Play Of The Gods: Locality, Ideology, Structure, And Time In The Festivals Of A Bengali Town

This book, first published in 1980, is a seminal study of Indian sacred festivals, appears here in a new, expanded and illustrated edition. The two related festivals considered here - Durgapuja, in honor of the Goddess Durga, and Gajan, in honor of the Lord Siva - are the most popular and most complex of Bengali rituals, involving elaborate preparation and wide and ever-increasing participation. The detailed description and interpretation of the rituals presents an inside view of society and remains the only complete ethnographic account of a major ritual cycle in India.