Open Boundaries: Jain Communities and Cultures in Indian History(SUNY series in Hindu Studies)

Open Boundaries provides a new perspective on Jainism, one of the oldest yet least-studied of the world's living religions. Ten closely-focused studies investigate the interactions between Jains and non-Jains in South Asian society, with detailed studies of yoga, tantra, aesthetic theory, erotic poetry, theories of kingship, goddess worship, temple ritual, polemical poetry, religious women, and historiography. Viewing the Jains within a South Asian context results in a strikingly different portrait from the standard models represented in both traditional Western and Indian scholarship.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: Contested Jain Identities of Self and Other John E. Cort 2. Haribhadra's Analysis of Patanjala and Kula Yoga in the Yogadrstisamuccaya Christopher Key Chapple 3. Becoming Gautama: Mantra and History in Svetambara Jainism Paul Dundas 4. Hemacandra and Sanskrit Poetics Gary A. Tubb 5. Erotic Excess and Sexual Danger in the Civakacintamani James Ryan 6. Who is a King? Jain Narratives of Kingship in Medieval Western India John E. Cort 7. Sweetmeats Or Corpses? Community, Conversion, and Sacred Places Michael W. Meister 8. Ritual Culture and the Distinctiveness of Jainism Lawrence A. Babb 9. Sramanas against the Tamil Way: Jains As Others in Tamil Saiva Literature Indira Viswanathan Peterson 10. Jain and Hindu "Religious Women" in Early Medieval Tamilnadu Leslie C. Orr 11. The Story of the Disappearing Jains: Retelling the Saiva-Jain Encounter in Medieval South India Richard H. Davis References Contributors Index

About the Author :
John E. Cort is Associate Professor of Religion at Denison University.

Review :
"What I like most about this book is that it makes a tremendous advance on the research for the Jain identity. It examines the ways in which Jains identify themselves in relation to other communities, whether religious or political, from the ancient to the modern period, and the manner in which the others relate to them. No other South Asian religious community, whether the ancient Buddhists or the medieval Sikhs, has been studied in such a comprehensive manner. An indispensable reference work for the study of South Asia." - Padmanabh S. Jaini, University of California, Berkeley "There is no question that Jainism is an important topic, and this collection has something in it for everyone including solid papers on philosophy, sociology and anthropology, art history, religious studies, and literature." - Phyllis Granoff, McMaster University