The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India

Front Cover
Princeton University Press, 2004 - History - 343 pages
2 Reviews

Popular Hinduism is shaped, above all, by worship of a multitude of powerful divine beings--a superabundance indicated by the proverbial total of 330 million gods and goddesses. The fluid relationship between these beings and humans is a central theme of this rich and accessible study of popular Hinduism in the context of the society of contemporary India. Lucidly organized and skillfully written, The Camphor Flame brings clarity to an immensely complicated subject. C. J. Fuller combines ethnographic case studies with comparative anthropological analysis and draws on textual and historical scholarship as well. The book's new afterword brings the study up-to-date by examining the relationship between popular Hinduism and contemporary Hindu nationalism.

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I want such camphor which doesn't give smoke with flame

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this book hit harder than a dragon tittie that is being sucked by a cow flying in a tornado over texas. i reccomend this book!

Contents

I
3
II
29
III
57
IV
83
V
106
VI
128
VII
155
VIII
182
X
224
XI
253
XII
262
XIII
291
XIV
295
XV
301
XVI
337
Copyright

IX
204

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 20 - She should do nothing independently, even in her own house. In childhood subject to her father, in youth to her husband, And when her husband is .dead, to her sons, she should never enjoy independence.
Page 12 - When they divided the Man, into how many parts did they apportion him? What do they call his mouth, his two arms and thighs and feet? His mouth became the Brahmin; his arms were made into the Warrior, his thighs the People, and from his feet the Servants were born.
Page 131 - Who was it who was made to dance in the streets, fluting like Lord Krishna, with a garland of old shoes around his neck? It was I, the visiting anthropologist, who had asked far too many questions, and had always to receive respectful answers. Here indeed were the many village kinds of love confounded — respectful regard for parents and patrons; the idealized affection for brothers, sisters, and comrades; the longing...
Page 160 - Her eyes transgressed their bounds — Straining to reach beyond her ears, They fell on him with trembling pupils. When Radha's eyes met her lover, Heavy tears of joy Fell like streaming sweat. 32 She neared the edge of his bed, Masking her smile by pretending to scratch As her friends swarmed outside — When she saw her lover's face Graced by arrows of Love, Even Radha's modesty left in shame. 33 "Blissful Krishna...
Page 10 - They have a covenant that is lived out not only in the five pillars — the profession of faith that "there is no God but Allah, and Muhammed is his Prophet...
Page 25 - Tradition describes a way of life and as such is a vehicle and standard for those who share it to identify with one another as members of a common civilization.
Page 126 - The spatial order of a durbar fixed, created and represented relationships with the ruler. The closer to the person of the ruler or his representative one stood, the higher one's status

About the author (2004)

C. J. Fuller is Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His books include Servants of the Goddess (Cambridge) and The Renewal of the Priesthood (Princeton).

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