Foulston, Lynn, and Abbott, Stuart. Hindu Goddesses: Beliefs and Practices. Sussex Academic Press, 2009

To start my Shelfie assignment, I went on to the Lafayette Library OneSearch and typed in “Hinduism cultures.” I picked this topic because I found it extremely interesting every time we discussed Hindu rituals, such as how they position their body parts when they pray in temples. When I went to the library to retrieve this book, I was disappointed to find out someone already checked it out. So I spent a couple of minutes going through other books in the surrounding area, hoping that one would catch my eyes. And sure enough, I found a colorful book called Hindu Goddesses: Beliefs and Practices. The cover of the book had a picture of one of the Hindu goddesses decorated in flowers, jewelries, gold, and colorful clothing. The more I skimmed through the book, the more I realized how little I knew about Hindu goddesses. They were rarely mentioned in the textbook or in class. Sure, they had a tiny section dedicated to them but it was nowhere near the length of the Hindu gods section. It is even harder to find any detailed accounts of them, like how they are worshipped or their role in society.

This book is divided into two parts with different sections discussing different parts of Hindu goddesses. Part one is on beliefs, and part two is on practices with a little introduction about “Who or what is a Hindu goddess?” at the beginning of the book. In the introduction alone, I learned that some people believe there are “330 million goddesses.” As I look further into the table of contents, I find myself recognizing some goddess names as well as phrases that I remember from the textbook and class discussions, such as “Sri-Laksmi” and “Sakti.” I also discovered four pages, double-sided colored pictures, which really grabbed my attention. These pictures are of different shrines and temples associated with the Hindu goddesses, which I find helpful in understanding how important their presence is in the Hindu cultures. Even though this book appears to be an easy and fun read on the outside, the content is pretty heavy. I could not understand the full meaning of most of the random pages I flipped. I would have to have a deeper understanding of Hinduism as a whole.

While searching for a new book after losing my first choice, I did not find that many interesting books near Hindu Goddesses: Beliefs and Practices. The books surrounding it were also about Hinduism and Religions in India but most of their cover pages lacked pictures or colors, which made it hard for me to even look at them. A few of the books that I picked up discussed Hinduism as a whole, not its different parts. The most common names were “Introduction to Hinduism.” All in all, I was very satisfied with finding this book even though I had a different book in mind to start this assignment.

Collins, Steven. Nirvana: Concept, Imagery, Narrative. Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print

I started my shelfie process by first searching the Lafayette Library catalog for “Moksha” because I am very interested in the concept of liberation, and leaving this world. After first finding the book Moksha: writings on psychedelics and the visionary experience, I soon came to realize that it had nothing to do with Moksha in the sense of Hinduism, but rather dealt solely with LSD and liberation through drugs. I changed my search term to “Nirvana” and have stuck with the book Nirvana Concept, Imagery, Narrative. One of the chapters was Nirvana as a Concept, and another was Nirvana as an Image showing that the author, Steven Collins, uses various vehicles to describe the idea of Nirvana.

The book is divided into five sections: “Systematic and Narrative thought: eternity and closure in structure and story”, “Nirvana as a Concept”, “Nirvana as an Image”, “Nirvana, time and narrative”, and “Past and future Buddhas”. Not only does Collins try to describe and conceptualize the idea of Nirvana, he displays it through imagery and metaphor. While flipping through I also noticed that he takes translations from a number of source texts which will help greatly in writing my first paper. Finally Collins brings up the concept of an ending and timelessness.

While searching for this book I saw many other books relating to Buddhism as a whole. These could be useful in setting a background for my paper. There were also other books relating to the idea of Nirvana and liberation. I will definitely return to this section to aid in my writing process.

Esther Bloch, Marianne Keppens and Rajaram Hegde. Rethinking Religion in India: The colonial construction of Hinduism. New York, NY: Routledge, 2010. Print

To begin my Shelfie process, I wanted to find a book that addressed one of the religions previously addressed and discussed in our class. My first search began with Jainism, only to find that there were no such books focused directly on this religion. I then went to advanced search and typed in India and below it religion; my results list was much improved and I had a few options. I chose Rethinking Religion in India: The Colonial Construction of Hinduism, not because it explored Hinduism in India but rather because it discussed the effects of colonialism.

While the cover of the book makes this book seems bland and not worth reading, the different chapters seem to be interesting and cover a wide range of aspects of Hinduism not usually addressed. Part one includes historical and empirical arguments and three chapters that caught my eye in this section were, “Representing religion in colonial India”, “Colonialism and religion”, and “Women, the freedom movement, and Sanskrit: notes on religion and colonialism from the ethnographic present.” After skimming through these chapters, I realized the arguments and discussions detailed were as I expected in the sense that colonialism brought many negatives to religion in India. Colonialism took away public space and freedom to was used to practice Hinduism and worship to the gods.  However, colonialism did bring a new sense of tradition  and many Hindu’s viewed Europeans as signs from the gods.

