1st Edition
Objects of Worship in South Asian Religions Forms, Practices and Meanings
Introduction: Material Objects of Worship in the Lived Religions of South Asia, Knut A. Jacobsen, Mikael Aktor and Kristina Myrvold
Chapter 1: The Śivaliṅga Between Artifact and Nature: The Ghṛṣṇeśvaraliṅga in Varanasi and the Bāṇaliṅgas from the Narmada River, Mikael Aktor
Chapter 2: Jhāṅkīs: "Living Images" as Objects of Worship in Himachal Pradesh, Brigitte Luchesi
Chapter 3: The Material Culture of Sāṃkhya: Kapila as Object of Worship, Knut A. Jacobsen
Chapter 4: Yantras as Objects of Worship in Hindu and Tantric Traditions
Materiality, Aesthetics, and Practice, Xenia Zeiler
Chapter 5: Wheel of the Liberated: Jain Siddhacakras, Past and Present, Ellen Gough
Chapter 6: Object of Worship as a Free Choice: Viṭhobā (god), Dñyāneśvar (saint), the Dñyāneśvarī (book), or Samādhī (grave)? Irina Glushkova
Chapter 7: Architectural Heritage and Modern Rituals: The Ahmad Shah Bahmani Mausoleum between Old Political Concerns and New Religious Perceptions, Sara Mondini
Chapter 8: Lāl Beg Underground: The Passing of an "Untouchable" God, Joel Lee
Chapter 9: Making the Book a Living Guru: Ritual Practices Among Contemporary Sikhs, Kristina Myrvold
Chapter 10: Worshipping the Sword: The Practice of Śāstar Pūjā in the Sikh Warrior Tradition, Satnam Singh
Chapter 11: Rites of Reverence, Ways of Worship: The Bodhi Tree in Bodhgayā as a Material Object and Focus of Devotion, Albertina Nugteren
Biography
Knut A. Jacobsen is Professor in the History of Religions at the University of Bergen, Norway. He is author and editor of around thirty books and numerous articles and is the founding editor in chief of the six volume Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2009-2014).
Mikael Aktor is Associate Professor of Study of Religions at University of Southern Denmark. His publications include Ritualisation and Segregation: The Untouchability Complex in Indian dharma literature with special reference to Parāśarasmṛti and Parāśaramādhavīya (2008).
Kristina Myrvold is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the Department of Cultural Studies, Linnaeus University, Sweden. She has published several articles on Sikh practices in Sweden and in India, and is the editor of publications such as Sikhs Across Borders: Transnational Practices Among European Sikhs (with Knut A. Jacobsen, 2013).
