Structure and Cognition: Aspects of Hindu Caste and Ritual (Third Edition) (Oxford India Perennials) (Oxford India Perennials Series)

Sociological analysis of Hindu caste and ritual has primarily been confined to the empirical study of local communities. In this classic work, the author adds a new dimension to such analysis by basing her data on an examination of selected myths in Puranic and Sutra literature, in particular the Dharmaranya Purana and the Grihya Sutra, going thereby to the sources of the ideology that have given local communities their particular shape and character. The book places the discussion in the wider setting of discussions on Hinduism. This original approach, bridging the gulf that divides Indology from Sociology, resolves many questions that had previously defied definitive explanation, and charts a fruitful alternative direction for future sociological inquiry.

The Third Edition comes includes a new Preface by the author.



Winner of the prestigious G.S. Ghurye Award (1977), Structure and Cognition is an essential reading in the sociological analysis of Hindu myth, ritual, and society. The author departs from conventional empirical studies of local communities. She bridges the gulf between Indology and Sociology by basing her data on an examination of select myths in Puranic and Sutra literature. Including a new introduction from the author, this Oxford India Perennials edition underlines the continuing importance of the book for contemporary research in sociology and anthropology since it was first published in 1977.