Part two of Rethinking Religion in India: The Colonial Construction of Hinduism, reflects on the theoretical reflections. This part includes chapters ranging from “Colonialism, Hinduism, and the discourse of religion”, to “Who invented Hinduism? Rethinking religion in India.” Additionally, “Orientalism, post colonialism and the construction of religion” seemed an interesting section.

I ultimately choose this book because after taking a Cultural Anthropology class and an African History class this semester, the aspect of colonialism and how it deals with oreintalism, religion, and racial issues is always controversial.  Colonialism led to anthropology and certainly had an affect on areas with pre-existing religions.  All the books in the general area of this one all addressed Hinduism. Most of the books regarded Hinduism in India, but other books were enclopedias on Hinduism as a religion as a whole.

In our study of Hinduism, I found the origin of this religious tradition’s title to be fascinating. The phrase “Hinduism,” as discussed in class, is actually a product of colonialism, as a catch-all, umbrella term of sorts implemented by western colonizers in an attempt to simplify and homogenize the variety of local traditions. That being said, I wanted to learn more about the naming of the tradition, in an attempt to further distinguish between terminologies that developed within the tradition itself versus those types of outsider-interpretations. Taking my search to the library’s online catalog and using the “One Search” feature, I entered two key words: “Defining” and “Hinduism.” I was surprised when I found that these two keywords lead me to a title of the same name, Defining Hinduism: A Reader, by J.E. Llewellyn.

After flipping through the book and paying specific attention to the table of contents, it seems that some key themes include the plurality of practices within Hinduism, the influence of the colonial period, and finally the social structure of the caste system. All in all, the work presents the European definition of Hinduism, and then contrasts this construction to the actuality of the religion. All in all, the offerings of this work are about on par with what I had expected to find, particularly the portion about the carelessness of the European colonizers when attempting to define and understand the tradition. Furthermore, the cover of the book contains a familiar image: the unfolded lotus flower, discussed so often in class.

Last, several relevant and interesting titles existed around this novel. For instance, I noticed full versions of both the Ramayana and the Bhagavad Gita in this aisle, along with other works concerning a variety of traditions and issues, ranging from meditative practices to issues of gender indifference.

Llewellyn, J. E. Defining Hinduism: A Reader. New York: Routledge,                2005. Print.

a history of modern yoga

After long thought what type of book I should take a photo with, I reflected back upon what stood out to me the most during our study of World Religions thus far.  I thought about broad topics, such as Buddhism or Jainsim, then narrowed down to practices, such as puja and worship.  I narrowed it down to types of worship, such as yoga.  I thought that it was interesting how yoga is so popular today, yet before taking this class I never knew/thought that it is such an ancient practice.  Although adapted to modern times and marketing tactics, yoga has its roots in ancient religion that played a role in connecting and worshiping both the self and deities.

After skimming through the pages, I felt that this book has relevance to what we’ve learned in class thus far.  It discusses the roots of modern yoga, especially the emergence of modern Neo-Hinduism, and the religious foundations of modern yoga.   It goes on to discuss the modern interpretations and alternative medicine — a type of new age healing, and the separation/divide between religious practice and “everyday” practice that is spiritual as opposed to “religious” — which is a fine line to make and describe.  Thus, I will definitely look more into this book and understand how it is used today as both a form of exercise and spiritual practice, and how it is still a foundation for religious practices as well.  I am inspired after skimming through this book to write my first paper on it, so this is just the beginning.

Pechilis, Karen, and Selva J. Raj, eds. South Asian Religions:   Tradition and Today. New York, NY: Routledge, 2013. Print.

I began my search by typing in a few different key words into the Lafayette Library Catalogue. I began with four key words: history, relationship, Hinduism and Jainism. I am interested in the relationship between the two religions and how they have changed over the years, this is why I included the words history and relationship to my search. However, after coming up with very few results relating to Hinduism and Jainism, I ended up narrowing my search down to just the two religions. That search led me to the book: South Asian Religions: Traditions and Today by Karen Pechilis and Selva J. Raj.

This book looks at not only the major religions in India, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, but also at the smaller religions such as Sikhism and Jainism. After looking through the book I learned that it starts by introducing each religion’s traditions and then moves on to talk about what each religion is like today. This book not only gives good background information on each religion but also gives a good idea of how the religion is practiced today. After a deeper look into the book I wish that it included more about how each religion has affected India, and maybe less about the religion itself, but it is a good starting point when it comes to gathering information about Hinduism and Jainism.If I were to use this book to help write my paper I would start by reading the introduction and first three chapters of the book (Tribal Religions in India: practicing tradition today, Hinduism: practicing tradition today, and Jain traditions: practicing tradition today). The introduction gives good insight into how these religions tie into the Indian culture while the first three chapters include good background information on the religions that I am interested in learning more about.

While I was searching for this book I saw a lot of books that discussed the practice of Jainism and its traditions. I would definitely look more into these books to use in my essay, as well as I would conduct another catalogue search to find more books on Hinduism.

