This book, first published in 1932, demonstrates how the control of certain ‘-isms’ has for long moulded the interpretation of Indian belief and ritual by Western writers particularly. In every chapter there is some new coordination, often iconoclastic of then-accepted theory, whilst the new wealth of customs carefully recorded is astonishing. Long disputed problems such as that of the Maratha ‘devak’, or that of the ceremonial sowing of seedlings known to Western scholars as the ‘gardens of Adonis’, have at last been settled through careful research.
1. Life and Power 2. The Power of Man 3. The Power of Woman 4. The Power of Evil-Eye 5. The Power of the Ground 6. The Power of Water 7. The Power of Fire 8. The Power of Metals 9. The Power of Salt 10. The Power of Stones 11. The Power of Time 12. The Power of Colours 13. The Power of Numbers 14. The Power of Sweet Things 15. The Power of Trees 16. Weather 17. The Ritual of Agriculture 18. The Power of Grain 19. The Power of Bread 20. The Power of Animals 21. Spirits 22. Curses and Oaths 23. The Invocation of Power 24. Totemism and the Maratha ‘Devak’ 25. The Coercion of Power 26. The Destruction of Power
Biography
J. Abbott
