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Objects of worship are one aspect of the material dimension of lived religion in South Asia. The omnipresence of objects of worship and their use is one of the themes that cut across the religious traditions in the pluralistic religious culture of the region. Power becomes manifest in these objects and for the devotees the objects of worship may represent power regardless of religious identity. This book looks at how these objects dominate the religious landscape of South Asia, and how they are of significance not just to the religious but also the social life of the region.
List of contents
Chapter 1: The Śivaliṅga Between Artifact and Nature: The Ghṛṣṇeśvaraliṅga in Varanasi and the Bāṇaliṅgas from the Narmada River
Chapter 2: Jhāṅkīs: "Living Images" as Objects of Worship in Himachal Pradesh
Chapter 3: The Material Culture of Sāṃkhya: Kapila as Object of Worship
Chapter 4: Yantras as Objects of Worship in Hindu and Tantric Traditions
Materiality, Aesthetics, and Practice
Chapter 5: Wheel of the Liberated: Jain Siddhacakras, Past and Present
Chapter 6: Object of Worship as a Free Choice: Viṭhobā (god), Dñyāneśvar (saint), the Dñyāneśvarī (book), or Samādhī (grave)?
Chapter 7: Architectural Heritage and Modern Rituals: The Ahmad Shah Bahmani Mausoleum between Old Political Concerns and New Religious Perceptions
Chapter 8: Lāl Beg Underground: The Passing of an "Untouchable" God
Chapter 9: Making the Book a Living Guru: Ritual Practices Among Contemporary Sikhs
Chapter 10: Worshipping the Sword: The Practice of Śāstar Pūjā in the Sikh Warrior Tradition
Chapter 11: Rites of Reverence, Ways of Worship: The Bodhi Tree in Bodhgayā as a Material Object and Focus of Devotion
About the author
Knut A. Jacobsen is Professor in the History of Religions at the University of Bergen, Norway. He is author and editor of around thirty books and numerous articles and is the founding editor in chief of the six volume Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2009-2014).
Mikael Aktor is Associate Professor of Study of Religions at University of Southern Denmark. His publications include Ritualisation and Segregation: The Untouchability Complex in Indian dharma literature with special reference to Parāśarasmṛti and Parāśaramādhavīya (2008).
Kristina Myrvold is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the Department of Cultural Studies, Linnaeus University, Sweden. She has published several articles on Sikh practices in Sweden and in India, and is the editor of publications such as Sikhs Across Borders: Transnational Practices Among European Sikhs (with Knut A. Jacobsen, 2013).
