A Carnival Of Parting

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A Carnival of Parting

Author : Ann Grodzins Gold
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 9780520911550
Total Pages : 396 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (115 download)

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Book Synopsis A Carnival of Parting by : Ann Grodzins Gold

Download or read book A Carnival of Parting written by Ann Grodzins Gold and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-07-28 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Madhu Natisar Nath is a Rajasthani farmer with no formal schooling. He is also a singer, a musician, and a storyteller. At the center of A Carnival of Parting are Madhu Nath's oral performances of two linked tales about the legendary Indian kings, Bharthari of Ujjain and Gopi Chand of Bengal. Both characters, while still in their prime, leave thrones and families to be initiated as yogis—a process rich in adventure and melodrama, one that offers unique insights into popular Hinduism's view of world renunciation. Ann Grodzins Gold presents these living oral epic traditions as flowing narratives, transmitting to Western readers the pleasures, moods, and interactive dimensions of a village bard's performance. Three introductory chapters and an interpretive afterword, together with an appendix on the bard's language by linguist David Magier, supply A Carnival of Parting with a full range of ethnographic, historical, and cultural backgrounds. Gold gives a frank and engaging portrayal of the bard Madhu Nath and her work with him. The tales are most profoundly concerned, Gold argues, with human rather than divine realities. In a compelling afterword, she highlights their thematic emphases on politics, love, and death. Madhu Nath's vital colloquial telling of Gopi Chand and Bharthari's stories depicts renunciation as inevitable and interpersonal attachments as doomed, yet celebrates human existence as a "carnival of parting."

Caste, Marginalisation, and Resistance

Author : Kunal Debnath
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004689389
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (46 download)

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Book Synopsis Caste, Marginalisation, and Resistance by : Kunal Debnath

Download or read book Caste, Marginalisation, and Resistance written by Kunal Debnath and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-11-13 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The identity politics of the householder Naths (Yogis), on the one hand, is one of the oldest and most persistent identity assertions in Bengal and Assam. On the other, for an array of reasons, the identity assertion of the householder Naths of Bengal and Assam has failed to draw academic curiosity so far. Since the late nineteenth century, a segment of the Naths, largely educated and elite, has been crafting their identity as Brahman grounded on their “origin myth”, negotiating with the British colonial administration through different census enumerations, as well as internal social reforms. One of the primary reasons for their current lagging is that the Naths never politicised their identity and demands, and did not mobilise themselves in the democratic political arena.

Bhakti Religion in North India

Author : David N. Lorenzen
Publisher : SUNY Press
ISBN 13 : 9780791420263
Total Pages : 348 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis Bhakti Religion in North India by : David N. Lorenzen

Download or read book Bhakti Religion in North India written by David N. Lorenzen and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1994-11-09 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In India, religion continues to be an absolutely vital source for social as well as personal identity. All manner of groups--political, occupational, and social--remain grounded in specific religious communities. This book analyzes the development of the modern Hindu and Sikh communities in North India starting from about the fifteenth century, when the dominant bhakti tradition of Hinduism became divided into two currents: the sagun and the nirgun. The sagun current, led mostly by Brahmins, has remained dominant in most of North India and has served as the ideological base of the development of modern Hindu nationalism. Several chapters explore the rise of this religious and political movement, paying particular attention to the role played by devotion to Ram. Alternative trends do exist in sagun tradition, however, and are represented here by chapters on the low-caste saint Chokhamel and the tantric sect founded by Kina Ram. The nirgun current, led mostly by persons of Ksand artisan castes, formed the base of both the Sikh community, founded by Guru Nanak, and of various non-Brahmin sectarian movements derived from such saints as Kabir, Raidas, Dadu, and Shiv Dayal Singh. Two chapters discuss the formation of a distinctive Sikh theology and a Sikh community identity separate from that of the Hindus. Other chapters discuss the validity of the sagun-nirgun distinction within Hindu tradition and the interplay of social and religious ideas in nirgun hagiographic texts and in sectarian movements such as the Adi Dharma Mission and the Radhasoami Satsang.

