DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Asrama System

The History and Hermeneutics of a Religious Institution

Patrick Olivelle author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

Published:16th Dec '93

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Asrama System cover

This is the first full-length study of the asrama system, a Hindu construct consisting of four legitimate ways of leading a religious life. Together with the varna (class) system, it forms one of the pillars of Hindu life. Olivelle traces its early history and how it gradually established connections with other Hindu religious institutions to emerge as one of the two central dimensions of the Hindu dharma. It represents a major study not only of Hindu religious history but also of the tradition of Indian hermeneutics.

The conclusions presented are not ... novel but the careful and detailed arguments for them are well worth waiting for and greatly extend our understanding of this major concept in the history of Hindu thought ... a book which illuminates not only the history of the asrama system but much else in the tradition of Indian hermeneutics. All in all, this is a book to be warmly welcomed and carefully studied. * SOAS Bulletin *

ISBN: 9780195083279

Dimensions: 162mm x 237mm x 24mm

Weight: 608g

288 pages