· Apte, V.M., "Vedic Rituals" in The Cultural Heritage of India, Ed. Haridas Bhattacharya et al. 5 Vol. The Ramakrishna Mission, Calcutta, 1958. (Vol.1, p. 234-263).
This is a brief and perhaps superficial introduction to Vedic ritual. Like much of the ritual scholarship it is focused upon description and is almost completely devoid of interpretation.
· Babb, Lawrence, A. "The Food of the Gods in Chhattisgarh: Some Structural Features of Hindu Ritual," Soutwest Journal of Anthropology, 26 (1970): 287-304.
This essay is an interesting look at three rituals in Chhattisgarh. There is discussion of a family ritual, a village festival and a singing session. The analysis is conducted in terms of pure/impure dichotomies. The relationship of performer to deity is also described.
· -----, "Heat and Control in Chhattisgarh Ritual" Eastern Anthropologist, 26 (1973): 11-28.
This essay looks at the concepts of heat and cold in a specific popular Hindu practice. The author's goal seems to be to describe the ritual practitioners interaction with heat (in its negated manifestations). Thus, the rituals described are suppose to have a cooling effect.
· Beck, Brenda E.F., "Colour and Heat in South Indian Ritual," Man: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 4, (1969): 553-572.
This article is an extremely important introduction to the concepts of color symbolism as it related to a great deal of popular practice in South India. A very important essay.
· -----"The Symbolic Merger of Body, Space and Cosmos in Hindu Tamil Nadu," Contributions to Indian Sociology, 10,2, (1976):
This is an extremely useful article that presents some ideas which do not really exist anywhere else. Beck associates folk traditions and textual information concerning cardinal directions as they relate to ritual. There is a discussion of the principal of Purusha as it relates to the Hindu temple (following Kramrisch). This is an important look at the symbolization of the body.
· Bhardwaj, Surinder Mohan Hindu Places of Pilgrimage in India: A Study in Cultural Geography, The University of California Press, 1973.
· Bharati, Agehananda, "Pilgrimage and the Indian Tradition" in History of Religions, 3(1): 135-167, 1963.
This essay is a fairly good, yet introductory attempt at understanding the complex institution of pilgrimage as it manifests itself in the Indian Tradition. The author does not limit himself to the Hindu context, but also looks at the role of Buddhist pilgrimage. This work is an essential introduction to the conception of pilgrimage in the Indian tradition.
· Bhattacharya, Siva Prasad, "The Religious Practice of the Hindus," in The Religion of the Hindus, Ed. Kenneth Williams Morgan, Ronald Press, New York, 1953.
This fifty page essay provides a brief yet thoughtful introduction to Hindu practices. The topics of discussion span a wide gamete of topics. Included in this essay are discussions of pilgrimage, temple and home rituals, tantric practices, women practice, and sannyasin practices.
· ------ "Indian Puberty Rites," Indian Studies Past and Present, 9 (1968): 2771-342.
This text is a detailed look at male and female puberty rites derived primarily from textual references. The author provides interesting cross-cultural parallels which are useful in facilitating understanding. The text is a readable introduction to the subject matter.
· Bodewitz, H.W. The Daily Evening and Morning Offering (Agnihotra) According to the Brahmanas, Brill, Leiden, 1976.
This text is a detailed elucidation of the traditional Vedic rites performed at sunrise and sunset (Agnihotra.) The text contains translations of the major parts of the Brahmanas dealing with this rite.
· Converse, Hyla Stuntz, "The AgniCayana Rite: Indigenous Origin?" History of Religions, 14:2, 81-95, 1974.
An interesting study which concludes, based upon archaeological, linguistic, and literary material that the Prajapati theology in the ritual is derived from a separate, non-Vedic facet of the tradition which began around 500 BC.
