfather: a layman's death -- Village border ceremonies (ghather shraddha) -- Fasting for the dead -- Pinda offerings to the deceased -- House ceremonies (gharer shraddha) -- Keeping apart -- Concluding remarks -- Notes -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

The intimate ethnography presented in this book recounts the life stories of members from a single family, shining light on their past and present tribulations bound up with being poor and of a lowly caste.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.