{"title":"Harald Tambs-Lyche","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"feminine-sacred-in-south-asia-book-harald-tambs-lyche-9788173042461","title":"The Feminine Sacred in South Asia","description":"South Asia is the only major region where the 'Great Goddess' is still a living reality for believers yet its society remains male-dominated. Drawing their examples from ritual practices, myths, and sacred texts the contributors to this volume discuss the place of the feminine within the sacred sphere of South Asian religion. The theme is full of contradictions, for the impurity of woman must be held against the powers she incarnates, and the religious status of these powers is an old theme of debate among Hindu and Buddhist thinkers. Finally, the feminine pole in religious thought cannot simply be equated with human womanhood - yet the very presence of feminity in the sacred sphere contrasts with its exclusion from scriptural Islam or from protestantism, and offers, perhaps, to women, a mode of religious expression in an idiom where?gender?is?a?central?paradigm?of?thought.This volume then, contributing to the debate on feminity in South Asian religion, should also be of interest to scholars dealing with gender in?a?broader?perspective.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49751818371345,"sku":"NGR9788173042461","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/8173042462.jpg?v=1763484672"},{"product_id":"london-patidars-book-harald-tambs-lyche-9781032452692","title":"London Patidars","description":"First Published in 1980, London Patidars presents the case study of the Patidars, a landowning caste from the Indian state of Gujarat, in London. Patidars being the landowning caste has taken over much of the ideology of the merchant castes. This ‘merchant ideal’ is a central part of their self-image. It is an incitement to initiative in business and to some extent their actual economic behaviour does reflect the ideal. But the cases studied do not all conform to this ideal, and they pose questions: How does this particular type of ethnic boundary relate to the opportunities of the individual Patidar? Why and how is this boundary maintained?   Harald Tambs-Lyche concludes that the form given to the ethnic boundary is advantageous to many Patidars but not to all in the same degree. This raises problems which potentially could change the present pattern. Other potential problems relate to their relationship with the English. As successful merchants they risk becoming objects of envy like, formerly, the Jewish community. This book is a must read for scholars of ethnic and race relations and sociology.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51202274033937,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51202274590993,"sku":"NGR9781032452692","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53658738196753,"sku":"NLS9781032452692","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1032452692.jpg?v=1750951431"},{"product_id":"transaction-and-hierarchy-book-harald-tambs-lyche-9781138095465","title":"Transaction and Hierarchy","description":"In this volume, the author challenges a number of widely held cultural stereotypes about India. Caste is not as old as Indian civilization itself, and current changes are no more radical than in the past, for caste has evolved throughout its history. It is not a colonial invention, nor does it result from weak state control. There is no single form of Indian kingship, and power relations, fundamental as they are for understanding Indian society. Nor do Indian villages conform to a single type, and caste is as much urban as rural. Only in a regional ‘local’ perspective can we view it as a ‘system’. Caste does offer space for the individual, though in a particular Indian mould, and Hinduism does not provide for an integration of castes through ritual.   In short, social organization varies widely in India, and cannot provide the key to the specificity of caste. This must be sought in the way society is imagined, the models of society current in Indian thought. Of course as mentioned above, there is no single model: Brahmins, kings, and merchants among others have all produced alternative models with themselves at the centre, vying for hegemony, while facing contesting models held by subalterns. Still, a hierarchical mode of thought is hegemonic and largely explains why Indians see their social stratification differently from people in the West.  The volume will be indispensable for scholars of South Asian Sociology and Culture.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52615404060945,"sku":"NLS9781138095465","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53036088361233,"sku":"NIN9781138095465","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781138095465.jpg?v=1761523960"},{"product_id":"transaction-and-hierarchy-book-harald-tambs-lyche-9781032652658","title":"Transaction and Hierarchy","description":"In this volume, the author challenges a number of widely held cultural stereotypes about India. Caste is not as old as Indian civilization itself, and current changes are no more radical than in the past, for caste has evolved throughout its history. It is not a colonial invention, nor does it result from weak state control. There is no single form of Indian kingship, and power relations, fundamental as they are for understanding Indian society. Nor do Indian villages conform to a single type, and caste is as much urban as rural. Only in a regional ‘local’ perspective can we view it as a ‘system’. Caste does offer space for the individual, though in a particular Indian mould, and Hinduism does not provide for an integration of castes through ritual.     In short, social organization varies widely in India, and cannot provide the key to the specificity of caste. This must be sought in the way society is imagined, the models of society current in Indian thought. Of course as mentioned above, there is no single model: Brahmins, kings, and merchants among others have all produced alternative models with themselves at the centre, vying for hegemony, while facing contesting models held by subalterns. Still, a hierarchical mode of thought is hegemonic and largely explains why Indians see their social stratification differently from people in the West.    The volume will be indispensable for scholars of South Asian Sociology and Culture.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53649824776465,"sku":"NLS9781032652658","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781032652658.jpg?v=1781350537"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-harald-tambs-lyche.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}