The Divine Hierarchy: Popular Hinduism in Central India [hardcover] Babb, Lawrence A. [Jun 01, 1975]

The Divine Hierarchy: Popular Hinduism in Central India

Politics & Social Sciences

Babb, Lawrence A.

Social Sciences

Columbia University Press

In this comparative study of three modern religious movements, Lawrence A. Babb argues that thematic continuities exist between traditional Hinduism and its widely divergent modern expressions.

Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society)

Religion & Spirituality

Hinduism

University of California Press

What does it mean to worship beings that one believes are completely indifferent to, and entirely beyond the reach of, any form of worship whatsoever? How would such a relationship with sacred beings affect the religious life of a community? Using these questions as his point of departure, Lawrence A. Babb explores the ritual culture of image-worshipping Svetambar Jains of the western Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.Jainism traces its lineages back to the ninth century B.C.E. and is, along with Buddhism, the only surviving example of India's ancient non-Vedic religious traditions. It is known and celebrated for its systematic practice of non-violence and for the intense rigor of the asceticism it promotes. A unique aspect of Babb's study is his linking of the Jain tradition to the social identity of existing Jain communities.Babb concludes by showing that Jain ritual culture can be seen as a variation on pan-Indian ritual patterns. In illuminating this little-known religious tradition, he demonstrates that divine "absence" can be as rich as divine "presence" in its possibilities for informing a religious response to the cosmos.

Absent Lord: Ascetics and Kings in a Jain Ritual Culture (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society)

History

Asia

This study shows how myths construct and express the social identities of a community. Focusing on Rajasthan, it describes how myths here mostly centre around the theme of violence and its rejection. The social persona of the trading groups are created around this and hence issues of violence and its control emerge as the symbolic key to trader social identity in this cultural context. Analyzing what myths have to say about traders, the author examines the nature of caste in general, as well as the specific place of trading castes in Indian society. Moreover he looks at the problems of the social identity of traders. By studying myths, the book shows how Indian trading groups have dealt with these problems by using symbolic material provided by their specific social and cultural milieu. Finally the author looks at the role of myth itself as a repository of socially important knowledge.

Alchemies of Violence: Myths of Identity and the Life of Trade in Western India

Business & Money

Economics

SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd

Emerald City: The Birth and Evolution of an Indian Gemstone Industry

A fascinating study of the gemstone industry of Jaipur with special emphasis on its ownership class. Lawrence A. Babb’s Emerald City provides an intriguing portrait of the gemstone cutting industry of the North Indian city of Jaipur. It focuses on the ownership class consisting mainly of Jains and members of northern India’s traditional trading communities. Based on oral-historical investigations of family firms, along with ethnographic observations and interviews, the book describes how the industry is organized, when and how it developed its characteristic features, and its evolving relationship with its social context. Babb pays special attention to the impact of culture on the business, with particular emphasis on the role of religion, specifically Jainism. He also offers a systematic comparison between Jaipur’s gemstone business and New York City’s famed diamond industry. In its application of ethnographic methodology to the study of an indigenous Indian industry, Emerald City delivers a unique perspective on business life in a non-Western setting.

Industries

State University of New York Press

A fascinating study of the gemstone industry of Jaipur with special emphasis on its ownership class.Lawrence A. Babb’s Emerald City provides an intriguing portrait of the gemstone cutting industry of the North Indian city of Jaipur. It focuses on the ownership class consisting mainly of Jains and members of northern India’s traditional trading communities. Based on oral-historical investigations of family firms, along with ethnographic observations and interviews, the book describes how the industry is organized, when and how it developed its characteristic features, and its evolving relationship with its social context. Babb pays special attention to the impact of culture on the business, with particular emphasis on the role of religion, specifically Jainism. He also offers a systematic comparison between Jaipur’s gemstone business and New York City’s famed diamond industry. In its application of ethnographic methodology to the study of an indigenous Indian industry, Emerald City delivers a unique perspective on business life in a non-Western setting.

State Univ of New York Pr

The three modern Hindu movements that Babb describes so well in this compelling book are prominent today in India as well as in other areas of the world. Babb is directly concerned with the Hindu tradition's capacity to manifest common themes in extremely diverse ways. While there is justification for viewing Hinduism as an inclusive cultural order, the three movements challenge the notion of a single Hindu belief system, for each represents a construction of the world and the human situation quite different from the others. In this clear exploration, Babb challenges readers to perform a careful analysis; to discover the ties that bind Hinduism's diverse doctrines, symbols, attitudes, and principles; and to understand Hinduism's worldwide appeal and its political and social effects.

Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition

Waveland Pr Inc.

Jainism is Buddhism’s often overlooked cousin. As the only surviving examples of ancient India’s non-Vedic religious traditions, the two religions are often grouped together as ‘heterodoxies’, but this is to ignore deep differences between Jain and Buddhist beliefs and practices. Unlike Buddhism, Jainism has hardly spread beyond the Indian subcontinent but Jainism survives in India where it is a prominent element in the mix of Indian religions today. As an introduction to Jainism as a religious tradition and way of life, this book pays due attention to Jainism’s history and doctrinal basics. However the author emphasises the ways in which formal Jain teachings are manifested in the practices of both laity and the monastic elite; explores the distinctive Jain systems of cosmographic and biological knowledge and describes how Jainism is woven into the social identities of Jain communities in modern India.

Understanding Jainism (Understanding Faith)

Other Eastern Religions & Sacred Texts

Dunedin Academic Press

The religious map of India is notoriously complex; not only are there indigenous traditions in great variety, but imported faiths such as Islam and Christianity have been added to the mix. Lawrence A. Babb helps the non-specialist navigate this variety. He provides an account of the subcontinent’s principal religions, focusing on how they began, what they teach, what they have become, and how religion fits in modern India’s national life. The book assumes no previous knowledge of Indian institutions or history, and is designed to give readers a big picture, leaving the fine points to the more specialized books. The perspective of the book is historical, tracing India’s religious evolution from the Indus-Valley period (c. 2600-1900 BCE) to the present. With the Indus Valley civilization as its starting point, the author covers the development of Vedic religion, the emergence of dissenting traditions, Buddhism and Jainism, the development of Hinduism and the coming of Islam to the subcontinent. The book’s concluding chapters deal with the impact of colonialism on Indian religions, the role of religion in the independence struggle, and the riddle of religion’s place in the Republic of India’s national identity. This textbook is designed to be used in university-level courses dealing with India and South Asian studies. It will also appeal to a general readership interested in South Asia and to travellers visiting the region.

Religion in India: Past and Present

Liverpool University Press

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Books by Babb, Lawrence A.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Babb, Lawrence A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Divine Hierarchy: Popular Hinduism in Central India

Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society)

Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society)

Absent Lord: Ascetics and Kings in a Jain Ritual Culture (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society)

Alchemies of Violence: Myths of Identity and the Life of Trade in Western India

Emerald City: The Birth and Evolution of an Indian Gemstone Industry

Emerald City: The Birth and Evolution of an Indian Gemstone Industry

Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition

Understanding Jainism (Understanding Faith)

Religion in India: Past and Present