· Das, Veena, "On the Categorization of Space in Hindu ritual" in Text and Context: The Social Anthropology of Tradition, Ed. Ravindra Jain, Institute for the Study of Human Issues, Philadelphia, 1977. (Association of Social Anthropology, Vol. 2, p. 9-27).
This thrust of this work correlates the right-left sides of the body and the east/west cardinal directions with benign and malevolent beings. The analysis is based upon a translation of the Grihya Sutras.
· Eck, Diana, Banaras, City of Lights, Alfred Knopf, New york, 1982.
This is an excellent work on the holy complex of Banaras, Varanasi, Kashi (whatever you want to call it!) It is, however, more than a look at one important city. It describes, with unparalleled lucidity, the concepts of tirtha and pilgrimage, the Ganga as liquid Sakti and much, much more. It is an exceptional piece of work!
· -----"India's Tirthas: "Crossings" in Sacred Geography," in History of Religions, May 1981, 323-344.
This is a very in depth (actually the only!) look at the concept of Tirthas across the temporal span of the tradition. It is primarily an etymological study which looks at the many ways of understanding this term. This essay is an excellent introduction to the concept of sacred geography in the Indian tradition.
· Gonda, Jan, "Mantra," Indo-Iranian Journal, 6 (1964): 70-114.
This article is a huge comprehensive study of mantra, looking at its role in Vedic and classical Sanskrit sources. The text looks primarily at the use of mantra in more orthodox practice.
· Gopal, Lallanji, Ed. Pilgrimage Studies: Text and Context, The Society of Pilgrimage Studies, Allahabad, 1990.
This text is a collection of essays by a consortium of scholars, both western and Indian which address, in one form or another, the concept of Pilgrimage. There are a few notable essays on Varanasi, tirthas in general, and Prayag. The work contains over twenty essays!
· Goudriaan, T "Vaikhanasa Daily Worship According to the Handbooks of Atri, Bhrgu, Kasyapa, and Murici," Indo-Iranian Journal, 12 (1970): 161-215.
An interesting look at the daily worship of a priest. The text delineates 92 different sections of worship during the day. The day begins with a morning meditation and continues throughout the day until the Temple is closed. There are also interesting parrallels drawn between other types of worship.
· Hazra, R.C., Studies in the Puranic Record of Hindu Rites and Customs, University of Dacca, Dacca, 1940.
This text is indispensable for sorting through the ritual citations in the eighteen major Puranas. The first part of the text looks at each of the individual ritual sections as they occur in these scriptures. The later part is a more general discussion of ritual developments during the historical period covered by the Puranas.
· Heesterman, J.C., The Broken World of Sacrifice: An Essay in Ancient Indian Ritual, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1993.
Already a classic work, by the eminent scholar, this book explores ritual and sacrifice within the tradition. He seems to be describing how he sees the concept of sacrifice as out of fashion and describe the rise of what he defines as ritual.
· Heesterman, J.C. The Inner Conflict of Tradition, University of Chicago, Chicago, 1985.
This collection of essays is a classic work which argues that the dynamics of Indian tradition are constructed by an inner conflict in the tradition between the Hindu ideal of world-renunciation and the experiences of social interdependencies.
· -----Ancient Indian Royal Consecration, Mouton, The Hauge, 1957.
Once again, from this preeminent scholar we have another important work. This work is intended for the Historian of Religions and as such does not contain translations, but only paraphrases of scriptures. The text is a description and interpretation of the Rajasuya as it occurs in the Yajur-Veda. His perspective on this ritual is that it represents an elaboration of much earlier rite which promoted fertility and growth.
· Hooykas, C., Agama Tirthas, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1960.
This work is a collection of 5 invaluable essays which describe Balinese Hindu Religious practices. There is constant movement between the Indian and Balinese Hindu traditions. There are also a great number of illustrations, diagrams, and textual translations.
· Jha, Makhan, Ed. Social Anthropology of Pilgrimage, Inter-Indian Publications, Delhi, 1991.
