Popular Religion and Ascetic Practices
New Studies on Mahima Dharma

EDITED BY ISHITA BANERJEE-DUBE | JOHANNES BELTZ
publishing company: MANOHAR

		Recent years have seen important developments in the historical study of popular religions in India. Such developments have involved mutual interchanges between history and a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, literary criticism and religious studies. All of his has led to nuanced and new understandings of history and religion. This volume builds on such departures. It does so by taking up the case of Mahima Dharma. Bringing together philosophical, theological, ethnological, historical and sociological approaches, it attempts to understand the diverse dimensions of a religious order that emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century and exits till today.
Together, the essays in this volume raise pertinent questions regarding the nature of ‘popular’ religion and the way it is perceived and understood by its adherents. They also illustrate the different ways in which scholars approach and examine religion.