Structure and Cognition: Aspects of Hindu Caste and Ritual
Veena Das
Abstract
Hindu caste and ritual are two features of the Hindu society that are discussed in Structure and Cognition. The book presents a thorough analysis of two Sanskrit texts, the Dharmaranya Purana and the Grihya Sutra of Gobhila; the former contains information on Hindu castes, while the latter contains information on Hindu rituals. The discussions try to show that Sanskrit texts—which are not normally used to study Indian social institutions—may also be used to study different features of Hindu social life. It introduces topics such as jatis and the categories of the Brahman, sanyasi, and king, an ... More
Hindu caste and ritual are two features of the Hindu society that are discussed in Structure and Cognition. The book presents a thorough analysis of two Sanskrit texts, the Dharmaranya Purana and the Grihya Sutra of Gobhila; the former contains information on Hindu castes, while the latter contains information on Hindu rituals. The discussions try to show that Sanskrit texts—which are not normally used to study Indian social institutions—may also be used to study different features of Hindu social life. It introduces topics such as jatis and the categories of the Brahman, sanyasi, and king, and studies the issue of the sacred and the profane. It also considers the differences between the Chaturvedi Brahmans and Trivedi Brahmans, and narrates several myths found in the Dharmaranya Purana. The book also contains discussions on the right and left and the basic categorization of space that is used in Hindu rituals.
Keywords:
Hindu society,
Sanskrit texts,
Dharmaranya Purana,
Grihya Sutra,
Indian social institutions,
Brahmans
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2012 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198077404 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2012 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077404.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Veena Das, author
Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, USA
More
Less
