Readings
on Varna/Jati Suitable for an Introduction to Hinduism Course
Compiled by Tracy Pintchman, Loyola University
Chicago
Eleanor Zelliot's chapter on caste in __Contemporary
Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice,_
edited by Robin Rinehart (ABC-CLIO 2004)
Harper, Edward. "Ritual Pollution as an
Integrator of Caste and Religion." In _Religion in South Asia_.
Edward Harper (ed.) Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1964.
Steven Parish, "God-Chariots in a Garden
of Castes: Hierarchy and Festival in a Hindu City."
In _Everyday Life in South Asia_, ed. Diane P. Mines and Sarah
Lamb, 174-189.
Sarah Dickey, "Anjali's Prospects."
In Mines and Lamb, 214-226.
James Freeman, "The Castes of Kapileswar."
Chapter three of _Scarcity and Opportunity in an Indian Village_
(Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland
Press, 1977).
Short article on caste in Hinduism in The
Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, ed. Gavin Flood.
Falk, Nancy Auer.
_Living Hinduisms: An Explorer's Guide_. Wadsworth Publishing, 2005 ISBN: 0534520111
Lawrence A.
Babb, Alchemies of Violence: Myths of Identity and the Life of
Trade in Western India. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications,
2004. (Study of three trading
castes, mythohistories of origins, social formations, festivities, and
relation to Rajput and Brahmin communities in eastern Rajasthan. For example, the chapter on Agrawals might be supplements
with web sites that indicate the sorts of activities, projects, and
charitable work the community undertakes.
More than 50 pages, but the intro and one or two chapters may get
the points about how caste communities are negotiating global modernities. Babb attends to issues of historical contextualization,
urbanization, and globalization.)
Chapter on Hindu social structure from David
Kinsley's Hinduism textbook.
Kent, Eliza "Representing Caste in the
Classroom: Perils, Pitfalls and Potential Insights", and Dhand, Arti "Hinduism to Hindus in the Western
Diaspora", from Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 17/3
(2005)
Marriott, McKim. 2004. "Varna and Jati."
In Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby, eds.,
_The Hindu World_, 357-82. London: Routledge.
Patrick Olivelle, _Language, Texts, and
Society: Explorations in
Ancient Indian Culture and Religion_.
Firenze University Press - Munshiram Manoharlal 2005 ISBN
88-8453-395-3 : especially chapters 9 ("Caste and Purity: A Study in
the Language of the Dharma Literature") and 17
(" Food for Thought: Dietary Rules and Social Organization in
Ancient India")
Revised: April 16, 2006
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