This book examines a monastic institution – the Madhva Matha of Udupi (Udipi) in Southern Karnataka – as a site of the formation of religious opinion, of monastic training, and practice, and the transmission of knowledge. The author brings both sociological and textual perspectives to bear on his work. While anthropologists and sociologists have worked on cults, practices, categories of specialists and concepts, Vasudeva Rao’s is one of the few books to ...