Contemporary Hinduism

Author : P. Pratap Kumar
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317546350
Total Pages : 548 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

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Book Synopsis Contemporary Hinduism by : P. Pratap Kumar

Download or read book Contemporary Hinduism written by P. Pratap Kumar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-09-11 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most overviews of Hindu belief and practice follow a history from the ancient Vedas to today. Such approaches privilege Brahmanical traditions and create a sense of Hinduism as a homogenous system and culture, and one which is largely unchanging and based solely on sacred texts. In reality, modern Hindu faith and culture present an extraordinary range of dynamic beliefs and practices. 'Contemporary Hinduism' aims to capture the full breadth of the Hindu worldview as practised today, both in the sub-continent and the diaspora. Global and regional faith, ritualised and everyday practice, Brahmanical and non-Brahmanical belief, and ascetic and devotional traditions are all discussed. Throughout, the discussion is illustrated with detailed case material and images, whilst key terms are highlighted and explained in a glossary. 'Contemporary Hinduism' presents students with a lively and engaging survey of Hinduism, offering an introduction to the oldest and one of the most complex of world religions.

State Laughter

Author : Evgeny Dobrenko
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192576844
Total Pages : 435 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (925 download)

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Book Synopsis State Laughter by : Evgeny Dobrenko

Download or read book State Laughter written by Evgeny Dobrenko and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-12-23 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stalin's reign of terror was not all doom and gloom, much of it was (meant to be) funny! From comedy films to satirical theatre, from caricature to court speeches, and from Stalin's own writings to bawdy folk songs, humour pervaded the popular culture of the USSR. Until now, conventional wisdom has held that humour was a hallmark of the subversive, but in State Laughter Dobrenko and Jonsson-Skradol do away with that notion. Instead, tracing the development of official humour, satire, and comedy from the revolution through to the 1950s, they explore how and why laughter was a core component of the survival of the Soviet regime. Grounded in Soviet intellectual and cultural history, State Laughter offers the first comprehensive analysis of state-sponsored popular culture in Stalin's Soviet Union.

Cultural Studies in India

Author : Rana Nayar
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351570374
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (515 download)

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Book Synopsis Cultural Studies in India by : Rana Nayar

Download or read book Cultural Studies in India written by Rana Nayar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume discusses the development of cultural studies in India. It shows how inter-disciplinarity and cultural pluralism form the basis of this emerging field. It deals with contemporary debates and interpretations of post-colonial theory, subaltern studies, Marxism and post-Marxism, nationalism and post-nationalism. Drawing upon literature, linguistics, history, political science, media and theatre studies, and cultural anthropology, it explores themes such as caste, indigenous peoples, vernacular languages and folklore and their role in the making of historical consciousness. A significant intervention in the area, this book will be useful to scholars and students of cultural studies and theory, literature, history, cultural anthropology, sociology, and media and mass communication, as well as the general reader.

The Making of Medieval Panjab

Author : Surinder Singh
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000760685
Total Pages : 485 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis The Making of Medieval Panjab by : Surinder Singh

Download or read book The Making of Medieval Panjab written by Surinder Singh and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-09-30 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book seeks to reconstruct the past of undivided Panjab during five medieval centuries. It opens with a narrative of the efforts of Turkish warlords to achieve control in the face of tribal resistance, internal dissensions and external invasions. It examines the linkages of the ruling class with Zamindars and Sufis, paving the way for canal irrigation and agrarian expansion, thus strengthening the roots of the state in the region. While focusing on the post-Timur phase, it tries to make sense of the new ways of acquiring political power. This work uncovers the perpetual attempts of Zamindars to achieve local dominance, particularly in the context of declining presence of the state in the countryside. In this ambitious enterprise, they resorted to the support of their clans, adherence to hallowed customs and recurrent use of violence, all applied through a system of collective and participatory decision-making. The volume traces the growth of Sufi lineages built on training disciples, writing books, composing poetry and claiming miraculous powers. Besides delving into the relations of the Sufis with the state and different sections of the society, it offers an account of the rituals at a prominent shrine. Paying equal attention to the southeastern region, it deals with engagement of the Sabiris, among other exemplars, with the Islamic spirituality. Inclusive in approach and lucid in expression, the work relies on a wide range of evidence from Persian chronicles, Sufi literature and folklore, some of which have been used for the first time. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Say to the Sun, "don't Rise," and to the Moon, "don't Set"

Author : Anne Feldhaus
Publisher : South Asia Research
ISBN 13 : 0199357641
Total Pages : 633 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (993 download)

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Book Synopsis Say to the Sun, "don't Rise," and to the Moon, "don't Set" by : Anne Feldhaus

