Religion in Early Assam

Religion in Early Assam
Author: Rena Laisram
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 154
Release: 2019-04-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1527533468

This volume offers a fresh approach to the existing literature on religion in Early Assam, bringing together perspectives from the fields of archaeology, religion, history and heritage. For decades, the Naraka legend has been incorporated into history without due critical attention and analysis of the historical context, while archaeological studies in religion have been largely descriptive. The sacred landscape of the erstwhile Prāgjyotiṣa and Kāmarūpa kingdoms had linkages with the history of other parts of India, and beyond. This book offers a comprehensive reconstruction of religion in Early Assam based on an exhaustive use of archaeological sources. It opens with a useful overview of the conceptual and methodological foundations of religion, archaeology and history. Heritage conservation of sacred sites such as Kāmākhyā which face the impact of rapid urbanization illustrates implications for Assam’s history and identity.

Sita’s Voice in the Assamese Rāmāyaṇa

Sita’s Voice in the Assamese Rāmāyaṇa
Author: Tilottoma Misra, (ed.)
Publisher: Zubaan
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2024-06-28
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9390514274

Sita’s Voice in the Assamese Rāmāyaṇa is a translation of select verses from the Assamese Saptakāṇḍa Rāmāyaṇa of Mādhava Kandalī, Śaṅkaradeva and Madhavdeva, written between the 14th-15th centuries CE. This vernacular rendition of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa has been translated with a scholarly introduction by Tilottoma Misra. The selected verses represent a distinctive creative rendition of the Vālmīki text from the region of Assam by adding new emotional and philosophic dimensions to it. Especially in the Uttarakāṇḍa ascribed to Śaṅkaradeva, Sita’s voice acquires a unique quality in her final rejection of Rāma thereby expressing her ultimate disillusionment with him, the much-acclaimed paragon of all virtues.

The Quest for Modern Assam: A History

The Quest for Modern Assam: A History
Author: Arupjyoti Saikia
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Total Pages: 607
Release: 2023-08-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 9357082123

'A model work of historical scholarship'-Ramachandra Guha 'The most well-researched, comprehensive history of contemporary Assam ever written'-Partha Chatterjee The crucial battles of World War II fought in India's north-east-followed soon after by Independence and Partition-had a critical impact on the making of modern Assam. In the three decades following 1947, the state of Assam underwent massive political turmoil, geographical instability, and social and demographic upheaval, among others. Later, the truncated state suffered widespread unrest as various groups believed their cultural identity and political leverage were under threat. New social energies and political forces were unleashed and came to the fore. Definitive, comprehensive and unputdownable, The Quest for Modern Assam explores the interconnected layers of political, environmental, economic and cultural processes that shaped the development of Assam since the 1940s. It offers an authoritative account that sets new standards in the writing of regional political history. Not to be missed by any one keen on Assam, India, Asia or world history in the twentieth century.

Modern Practices in North East India

Modern Practices in North East India
Author: Lipokmar Dzüvichü
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2017-11-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351271342

This book brings together essays on North East India from across disciplines to explore new understandings of the colonial and contemporary realities of the region. Departing from the usual focus on identity and politics, it offers fresh representations from history, social anthropology, culture, literature, politics, performance and gender. Through the lens of modern practices, the essays in this volume engage with diverse issues, including state-making practices, knowledge production and its politics, history writing, colonialism, role of capital, institutions, changing locations of orality and modernity, production and reception of texts, performances and literatures, social change and memory, violence and gender relations, along with their wider historical, geographical and ideational mappings. In the process, they illustrate how the specificities of the region can become useful sites to interrogate global phenomena and processes — for instance, in what ways ideas and practices of modernity played an important role in framing the region and its people. Further, the volume underlines the complex ways in which the past came to be imagined, produced and contested in the region. With its blend of inter-disciplinary approach, analytical models and perspectives, this book will be useful to scholars, researchers and general readers interested in North East India and those working on history, frontiers and borderlands, gender, cultural studies and literature.

Contemporary Yoga and Sacred Texts

Contemporary Yoga and Sacred Texts
Author: Susanne Scholz
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2024-09-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0429589581

This book explores the textual traditions that authorize the history, legitimacy, and authenticity of today’s physical posture practice. The volume focuses on why and how yoga communities have adopted various texts that they consider sacred or spiritually meaningful. Among the texts discussed are Yogananda‘s Autobiography, Sri Aurobindo's Savitri, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, the Bhagavad Gita, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Upanishads, the Vedas, and the Yoginī Tantra. Famous thinkers included are Aurobindo, Yogananda, Osho-Rajneesh, Sogyal Rimpoche, Charles Johnston, and Howard Thurman. Offering a starting point, the ten chapters address the nature, selection, and function of various ancient and contemporary texts read in contemporary yoga settings. The attention centers on how and why texts are read and for whom they are read. As yoga is practiced in ashrams, yoga studios, gyms, meeting rooms, and even private living rooms, scholarly approaches to investigate the connections between yoga and texts are necessarily diverse. This volume aims to inspire further scholarship on the reading of texts in past and present yoga communities. The collection demonstrates that textual tradions deserve to be an important part of contemporary yoga scholarship. The volume will, therefore, be of great interest to scholars of religious studies, yoga studies, and Asian studies, as well as those studying sacred texts.