Women in Ochre Robes : Gendering Hindu Renunciation.

Front Cover -- Women in Ochre Robes: Editor -- Women In Ochre Robes: Gendering Hindu Renunciation -- Copyright -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Transliteration -- Introduction: Sannyasinis as Persons -- Social Involvement and Ascetic Withdrawal -- My Own Not-Too-Straight Path to Sannyasinis in Haridwar -- The Personal and Particular -- Power and Representation: Epistemological and Ethical Considerations -- Insiders, Outsiders, and Respectable Women: Some Limits of This Study -- 1. Gendering Hindu Renunciation -- Sannyasa as an Institution: Sociological Messiness -- Sannyasa as an Idea: Singular Aim -- Sannyasa as a Category: Restricted and General Meanings -- A History of Tensions, Debates, and Compromises -- The Monastic Centers as Forces of Institutionalization -- Rethinking Analytical Oppostions -- Female Renunciation: Legitimacy and Historicity -- Not Just Sita: Alternative Models of Femininity in Hindu Scripture -- Sannyasa as a Site of Undetermination -- 2. Walking a Tightrope: Renunciation as Love -- Her Story: From Social Activism to Detached Solitude -- Getting Acquainted -- From Interviews to Participant Observation -- My Story: Gender, Power, and Saintliness -- When to Say "How Does It Concern Me?" -- Walking a Tightrope -- Sannyasa as Love -- 3. Real Saints Don't Need Sleep: Renunciation as Service -- Her Story: From Arya Samaj to Devotional Worship -- Mistress of Rishi Ashram -- Learning to Participate in the Life of Rishi Ashram -- Sonam: Fierce Devotion -- Baiji as Guru: Wisdom, Spiritual Power, and Seva -- Ritual Purity -- Ritual Activities -- Baiji Reflects on Her Gurudom -- Sannyasa as Service -- 4. (Ir?)reconcilable Tensions: Individual Existenceas Spiritual Journey -- Places of Transcendence and Places of Activity -- Time and Life-Stage -- Conclusion.

5. The Genuine and The Fake: What's Attitude Got to Do with It? -- Ordinary Frauds or Dangerous Witches? -- The Cave-Dwelling Firangi Mata -- The Breaking of Renunciant Conventions -- Treating Everyone Equally -- Being without Passions -- Ordinary Sleep or Meditative Trance? -- Vivek and Shraddha -- Status, Power, and Saintliness -- The Mutuality of Gurus and Disciples -- Hiddenness and Authenticity -- 6. Sannyasinis as Women -- Transcending Gender: Advaitic Perspectives on Body and Soul -- Coming Back to Earth: Brahmanical Perspectives on the Relevance of Gender -- So, Does Gender Matter? -- Everyday Obstacles: Sannyasinis as Women -- Spiritual Advantage and Motherhood: Women as Sannyasinis -- Masters and Mothers: Will the Real Sannyasi Please Stand Up? -- Can We Speak of a "Female Voice" in Sannyasa? -- Thinking about Celibacy and Sexuality -- Female Agency and Indeterminacy of Sannyasa -- Subversion and Complicity-What Do We Make of Sannyasinis' Acts of Agency? -- Notes -- Glossary -- Works Cited -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Back Cover.

Focuses on the lives of female Hindu ascetics and the significance of gender to the tradition of renunciation.

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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.