Cosmology Of The Sacred World (The Vision of the Cosmos of Different Peoples of the World)

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Ancient cultures everywhere sought (among other philosophical speculations), to unravel the mystery of the Universe: its origin, its ultimate root, and what-sustains and energizes it. As such, they not only tried to conceive the Universe according to their own vision, but also used varied metaphors/images to communicate the grand cosmic mystery that transcends the constraints of space and time, of logic and casuality. Exploring beyond the 'New-Age' trend, this volume offers some of the insightful studies of ancient cosmology and the unique human experience producing its diversified expressions across the continents.

Going into the beliefs of different ethnic groups, together with the data from different archaeological horizons, the book brings out the traditional cosmic world-view of Rome, India, Colombia and, more specially, of Meso-America - a cultural area which, till the Spanish invasion in the sixteenth century, including most of the present Republic of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and parts of Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Also included here is a comparative picture of the cosmologies of India, China and Meso-America.

Essentially an assemblage of erudite presentations of a symposium - held during the XVII International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences: 1995, Mexico City, the book captures a cross section of the ongoing worldwide researches on cosmology. Which are bound to interest the scholars of anthropology, social anthropology, ethnology, religion and traditional cultures.

About the Author:

Baidyanath Saraswati, an anthropologist of international eminence, is Unesco-Professor at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the arts, New Delhi. He is former Professor of Anthropology at the North-Eastern Hill University; Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study; and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Ranchi and Visva-Bharati.

Yolotl Gonzalez Torres: Born in Mexico City. M.A. Sc. And Ph.D. in Anthropology from the National School of Anthropology, and the National University of Mexico, two years studies of Indian anthropology at the Delhi University. Director of the Center of Asian Studies, of the school of Anthropology of the Ibero American University, Curator of the Asian Section of the Museum of Cultures, of the National Institute of Anthropology (INAH), Director of the Department of Ethnology and Social Anthropology (INAH); Director of the Museum de El Carmen (INAH).

Author of the Books: The Astral Workship of the Stars Among the Mexico; Human Sacrifice among the Mexica; and Dictionary of Mythology and Religions in Mesoamerica. About 50 articles including "Mesoamerica, History of Study" in the Encyclopedia of Religion. ed. By Mircea Eliade at the Columbia University in 1985, and several articles in Papeles de la India, edited by the ICCR.