The Camphor Flame – Popular Hinduism and Society in India – Revised and Expanded Edition - Softcover

Fuller, C. J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 069112048X ISBN 13: 9780691120485

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2004

Synopsis

Popular Hinduism is shaped, above all, by worship of a multitude of powerful divine beings--a superabundance indicated by the proverbial total of 330 million gods and goddesses. The fluid relationship between these beings and humans is a central theme of this rich and accessible study of popular Hinduism in the context of the society of contemporary India. Lucidly organized and skillfully written, The Camphor Flame brings clarity to an immensely complicated subject. C. J. Fuller combines ethnographic case studies with comparative anthropological analysis and draws on textual and historical scholarship as well. The book's new afterword brings the study up-to-date by examining the relationship between popular Hinduism and contemporary Hindu nationalism.

About this title

Review:

"The Camphor Flame is a book to read from cover to cover. . . .[A]n impressive and valuable book."---Kathleen M. Erndl, Journal of Asian Studies

"[A]n excellent book. . . . [M]uch anthropological research on Hinduism has emerged in recent decades, and C. J. Fuller has done an admirable job of synthesizing it for specialists and nonspecialists alike."---William S. Sax, Journal of the American Academy of Religion

About the Author:

C. J. Fuller is Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His books include "Servants of the Goddess" (Cambridge) and "The Renewal of the Priesthood" (Princeton).

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 069112048X
• ISBN 13: 9780691120485
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368