Riches and Renunciation: Religion, Economy, and Society Among the Jains

ISBN-13: 9780198280422 / Angielski / Miękka / 1996 / 448 str.

James Laidlaw

Opis

The Jains of India are a flourishing and prosperous community, but their religion is focused on the teaching and example of ascetic renouncers, whose austere regime is actually dedicated to ending worldly life and often culminates in a fast to death. This book, which draws upon a detailed study of Jainism in the city of Jaipur, shows how renunciation and ascetism play a central part in the life of a thriving business community, and how world-renunciation combines for Jain families with the pursuit of worldly happiness.

Recenzje

James Laidlaw's Riches and Renunciation is the most substantial book in this flurry of scholarship ... Laidlaw in good post-structuralist fashion is content to let the contradictions and tensions exist side by side in a web of relationships.

O autorze

James Laidlaw is co-author of The Archetypal Actions of Ritual (CP, 1994)