Gods in the world

"India, cultivate with divine beings and traces how these practices, such as rituals of divine embodiment or possession, have been both marginal and controversial in relation to Brahminical Hinduism, which emphasizes temple worship. Further, the healers, mediums, and other specialists who mediate relations between devotees and divinities belong to caste-oppressed, or Dalit, communities. They are heralded for their skills as musicians, drummers, oral narrators, and performers, but in their everyday lives they also face immense discrimination from both caste-privileged communities and Brahmin priests, who contest their knowledge and authority. Foregrounding the voices and perspectives of communities that since the colonial period have been labeled "primitive" and not "proper" Hindus, Gods in the World explores the contradictions of everyday life and religion"--