An ethnographic history and critique of the emergence of South Indian carnatic music as a "classical" music in the 20th century.
While Karnatic music, a form of Indian music based on the melodic principle of raga and time cycles called tala, is known today as South India's classical music, its status as "classical" is an early-twentieth-century construct, one that emerged in the crucible of colonial moder…
"This book offers a systematic analysis of the violent clashes between the South Indian 'right' and 'left' hand caste divisions that repeatedly rocked the European settlements on the Coromandel Coast in the early colonial period. Whereas the Indian population expected the coloni…
One of the only ethnographic studies of Dalit women, this book gives a rich account of individual Dalit women's lives and documents a rise in patriarchy in the community. The author argues that as Dalits' economic and political position improves, 'honour' becomes crucial to soci…
One God, Two Goddesses presents three studies, one of Tamil myths of the god Murugan and two of goddess rituals: Gangamma in Tirupati and Paiditalli in Vizianagaram, both in Andhra Pradesh. All three essays search for lineaments of the cosmos that these deities inhabit and shape…
One God, Two Goddesses studies through their deities three very different South Indian cosmic worlds whose existence depends on their incessant dynamism, which is deeply and intimately related to ongoing transformation and regeneration.