The concept of the hero (vira, sura, nayaka) is of crucial importance in Indian civilization, from the Vedic to the present times. The authors of the papers in this volume include scholars of Indology, history, religion, literature, politics and anthropology. They explore the concept of the hero in written and oral sources, in different historical epochs and regions of India, from the Himalays to the South. Most of the contributions were originally written for a ...