Joshi, Mrinal. Women in Jainism: A Case Study of Gujarat Inscriptions. Jaipur, India: Rawat Publications, 2009. Print. 

I searched the Lafayette College Library catalogue for “Women in Jainism” because I have become very interested in women’s roles in Jainism and additionally how the Jain society views females. I am aware that different ideas regarding women contributed to a division within the religion and the establishment of two different sects, the Digambaras and the Svetembaras, and I am interested in learning more about why views about women influenced such a split. When I did my search, the book by Mrinal Joshi was actually the first result that came up, but I still looked through the four pages of search results, which included several articles somewhat related to the topic. After perusing through all of the results, Mrinal’s work still appeared to be like the best fit for what I was searching for as it was one of the only books directly related to women’s role in Jain society.

The cover of the book certainly grabs one’s attention as it is colorful depiction of Jain nuns praying. The book is divided into six chapters that explain different aspects of females’ roles in Jain society. Flipping through the book, the chapters that appear the most interesting to me are “Women with Multiple Familial Attributes of identity: 11th Century C.E. to 14th Century C.E.” and “Women as Wives: 11th Century C.E. to 17th Century C.E.”  The first aforementioned chapter analyzes inscriptions written by men and women that describe women’s roles as daughters, sisters, and renouncers in Jain society. The second aforementioned chapter primarily focuses on inscriptions found that analyze and explain the role of wives during that time period. These inscriptions are very important as they explain rituals the women normally performed and how they maintained a household. Moreover, the book also contains a bibliography that lists other books related to this topic. If I would like to find out more about women in Jainism I could use the bibliography to direct me to other similar works.

While looking for this book in the shelves of the library, I noticed the other books surrounding it. Although I did not see any other books relating to women in Jainism, I did see a book relating to women in Hinduism. I am interested in women’s roles in many religions, and I may take a look at that book in the future. However, I am mostly intrigued by women’s role in Jainism and I believe that this book seems like it would be extremely helpful if I would like to research more about the topic.

Cherniak, Alex. Mahabharata Book Six: Bhagavad Gita. New York City: New York City Press, 2008.

After logging into the Lafayette College Library website, I clicked to the link to the library catalog. After a simple search of the word “Jainism” as a way to survey the library’s collection. A book called “Women in Jainism: a case study of Gujarat inscriptions by Mrinal Joshi grabbed my attention.  The Jain beliefs, especially those held by the Digambara sect, which state that women cannot achieve enlightenment in this life because their bodies are inferior to men, puzzled me. I wondered where women fit into such a patriarchal religion. Thus I began my quest to find this book. After minutes of wondering the maze that is Upper Skillman’s library shelves, I came to no avail. Eventually, I made it to the “BL” section. After finding the 1000s, even though I was close, I still was unable to find the book. While scanning the shelves hopelessly, another book caught my eye; it was the Bhagavad Gita. Having read a brief summary in class, I decided to peruse the full length copy.

The book was more austere than I had anticipated. It was unexpectedly plain for a book of such high religious importance and cultural value. It had a teal cover with a small emblem of an elephant on the front and a Sanskrit word on the back. The book is spilt into 11 parts describing the various stages of the battle from the eve before it started through the four days of fighting. The left hand page contained the transliteration of the actual Sanskrit text and on the right had side was the English translation. I was drawn to the book because it contained the original texts. While summaries are helpful with understand the general concepts, reading the first-hand sources provide a deeper understanding. If I were to use this as a source for a paper, I would find quotes of Krisna explaining the importance of Dharma and the three yogas to Arjuna.

The book was located alongside the other epics in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Some of the other books around it were dedicated to analyzing the other doctrines in the Hinduism cannon. One in particular that I found interesting was a book analyzing the various Upanishads. My favorite part of studying religion is trying to comprehend the various philosophies.

Weinberger-Thomas, Catherine. Ashes of Immortality: Widow-Burning in India. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1999. Print.

I first searched the Lafayette library catalogue for “Hinduism Funerals” because the life and death rituals we read about were very interesting to me. With this search there was only one book, so I decided to focus my search on the widow burning we learned about in class. I then searched “Sati, Hinduism” and found Ashes of Immortality: Widow-Burning in India by Catherine Weinberger-Thomas. Some of the subject terms seemed useful such as “widow suicide, Legal Status, Laws, and Hinduism Social Aspects”.

The cover depicts an old image of the Sati tradition, which was very visually appealing. As I flipped through the pages, I found even more images involved with Hinduism and this ritual. Spread throughout the book are old and new photographs as well as religious illustrations. Having a visual is important to me when reading about unfamiliar traditions.

The book is divided into seven sections, with each sub-section clearly labeled. There was also a table of contents for each image. Another aspect I found helpful was a glossary of Hinduism terms. Based on the table of contents, every section seemed to be helpful if I were to write my paper on Sati.