TY  - BOOK
AU  - Sharabi,Asaf
TI  - The Biography of a God: Mahasu in the Himalayas 
T2  - Religion and Society in Asia
SN  - 9789048553846
U1  - 294.5/211 23/eng/20230424
PY  - 2023///]
CY  - Amsterdam : 
PB  - Amsterdam University Press, 
KW  - Folk religion
KW  - India
KW  - Himachal Pradesh
KW  - Folklore
KW  - Hindu gods
KW  - Hindu mythology
KW  - Anthropology
KW  - Asian Studies
KW  - Contemporary Society
KW  - Religion and Theology
KW  - South Asia
KW  - RELIGION / Hinduism / General
KW  - bisacsh
KW  - Deities, agency, Western Himalaya
N1  - Frontmatter --; Table of Contents --; List of Figures --; Notes on Transliteration --; Acknowledgments --; Meet Mahasu --; 1 Gods on the Road --; 2 A Stormy Biography --; 3 The Four Brothers --; 4 Local Traditions in Times of Change --; 5 Communicating with Mahasu --; Agency, Doubt, Mediation --; Index; restricted access
N2  - Mahasu is the joint name of four gods whose influence is widespread throughout the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Like other deities in the Western Himalayas, they are regarded as royal gods who rule over territories and people. This book traces changes in faith and practices surrounding the Mahasu brothers, and shows how the locals understand these changes by emphasizing the dominant role of humans in the decisions of the gods. The locals are also constantly testing the authenticity of the human mediumship. Thus, the book presents the claim that the gap between local conceptions of divinity and the perceptions of anthropologists regarding gods may be narrower than we think. The Biography of a God: Mahasu in the Himalayas is based on ethnographic research, resulting in an important contribution to the study of Indian village deities, Himalayan Hinduism, lived Hinduism, and the anthropology of religion
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048553846?locatt=mode:legacy
UR  - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9789048553846
UR  - https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9789048553846/original
ER  -