Tales of Justice and Rituals of Divine Embodiment

Reviews / Votes

"Malik's vivid ethnography brims with superb theoretical reflections on self, being, embodiment, possession, and modernity in the context of the ritual and narrative performances of justice commemoration and realization. Engaging and creative, this fine book is a must read for scholars focusing on the interdisciplinary study of justice and, more generally, working in the fields of anthropology, philosophy, history, and religious studies." --Lindsey B. Harlan, Professor of Religious Studies, Connecticut College "Aditya Malik offers a rare, serious, protracted conversation between an intimate ethnographic description of a regional Hindu deity's devotees and philosophical questions inherent within the human condition. These questions concern suffering, embodiment, and quests for justice both cosmological and personal." --Ann Grodzins Gold, Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Professor of Anthropology, Syracuse University "This is a powerful book. The petitions offered to Goludev by people from different castes and classes, in a variety of languages including English, are absolutely fascinating. That a folk deity should serve as a court of justice in the manner of a modern judicial system is totally amazing. The book is going to make an important mark in the world of our thinking. It will be used by anthropologists, South Asianists, scholars of Religious Studies, folklorists, philosophers, and lay readers. Perhaps for the first time it will bring scholars of rural cultures into conversation with social thinkers and will be seen as a breakthrough in the scholarship related to human societies." --Velcheru Narayana Rao, Visweswara Rao and Sita Koppaka Chair in Telugu Literature, History and Culture, Emory University "With this study, Malik adds to the writings on lesser-known regional deities on the South Asian subcontinent. Although an increasing number of authors focus on local or regional deities-the deities of the 'little tradition' in contrast to the better known deities of the 'great tradition'-there are still many Hindu deities about whom we know nothing. Hence, Malik positions his work within a broader context of studies on Hindu devotion and enhances our knowledge not only of the little tradition, but also of non-institutional justice." -- Reading Religion