Leela Prasad's riveting book presents everyday stories on subjects such as deities, ascetics, cats, and cooking, alongside public discourses on ethics. It shows that the study of oral narratives and performance practices is essential to a proper understanding of lived Hinduism. Prasad builds on more than a decade of ethnographic research in the famous Hindu pilgrimage town of Sringeri in Karnataka. Here a vibrant local culture has flourished for centuries ...