Download or read book Say to the Sun, "don't Rise," and to the Moon, "don't Set" written by Anne Feldhaus and published by South Asia Research. This book was released on 2014 with total page 633 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pastoralist traditions have long been extraordinarily important to the social, economic, political, and cultural life of western India. The Marathi-language oral literature of the Dhangar shepherds is not only one of the most important elements of the traditional cultural life of its region, but also a treasure of world literature. This volume presents translations of two lively and well-crafted examples of the ovi, a genre typical of the oral literature of Dhangars. The two ovis in the volume narrate the stories of Biroba and Dhuloba, two of these shepherds' most important gods. Each of the ovis tells an elaborate story of the birth of the god-a miraculous and complicated process in both cases-and of the struggles each one goes through in order to find and win his bride. The extensive introduction provides a literary analysis of the ovis and discusses what they reveal about the cosmology, geography, society, and political arrangements of their performers' world, as well as about the performers' views of pastoralists and women.

The Alchemical Body

Author : David Gordon White
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 9780226894997
Total Pages : 620 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (949 download)

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Book Synopsis The Alchemical Body by : David Gordon White

Download or read book The Alchemical Body written by David Gordon White and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning in the fifth century A.D., various Indian mystics began to innovate a body of techniques with which to render themselves immortal. These people called themselves Siddhas, a term formerly reserved for a class of demigods, revered by Hindus and Buddhists alike, who were known to inhabit mountaintops or the atmospheric regions. Over the following five to eight hundred years, three types of Hindu Siddha orders emerged, each with its own specialized body of practice. These were the Siddha Kaula, whose adherents sought bodily immortality through erotico-mystical practices; the Rasa Siddhas, medieval India's alchemists, who sought to transmute their flesh-and-blood bodies into immortal bodies through the ingestion of the mineral equivalents of the sexual fluids of the god Siva and his consort, the Goddess; and the Nath Siddhas, whose practice of hatha yoga projected the sexual and laboratory practices of the Siddha Kaula and Rasa Siddhas upon the internal grid of the subtle body. For India's medieval Siddhas, these three conjoined types of practice led directly to bodily immortality, supernatural powers, and self-divinization; in a word, to the exalted status of the semidivine Siddhas of the older popular cults. In The Alchemical Body, David Gordon White excavates and centers within its broader Indian context this lost tradition of the medieval Siddhas. Working from a body of previously unexplored alchemical sources, he demonstrates for the first time that the medieval disciplines of Hindu alchemy and hatha yoga were practiced by one and the same people, and that they can only be understood when viewed together. Human sexual fluids and the structures of the subtle body aremicrocosmic equivalents of the substances and apparatus manipulated by the alchemist in his laboratory. With these insights, White opens the way to a new and more comprehensive understanding of the entire sweep of medieval Indian mysticism, within the broader context of south Asian Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Islam. This book is an essential reference for anyone interested in Indian yoga, alchemy, and the medieval beginnings of science.

Nectar Gaze and Poison Breath

Author : Aditya Malik
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198034202
Total Pages : 578 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (98 download)

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Book Synopsis Nectar Gaze and Poison Breath by : Aditya Malik

Download or read book Nectar Gaze and Poison Breath written by Aditya Malik and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-02-24 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a detailed study of the oral narrative of Shri Devnarayan along with the first English translation of this popular Rajasthani folk narrative. The narrative extolling the deeds of Lord Devnarayan is performed by itinerant singers during all night vigils in front of a 9-meter long, elaborately painted cloth scroll that depicts scenes and characters from the story. Aditya Malik uses the narrative to explore and ask a range of innovative questions relevant to the study of Indian folk culture and Hinduism as a whole: How is orality conceptualized and practiced? What is the relationship between spoken and visual signs? How do Devnarayan's devotees create multiple discourses concerning religion, community, and history within and though the medium of the narrative? Malik's analysis suggests that the narrative provides a framework for establishing linkages between different communities, past and present, spoken word and visual image, as well as contending religious ideologies. His interpretation is interspersed with excerpts from interviews with devotees and singers, other tales and texts, and observations from his field research that together invoke the worlds created by the narrative.

Purifying the Earthly Body of God

Author : Lance E. Nelson
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 1438414382
Total Pages : 380 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)

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Book Synopsis Purifying the Earthly Body of God by : Lance E. Nelson

Download or read book Purifying the Earthly Body of God written by Lance E. Nelson and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1998-09-03 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining the relation between religion and ecological concern in Hinduism from textual, theological, anthropological, feminist, and eco-activist approaches, this volume brings together an international, interdisciplinary group of scholars. The book covers the most relevant aspects of the Hindu tradition, searching out the ecological implications of pilgrimage and sacred geography, earth and river goddesses, the beliefs and ritual practice of villagers, caste consciousness, and Vedanta, Tantra, and Goddess theologies.

