Structure and Cognition: Aspects of Hindu Caste and Ritual

by Veena Das

Sociological analysis of Hindu caste and ritual has primarily been confined to the empirical study of local communities. In this classic work, the author adds a new dimension to such analysis by basing her data on an examination of selected myths in Puranic and Sutra literature, in particular the Dharmaranya Purana and the Grihya Sutra, going thereby to the sources of the ideology that have given local communities their particular shape and character.

The book places the discussion in the wider setting of discussions on Hinduism. This original approach, bridging the gulf that divides Indology from Sociology, resolves many questions that had previously defied definitive explanation, and charts a fruitful alternative direction for future sociological inquiry.

Paperback

First published May 30, 1991

Reviews

[versarbre]

Didn't expect VD's first book to be sort of Indological! Nonetheless, a useful Levi-Straussian analysis clarifying certain important distinctions. The quick parts comparing India/China, and brahman sansayi and Buddhist bikku are also helpful. I also didn't know that death rituals (in Brahmanical India) are not seen as domestic but public!

[P]

If you are a single author, why use the royal we in referring to yourself?