Wandering with Sadhus: Ascetics in the Hindu Himalayas (Contemporary Indian Studies)
Description
In this moving ethnographic portrait of Hindu renouncers―sadhus or ascetics―in northern India and Nepal, Sondra L. Hausner considers a paradox that shapes their lives: while ostensibly defined by their solitary spiritual practice, the stripping away of social commitments, and their break with family and community, renouncers in fact regularly interact with "householder" society. They form a distinctive, alternative community with its own internal structure, but one that is not located in any single place. Highly mobile and dispersed across the subcontinent, its members are regular...
ISBN(s)
0253219493, 9780253219497