Women in Ochre Robes

Author : Meena Khandelwal
Publisher : SUNY Press
ISBN 13 : 9780791459225
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (592 download)

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Book Synopsis Women in Ochre Robes by : Meena Khandelwal

Download or read book Women in Ochre Robes written by Meena Khandelwal and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focuses on the lives of female Hindu ascetics and the significance of gender to the tradition of renunciation. Meena Khandelwal offers an engaging and intimate portrait of extraordinary Hindu women in India who wear "ochre robes," signifying their renunciation of marriage and family for lives of celibacy, asceticism, and spiritual discipline. While the largely male Hindu ascetic tradition of sannyasa renders its initiates ritually "dead" to their previous identities, the women portrayed here are very much alive. They struggle with, and joke about, the tensions and ironies of living in the world while trying not to be of it. Khandelwal juxtaposes the common refrain that "in renunciation there is no male and female" with arguments that underscore the importance of gender. In exploring these apparent contradictions, she brings together worldly and otherworldly values within renunciation and argues that these create tensions that are at once emotional, social, and philosophical. Women in Ochre Robes is a fascinating travelogue of a pilgrimage into the women-centered ashrams of the hoary pilgrim town of Haridwar Unlike similar academic studies, it locates the researcher squarely in the midst of her subjects. This methodology is refreshing. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute a delightful book compelling and revealing. Religious Studies Review "This book provides richly detailed accounts of the author's many months living with, observing, and interacting with sannyasinis, their followers, and fellow ascetics. Descriptions of daily life at the ashrams; reports of long conversations; attention to the details of place, dress, food and its preparation; and the descriptions of visitors all help create vivid pictures of the lives of the sannyasinis." Anne Mackenzie Pearson, author of Because It Gives Me Peace of Mind: Ritual Fasts in the Religious Lives of Hindu Women "This is a delightfully readable, thoroughly original, and wonderfully insightful work. Not only does it offer invaluable new visions of the under-studied topic of female renouncers in Hindu traditions, but it also illuminates South Asian gender constructs in general, as well as the broader relationship between householders and renouncers that has long fascinated observers of Indian society." Ann Grodzins Gold, author of A Carnival of Parting

The Goddesses' Henchmen

Author : Lindsey Harlan
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 9780195154269
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (542 download)

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Book Synopsis The Goddesses' Henchmen by : Lindsey Harlan

Download or read book The Goddesses' Henchmen written by Lindsey Harlan and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2003 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title examines the worship of ancestral heroes in Rajasthan, India. Arguing that Rajput hero stories and songs encapsulate and express ideals of perfection and masculinity, it analyzes representations of wives and goddesses as tacit allies dispatching sacrificed heroes to heavenly paradise.

The Homeric Simile in Comparative Perspectives

Author : Jonathan L. Ready
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198802552
Total Pages : 332 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (988 download)

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Book Synopsis The Homeric Simile in Comparative Perspectives by : Jonathan L. Ready

Download or read book The Homeric Simile in Comparative Perspectives written by Jonathan L. Ready and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting a new take on what made the Homeric epics such successful examples of verbal artistry, this volume explores the construction of the Homeric simile and the performance of Homeric poetry from the neglected comparative perspectives offered by the study of modern-day oral traditions

Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia

Author : Kristin Hanssen
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 135135759X
Total Pages : 214 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (513 download)

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Book Synopsis Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia by : Kristin Hanssen

Download or read book Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia written by Kristin Hanssen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-04-19 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Noted for their haunting melodies and enigmatic lyrics, Bauls have been portrayed as spiritually enlightened troubadours traveling around the countryside in West Bengal in India and in Bangladesh. As emblems of Bengali culture, Bauls have long been a subject of scholarly debates which center on their esoteric practices, and middle class imaginaries of the category Baul. Adding to this literature, the intimate ethnography presented in this book recounts the life stories of members from a single family, shining light on their past and present tribulations bound up with being poor and of a lowly caste. It shows that taking up the Baul path is a means of softening the stigma of their lower caste identity in that religious practice, where women play a key role, renders the body pure. The path is also a source of monetary income in that begging is considered part of their vocation. For women, the Baul path has the added implication of lessening constraints of gender. While the book describes a family of singers, it also portrays the wider society in which they live, showing how their lives connect and interlace with other villagers, a theme not previously explored in literature on Bauls. A novel approach to the study of women, the body and religion, this book will be of interest to undergraduates and graduates in the field of the anthropology. In addition, it will appeal to students of everyday religious lives as experienced by the poor, through case studies in South Asia. The book provides further evidence that renunciation in South Asia is not a uniform path, despite claims to the contrary. There is also a special interest in Bauls among those familiar with the Bengali speaking region. While this book speaks to that interest, its wider appeal lies in the light it sheds on religion, the body, life histories, and poverty.

