Tasting Karma: How Food Produces Hindu Communities Within India
Loading...
Authors
Wood, Eric Lickel
Issue Date
2006
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Food and religion are an integral part of India's society. In this thesis I
will be exploring the many interrelationships between the two to gain a wider
understanding pf India's society. By choosing Hinduism, I focused on how
food and dietary practices work to produce Hindu communities within India.
After a discussion on the general implications of food within India, including
the prevalence and implications of the caste system, food pollution (both
environmental and social), and how it has helped create meaning and order
within Indian society. I then go on to discuss the many regional cuisines found
within India and by identifying their differences from one another, I point to
how they help create a wider national cuisine. Elements that are present
throughout India contain such contents as rice, potatoes, curries, fish, milk,
and sweets. I then go on to show the elements within Hinduism and food to
show the interconnections. Aspects such as Ayurvedic medicine, rituals,
scriptural accounts and various deities, all reveal this interconnection. By
exploring these powerfully charged interconnected subjects, I am able to
present the dynamics between food and religion that are met on a daily basis
for India's Hindus. By constructing their own meanings of life Hindus are
presented with essential elements that are present in their construction and
classification.
Description
vi, 46 p.
Citation
Publisher
Kalamazoo, Mich. : Kalamazoo College.
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved.