ISBN : 9780199482542
This book traces the evolution of a process of interaction between Brahmanism and the indigenous social groups of Bengal during the early medieval period. Following the logic of cultural negotiation implicit in the Puranas composed composed in Bengal, the book unravels a pattern that governed this relationship of recirpocity, contestation and domination.
Acknowledgements Abbreviations I. Introduction II. Texts and Traditions: The Bengal Puranas III. Cultural Interaction and Religious Process IV. The Diffusion of Brahmanism and the Trnasformation of Buddhism V. Appropriation as a Historical Process: The Cult of the Goddess VI. Vratas: The Transmission of Brahmanical Culture VII. The Making of the Regional Tradition of Bengal Bibliography Index