The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India - Revised and Expanded Edition

(Paperback, Revised and Expanded Edition)

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Popular Hinduism is shaped, above all, by worship of a multitude of powerful divine beings - a super-abundance indicated by the proverbial total of 330 million gods and goddesses. The fluid relationship between these beings and humans is a central theme of this rich and accessible study of popular Hinduism in the context of the society of contemporary India. Lucidly organized and skillfully written, The Camphor Flame brings clarity to an immensely complicated subject. C. J. Fuller combines ethnographic case studies with comparative anthropological analysis and draws on textual and historical scholarship as well. The book's new afterword brings the study up-to-date by examining the relationship between popular Hinduism and contemporary Hindu nationalism.

Reviews

"The Camphor Flame is a book to read from cover to cover...[A]n impressive and valuable book."--Kathleen M. Erndl, Journal of Asian Studies "[A]n excellent book... [M]uch anthropological research on Hinduism has emerged in recent decades, and C. J. Fuller has done an admirable job of synthesizing it for specialists and nonspecialists alike."--William S. Sax, Journal of the American Academy of Religion

Author Bio

C. J. Fuller is Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His books include "Servants of the Goddess" (Cambridge) and "The Renewal of the Priesthood" (Princeton).