ver since Sir W Jones translated Kalidasa's Sakuntalam into English (1789), many scholars from the West have shown interest in Indian Sanskrit literature. By 1847, 607 works had been translated. Among them, the Gita is one of the most translated works. The Gita and Bhagavatam are the essence of the Vedas, the ancient Indian texts of knowledge. While the 700-sloka Gita is written as a discourse to one who wants to choose his duty and duty, the 14094-sloka Bhagavata is described as a discourse to a ruler who is to die in seven days. Like the Gita, translations of the Bhagavatam are not widely available; Whatever is available, they are like a religious work, not like this book. This book is a collection of easy-to-read stories that does not qualify to be called a literary or religious work. The Bhagavatam, which is believed to have been written before the beginning of the Christian era, contains ancient thoughts on Indian science and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts such as the Mahabharatam and the Ramayanam. In this book, the entire Bhagavatam is condensed into eighty stories divided into two parts along with explanatory notes and a glossary at the end. Every care has been taken to preserve the key message in the Bhagavata - Learning, empathy and dispassion as essentials for a happy life.

Drawing on insights from theoretical engagements with borders and subalternity, Beyond Religion in India and Pakistan suggests new frameworks for understanding religious boundaries in South Asia. It looks at the ways in which social categories and structures constitute the bordering logics inherent within enactments of these boundaries, and positions hegemony and resistance through popular religion as an important indication of wider developments of political and social change. The book also shows how borders are continually being maintained through violence at national, community and individual levels. By exploring selected sites and expressions of piety including shrines, texts, practices and movements, Virinder S. Kalra and Navtej K. Purewal argue that the popular religion of Punjab should neither be limited to a polarised picture between formal, institutional religion, nor the 'enchanted universe' of rituals, saints, shrines and village deities. Instead, the book presents a picture of 'religion' as a realm of movement, mobilization, resistance and power in which gender and caste are connate of what comes to be known as 'religious'. Through extensive ethnographic research, the authors explore the reality of the complex, dynamic and contested relations that characterize everyday material and religious lives on the ground. Ultimately, the book highlights how popular religion challenges the borders and boundaries of religious and communal categories, nationalism and theological frameworks while simultaneously reflecting gender/caste society.

Exploring the folk religion of India and the role of girls and women within it, author June McDaniel focuses on the brata (vrata) ritual in which moral lessons are taught and goddesses are revealed. Bratas are performed to gain such goals as a healthy family, a good husband, and a happy life. They are also performed so that the performers (bratinis) develop such virtues as devotion, humility, and compassion.This book presents data from fieldwork, along with brata stories, songs, poems, and ritual activities. It discusses Bengali folk religion, offers an example of ritual worship in folk Hinduism, and surveys a variety of bratas. The author analyzes the similarities and differences among these rituals in low-caste village life and in high-caste Hindu tradition, and notes that the development of these rituals involves a form of continuing divine revelation with women as the primary transmitters. Bratas act to maintain traditional Hindu values, but also emphasize the power of women, whose virtues can save their husbands from hell worlds and their families from disasters.