Companion volume issued under title: Claiming power from below.

Includes bibliographical references.

List of Illustrations p. ix
Preface p. xi
Introduction p. 1
1 The Bhakti Radicals and Untouchability p. 11
Gail Omvedt
2 Humanism, Religion, and the Nation: Sant Namdev as a Manavatavadin p. 30
Christian Lee Novetzke
3 Propagating the Gospel of Animal Kindness: Sacred Cows, Christians, and American Animal Welfare Activism with Reference to India at the Turn of the Twentieth Century p. 47
Janet M. Davis
4 Blindness and Sight: Moral Vision in Rajasthani Narratives p. 62
Ann Grodzins Gold
5 The Upwardly Mobile Monkey-god: Village and Urban Marutis in Maharashtra p. 78
Jeffrey M. Brackett
6 Negotiating Hierarchy and Identity: Cultural Performances on the Meaning of the Demon King Bali in Rural Maharashtra p. 92
Michael Youngblood
7 'How Can a Wife Screech and Wail?' Respectability and Bengali Women Singers' Lives p. 107
Donna M. Wulff
8 Other Voices, Other Rooms: The View from the Zenana p. 121
Gail Minault
9 Dalit Transformation, Narrative, and Verbal Art in the Tamil Novels of Bama p. 137
Paula Richman
10 Women's Empowerment through Religious Conversion: Voices of Buddhists in Nagpur, India p. 153
Laura Dudley Jenkins
11 The Buddha and the Barbers: Status, Discipline, and Dissension in Early Buddhism p. 165
Guy Welbon
12 Art and Identity: The Rise of a New Buddhist Imagery p. 180
Gary Michael Tartakov
13 Understanding Multiple Images of B.R. Ambedkar p. 205
Gopal Guru
14 Contemplating the Divine p. 221
Syed Akbar Hyder
Appendix Published Writings of Eleanor Zelliot p. 231
Contributors p. 241

Focusing on caste, this volume investigates the dynamics of hierarchies, exploring how they are constructed, how they work, and how they are resisted.