While many people outside India find the images; sounds; and practices of Indian performing arts compelling and endeavor to incorporate them into the "global" repertoire; few are aware of the central role of religious belief and practice in Indian aesthetics. Completing the trilogy that includes Darsan: Seeing the Divine and Mantra: Hearing the Divine in India and America; this volume focuses on how rasa has been applied in a range of Indian performance traditions."Rasa" is taste; essence; flavor. How is it possible that a word used to describe a delicious masala can also be used to critique a Bharata Natyam performance? Rasa expresses the primary goals of performing arts in India in all the major literary; philosophical; and aesthetic texts; and it provides the cornerstone of the oral traditions of transmission. It is also essential to the study and production of sculpture; architecture; and painting. Yet its primary referent is cuisine. This book articulates the religious sensibility underlying the traditional performing arts as well as other applications of rasa and examines the relationships between the arts and religion in India today.
#520566 in Books Juan R I Cole 1998-05-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .61 x 5.98l; .90 #File Name: 0231110812400 pagesModernity and the Millennium
Review
37 of 46 people found the following review helpful. Baha'u'llah 's Influence on 19th-C Muslim IntellectualsBy A CustomerThis volume is an important study contributing to an understanding ofthe place of Baha'u'llah; the Founder of the Baha'i Faith; in theintellectual milieu of the late 19th century Middle East. It is not;however; a definitive or well-rounded study on Baha'u'llah. Dr. Colehas been selective about what to emphasize or ignore -- such as someof Baha'u'llah's more challenging claims to divinity and spiritualauthority; passages in Baha'u'llah's writings that undermine theauthor's thesis that Baha'u'llah was strictly committed to awestern-style principle of rigid separation of church and state; andother interpretations of Baha'u'llah's writings which are regarded asauthoritative by Baha'is. Nevertheless; Cole's is a useful study ofthe liberality of spirit and wide-ranging influence exerted byBaha'u'llah upon the most important of his Middle Easterncontemporaries. It should not be read as a definitive description ofBaha'u'llah's doctrine or as a comprehensive intellectual history ofBaha'u'llah's influence; for it was not the Middle Easternintellectuals but ordinary people who accepted Baha'u'llah's claims toprophethood and built the international Baha'i community. Dr. Cole'sbook was not written to address Baha'u'llah's longer-range spiritualinfluence upon ever more followers; the vast majority of whom are inunderdeveloped countries. ...26 of 34 people found the following review helpful. Non-Scholar' viewBy Bill KronemyerI found the book to be very ingrossing. I looked forward to reading sections of it twice a day. As part of my background; I have studied and participated in Sufi activities (1972-1976) and have been a Baha'i since 1972.The book is; by-and large; very readable; very interesting and sheds some light on the circumstances and conditions of the time of the Babi and Baha'i revelations. I feel I have a better understanding of the culture; customs and history of that time. I also welcome the perspective which the author brings to the subject.As for any controversy regarding this book or its author; the book contains a few points which may disturb the comfort level of some readers; but nothing that shakes my Faith in the essence of the Revelation; or cause me to question the author's point of view or motives.13 of 27 people found the following review helpful. Groundbreaking StudyBy AnonymousThe negative comments of several Baha'i reviewers on this forum should be completely disregarded; as it - besides the fact that none address the actual content of the book - betrays the overt biases of and systematic assault by the Baha'i institutional administrative propaganda machine which since 1996 has launched an inquisition against all legitimate academic critical historical scholarship and inquiry and those who pursue it; and particularly the author Juan Cole who was forced to resign from the Baha'i religion for fear of being declared a heretic by an ultra-conservative entrenched power elite currently in control of the religion. As such vacuous rhetorical points made by one reviwer about the book being "white liberal academic diatribe" ought to be taken with so many grains of salt and as so many rantings within the context of nonsensical gibberish. Another bogus charge levelled by yet another Baha'i reviewer claiming that Cole wished to become a self-styled "mujtahid;" besides being an outright lie and intentional obfuscation of the truth; should also be seen as being at base ideologically driven. Having made the above comments; readers should know that Modernity and the Millenium as a study is one of the first of its kind in that for the first time the underlying social and political dynamics; causes and effects generating the Baha'i movement is analysed and discussed in depth within a single study. Issues such as democracy; colonialism; reform; women's rights; anti-militarism; communitarianism; etc; and the views of Baha'i founders on these key questions are dealt with; soundly demonstrated; and in comparative scope. Cole is to be warmly congratulated for undertaking this groundbreaking work and focusing upon an otherwise neglected aspect of Baha'i history and social thought.
