The Puranic World- Environment Gender Ritual and Myth

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About the Book The present book is a collection of essays written at different points of time, and published in various reputed journals and books. What blends them together is the use of the primary source material in the form of a vast compendium of Puranic literature (backed by epigraphic, archaeological and anthropological data), which has been utilized to arrive at conclusions pertaining to changes in Indian society and religion during the latter half of first millennium AD, when the major Puranas were being compiled. The period represents a watershed in Indian history, for it marked a transition from a commercially viable economic order to a closed feudal economy. The social and religious dimensions of the Brahmanical system were particularly impacted by such a transition resulting in some innovative forms of restructuring.

It has been the purpose behind most of the present articles to re- assess and utilize the available Puranic evidence for getting fresh insights into the rationale and precise nature of these changes. The key areas of thrust in these articles are changes in material culture, awareness, and mode of dealing with environmental issues, gender based differentiation, recent ritual formations, such as Mahadana and Tirthas, as well as the utilization of myth as a mode of expressing historical reality.

About the Author Vijay Nath retired as the Associate Professor, Department of History, Janki Devi Memorial College, and University of Delhi. She is the author of books, Dana: Gift-system in Ancient India and Puranas and Acculturation: A Historico-Anthropological Perspective, and has contributed papers dealing with ancient Indian social and ritual formations in leading journals and anthologies. She was the sectional president of the Indian History Congress held in Kolkata, 2001.

Preface This volume is a collection of essays written at different points of time; all except two have already been published in journals and books. A common thread that binds them together is the use of the wide spectrum of Puranic literature as the primary source material. backed by epigraphic, archaeological, and anthropological data, in order to investigate social and religious change between AD 300 and 1000. This early medieval period represents a watershed in Indian history, for it marked a transition from a commercially viable economic order to a closed feudal economy thus heralding the beginnings of the feudal society in India.

The wide-ranging changes in economy and polity, it has been found, impacted society and religion in a seminal manner. This is especially evident in the case of the tradition-bound brahmanical system. Its religious and social dimensions are known to have undergone drastic, at times even innovative, forms of restructuring. Most of the essays in this volume utilize and reassess the available Puranic evidence for fresh insights into the rationale and the precise nature of these changes.

Besides drawing upon a common original source, namely the Puranas, the papers in the present anthology also share the basic assumption that the Puranas betray a sharp attitudinal shift over time. The change in the stance sported by the Purana composers becomes especially manifest when compared with that of their brahmanical predecessors. Whereas the earlier brahmanical texts are found to project a rather elitist world-view, the Puranas exhibit a completely popular base and character.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages