India: A Sacred Geography

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Harmony/Rodale, Mar 26, 2013 - Religion - 576 pages
A spiritual history of the world's most religiously complex and diverse society, from one of Harvard's most respected scholars.

India: A Sacred Geography is the culmination of more than a decade's work from the renowned Harvard scholar Diana L. Eck. The book explores the sacred places of India, taking the reader on an extraordinary trip through the beliefs and history of this rich and profound place, as well as providing a basic introduction to Hindu religious ideas and how those ideas influence our understanding of the modern sense of "India" as a nation.
 

Contents

A SACRED GEOGRAPHY AN IMAGINED CHAPTER
1
WHAT IS INDIA?
43
INDIA IN THE LOTUS OF THE WORLD
107
THE GANGA AND THE RIVERS OF INDIA
131
SHIVAS LIGHT IN THE LAND OF INDIA
189
SHAKTI THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE BODY OF THE GODDESS
257
VISHNU ENDLESS AND DESCENDING
301
THE LAND AND STORY OF KRISHNA
347
THE RAMAYANA ON THE LANDSCAPE OF INDIA
399
CHAPTER IO A PILGRIMS INDIA TODAY
441
Acknowledgments
457
Glossary
461
Bibliography
475
Notes
493
Index
541
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About the author (2013)

DIANA L. ECK is professor of comparative religion and Indian studies at Harvard University and is Master of Lowell House and Director of the Pluralism Project. Her book Banaras, City of Light, remains a classic in the field, and Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras won the prestigious Grawemeyer Book Award. In 1998, President Clinton awarded her the National Humanities Medal for the work of the Pluralism Project in the investigation of America's religious diversity.

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