This work is a collection of twenty essays, written primarily by Indian Scholars which address the concept of pilgrimage. This is a useful collection of essays and contains a wide range of articles, from work of Katmandu to pilgrimage in the Mormon culture (However the main thrust of the work is on Indian pilgrimage).
· Kaushik, Meena, "The Symbolic Representation of Death," Contributions to Indian Sociology, 10,2 (1976): 265-292.
This is a useful article which focuses upon death rituals at Kashi. The specific thesis is that these death rituals represent the notion that death is viewed by Hindus as a marginal situation.
· Knipe, David, In the Image of Fire: Vedic Experiences of Heat, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1975.
This is an interesting look at the concepts of heat and fire in Vedic ritual, myths, and symbols. The work make extensive references of the Brahmanas. In addition, there is a useful bibliography.
· Kramrisch, Stella, The Hindu Temple, 2 Volumes, University of Calcutta, Calcutta, 1946
This text is still the classic work on the Hindu Temple and nothing that I have seen can even compare to it. She does an excellent and very thorough job exploring the ideas of Purusha as temple, the role of the builder, the correspondences and meanings of proportion and she even spends a great deal of time (the entire second volume) looking at the images of the Temple. There is a ton of black and white plates that are extremely interesting.
· Michell, George, The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to its Meaning and Form, Harper and Row, New York, 1977.
This text is extremely useful work for any scholarship concerning the temple or conceptions of space. There are many interesting plates in black and white which give the reader a visual basis for the interpretations contained in the text. The work does not contain itself to the sub-continent, but also explores places in southeast-Asia and Nepal. The work is a sort of tribute to Kramrisch (hence the title).
· Monier-Williams, Monier, Brahmanism and Hinduism, Macmillan and co. London, 1891.
While this work comes from the old school, this scholar was and still is extremely influential. The text describes practices including Puja, Temple-worship, Life-cycle rituals, Samdhya, etc.
· Smith, Brian K. Reflections on Resemblance; Ritual and Religion, Oxford University Press, 1989.
This text is an important contribution to the theoretical and methodological approaches to the academic study of Hinduism. Moreover, it seems to present broader issues which concern scholars outside the field of Indology. In fact, the author even seems to be trying to establish a paradigm for a comparative methodological approach to the ASR in general. His interest is focused primarily upon ritual and represents a significant break from Dumont's seminal work Homo Hierarchicus.
· Staal, Fritz, Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar, 2 Volumes, Asian Humanities Press, Berkeley, 1983.
This is a classic work on the Vedic rituals of the fire. Volume one of this over 1400 page ritual account, is comprised primarily of a representation of a Vedic ritual performed in 1975. The first 170 pages are devoted to a discussion of the AgniCayana ritual, ritual in general and traditional interpretations of the ritual. There are a number of interesting plates which are mostly photographs taken before, during and after the ritual performance. The second volume, edited by Staal, is significantly more diverse than the first volume. Comprised of the perspectives of numerous scholars, a whole gamete of issues are addressed including ritual structure, the geometrics of Vedic ritual, ritual and Mimamsa and much more. In addition, there is a video and over thirty cassette tapes included.
· Stevenson, Margaret, Rites of the Twice-born, Oxford University Press, London, 1920.
This text is a classic work on the rites of orthodox Hindu religions. It is based not only upon scholarly textual research, but also close observation of the rituals themselves. Some of the rituals discussed include rites of passage, household worship, and seasonal festivals. This is the most comprehensive work available on domestic festivals.
· Wasson, R. Gordon, Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality, HBJ, New York, 1970.
This is and interesting and fairly influential work which argued that soma was a drink made from a mushroom (Fly-agaric) which is especially important in Siberian shamanism. Doniger then looks at the use of substitutes in the later Vedic period and surveys the scholarly attempts to identify the original Soma plant…John Brough has critiqued this thesis in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London, Vol. 34 (1971): 331-362.