'Photos of the Gods'

'Photos of the Gods'
Author: Christopher Pinney
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2004
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781861891846

Chris Pinney demonstrates how printed images were pivotal to India's struggle for national and religious independence. He also provides a history of printing in India.

One God, Two Goddesses, Three Studies of South Indian Cosmology

One God, Two Goddesses, Three Studies of South Indian Cosmology
Author: Don Handelman
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2013-09-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 900425739X

One, God, Two Goddesses presents three studies, one of Tamil myths of the god Murugan and two of goddess rituals: Gangamma in Tirupati and Paiditalli in Vizianagaram, both in Andhra Pradesh. All three essays search for lineaments of the cosmos that these deities inhabit and shape. These cosmoi are characterised by the dynamism of their incessant interior movement. Should they become still, they would die. Deities activate and regenerate such a cosmos. The dynamism of Murugan’s cosmos eliminates the chaotic. Through ritual, Gangamma regenerates her cosmos through feminising it. Through ritual, Paiditalli annually re-grows the historic little kingdom of Vizianagaram, regenerating its kingship. All three studies point to the need to rethink cosmology in South India.

Genealogy of the South Indian Deities

Genealogy of the South Indian Deities
Author: Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 394
Release: 2005
Genre: Gods, Hindu
ISBN: 9780415344388

For the first time, the work Genealogy of the South Indian Deitiesof the first Protestant missionary to India, Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg (1682-1719), is made accessible to an English readership. Originally published in 1713, the text reveals Ziegenbalg's ethos in the emerging European Enlightenment and his willingness to learn from the South Indians. The text contains the original voices of knowledgeable South Indians from various religious backgrounds and presents South India in a vivid, direct and unfiltered way. In this volume Daniel Jeyaraj edits and presents the German original in an English translation. This is followed by a detailed textual analysis, a glossary and an appendix. This book is invaluable for anyone interested in reliable information about the interactions of Europeans with Hindu and Tamil religion and culture.

Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses

Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses
Author: Hosakote Krishna Sastri
Publisher:
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2003
Genre: Art
ISBN:

This Book Looks At The Hindu Gods And Goddesses Found In Temples All Over Village India And Analysis Them In Detail. Richly Illustrated. Almost Every Village Of Any Importance In India Has Its Temple, Round And Which Centres In A Very Large Measure The Corporate Civic Life Or The Community Which Lives In It. The Casual Visitor Is At Once Attracted By The Temple And When Goes There He Sees Various Images In All Sorts Of Incongrous Postures And Is Generally Puzzled To Know What They Represent, And How They Serve To Evoke The Religious Feelings Of The People Worshipping Them. An Attempt Has Been Made In The Present Work To Describe And Classify Them In Various Groups So As To Make Them More Intelliglbe To The Ordinary Visitor. In The Temples Dedicated To The Village Deities The Ceremonial Is Not Much Different, Brahmanas However Rarely Officate And Animal Sacrifices Are Generally Offered, Especially When The Village Is Threarened Whith An Epidemic Or With Serious Scarcity Of Famine.