Sayings of Gorakhnath

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199977690
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (999 download)

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Book Synopsis Sayings of Gorakhnath by :

Download or read book Sayings of Gorakhnath written by and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-12 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sayings of Gorakhnath presents a translation of late-medieval texts in Old Hindi, traditionally attributed to one of the founders of the Order of Nath Yogis. The Naths are associated with the creation and development of hatha yoga, with important historical and ideological links to Hindu tantra and alchemy. The texts gathered in this collection on the one hand provide a criticism of religious authority based on external knowledge lacking personal experience, while on the other hand they celebrate the path of yoga and its methods of engagement with the subtle body and its centres of occult energy and miraculous powers. The ultimate goal of the style of yoga described in the Sayings of Gorakhnath concerns the attainment of immortality and divinization of its adepts. This is achieved by redirecting the trajectory of the seminal fluid, which in the process transforms into the elixir, the amrt. In order to accomplish that goal, a regime of yogic practices is suggested, consisting of the assumption of a steady posture, breathing exercises, mantra chanting, and meditation. Djudjevic and Singh's translations are preceded by an introduction and accompanied by notes, which contextualize and elucidate the subject matter.

Mondays on the Dark Night of the Moon

Author : Kirin Narayan
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0195103483
Total Pages : 286 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (951 download)

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Book Synopsis Mondays on the Dark Night of the Moon by : Kirin Narayan

Download or read book Mondays on the Dark Night of the Moon written by Kirin Narayan and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1997 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Oral tales establish relationships between storytellers and their listeners. Yet most printed collections of folktales contain only stories, stripped of the human contexts in which they are told. If storytellers are mentioned at all, they are rarely consulted about what meanings they see in their tales. In this innovative book, Indian-American anthropologist Kirin Narayan reproduces twenty-one folktales narrated in a mountain dialect by a middle-aged Indian village woman, Urmila Devi Sood, or "Urmilaji." The tales are set within the larger story of Kirin Narayan's research in the Himalayan foothill region of Kangra, and of her growing friendship with Urmilaji Sood. In turn, Urmilaji Sood supplements her tales with interpretations of the wisdom that she discerns in their plots. At a moment when the mass-media is flooding through rural India, Urmilaji Sood asserts the value of her tales which have been told and retold across generations. As she says, "Television can't teach you these things." These tales serve as both moral instruction and as beguiling entertainment. The first set of tales, focussing on women's domestic rituals, lays out guidelines for female devotion and virtue. Here are tales of a pious washerwoman who brings the dead to life, a female weevil observing fasts for a better rebirth, a barren woman who adopts a frog and lights ritual oil lamps, and a queen who remains with her husband through twelve arduous years of affliction. The women performing these rituals and listening to the accompanying stories are thought to bring good fortune to their marriages, and long life to their relatives. The second set of tales, associated with passing the time around the fire through long winter nights, are magical adventure tales. Urmilaji Sood tells of a matchmaker who marries a princess off to a lion, God splitting a boy claimed by two families into two selves, a prince's journey to the land of the demons, and a girl transformed into a bird by her stepmother. In an increasingly interconnected world, anthropologists' authority to depict and theorize about distant people's lives is under fire. Kirin Narayan seeks solutions to this crisis in anthropology by locating the exchange of knowledge in a respectful, affectionate collaboration. Through the medium of oral narratives, Urmilaji Sood describes her own life and lives around her, and through the medium of ethnography Kirin Narayan shows how broader conclusions emerge from specific, spirited interactions. Set evocatively amid the changing seasons in a Himalayan foothill village, this pathbreaking book draws a moving portrait of an accomplished woman storyteller. Mondays on the Dark Night of the Moon offers a window into the joys and sorrows of women's changing lives in rural India, and reveals the significance of oral storytelling in nurturing human ties.