Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Absent Lord: Ascetics and Kings in a Jain Ritual Culture Volume 8

Absent Lord: Ascetics and Kings in a Jain Ritual Culture Volume 8

Babb, Lawrence A.

Paperback

Series: Comparative Studies in Religion and Society, Book 8

Comparative ReligionGeneral Eastern ReligionsJainism

ISBN10: 0520203240
ISBN13: 9780520203242
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: Aug 1 1996
Pages: 256
Weight: 0.84
Height: 0.62 Width: 6.06 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
What does it mean to worship beings that one believes are completely indifferent to, and entirely beyond the reach of, any form of worship whatsoever? How would such a relationship with sacred beings affect the religious life of a community? Using these questions as his point of departure, Lawrence A. Babb explores the ritual culture of image-worshipping Svetambar Jains of the western Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Jainism traces its lineages back to the ninth century B.C.E. and is, along with Buddhism, the only surviving example of India's ancient non-Vedic religious traditions. It is known and celebrated for its systematic practice of non-violence and for the intense rigor of the asceticism it promotes. A unique aspect of Babb's study is his linking of the Jain tradition to the social identity of existing Jain communities.

Babb concludes by showing that Jain ritual culture can be seen as a variation on pan-Indian ritual patterns. In illuminating this little-known religious tradition, he demonstrates that divine absence can be as rich as divine presence in its possibilities for informing a religious response to the cosmos.

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