The Place of Devotion: Siting and Experiencing Divinity in Bengal-Vaishnavism

Sukanya Sarbadhikary

Open Access Published by University of California Press 2015

The Place of Devotion

Siting and Experiencing Divinity in Bengal-Vaishnavism

Sukanya Sarbadhikary

In the series South Asia Across the Disciplines

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780520962668

Overview
Contents

About this book

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s new open access publishing program for monographs. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.

Hindu devotional traditions have long been recognized for their sacred geographies as well as the sensuous aspects of their devotees' experiences. Largely overlooked, however, are the subtle links between these religious expressions. Based on intensive fieldwork conducted among worshippers in Bengal’s Navadvip-Mayapur sacred complex, this book discusses the diverse and contrasting ways in which Bengal-Vaishnava devotees experience sacred geography and divinity. Sukanya Sarbadhikary documents an extensive range of practices, which draw on the interactions of mind, body, and viscera. She shows how perspectives on religion, embodiment, affect, and space are enriched when sacred spatialities of internal and external forms are studied at once.

Author / Editor information

Sarbadhikary Sukanya :

Sukanya Sarbadhikary is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Presidency University, Kolkata.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Note on Transliteration Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
1. Introduction: Siting and Experiencing Divinity in Bengal-Vaishnavism Open Access Download PDF	1
2. Discovering Gupta-Vrindavan: Finding Selves and Places in the Storied Landscape Open Access Download PDF	34
3. Imagining in Gupta-Vrindavan: Experiencing the Self and Emotions in the Mind-Heart Landscape Open Access Download PDF	70
4. Bodying Gupta-Vrindavan: Experiencing the Self and Emotions in the Corporeal Space Open Access Download PDF	109
5. Serving Gupta-Vrindavan: Devotional Service in the Physical Place and the Workings of the “International Society” Open Access Download PDF	150
6. Listening to Vrindavan: Chanting and Musical Experience as Embodying a Devotional Soundscape Open Access Download PDF	179
7. Conclusion Open Access Download PDF	214
Notes Open Access Download PDF	225
Glossary Open Access Download PDF	235
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	239
Index Open Access Download PDF	261