Description
Book SynopsisFor countless generations families have lived in isolated communities in the Godavari Delta of coastal Andhra Pradesh, learning and reciting their legacy of Vedas, performing daily offerings and occasional sacrifices. They are the virtually unrecognized survivors of a 3,700-year-old heritage, the last in India who perform the ancient animal and soma sacrifices according to Vedic tradition. In Vedic Voices, David M. Knipe offers for the first time, an opportunity for them to speak about their lives, ancestral lineages, personal choices as pandits, wives, children, and ways of coping with an avalanche of changes in modern India. He presents a study of four generations of ten families, from those born at the outset of the twentieth century down to their great-grandsons who are just beginning, at the age of seven, the task of memorizing their Veda, the Taittiriya Samhita, a feat that will require eight to twelve years of daily recitations. After successful examinations these young men will
Trade Review"Knipe (emer., South Asian studies, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison) provides an essential work of anthropological scholarship, a product of his more than 35 years of field research as well as careful textual analysis. It is a rare resource for anyone interested in India's Vedic traditions, their continued embodiment in living practice, and their potential loss... It is a model work of contemporary Indology that surely will be widely cited long into the future... Essential." --CHOICES "With Knipe s book, personal narratives cohere into a rich portrait of the struggle to preserve Vedic heritage in modern Indian society, and a vibrant tradition comes into bold relief. In bearing witness to the diverse experiences of these multi-generational families, Vedic Voices offers a corrective to the perception that Vedic traditions have vanished entirely from the subcontinent or else survive only as scattered relics without relevance to the modern religious landscape. Knipe s elegant synthesis of ethnography, philology, and history results in an accessible and compelling book, one that should command the attention of Indologists, anthropologists, and historians of religion alike."--Journal of the American Oriental Society
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; List of Tables, Maps, and Illustrations ; Preface ; 1) The Godavari Delta ; 2) Vedamlo, "Living in the Veda" ; 3) A Selection of Ahitagnis and Other Veda Pandits ; 4) Becoming a Veda ; 5) Becoming a Householder ; 6) Becoming Agni ; Epilogue: Becoming "Modern" ; Glossary ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index
