Sarada Devi: Holiness, Charisma and Iconic Motherhood
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Publisher: Niyogi Books Author: Amiya P Sen
Special books on India 75 years of independence celebration - Series 7
To celebrate Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, 75th years of India’s independence several organizations, groups are celebrating the historic year throughout various cultural events. Eminent publisher, NIYOGI Books brought eight different titles to celebrate the moment with a remarkable attempt.
Sarada Devi: Holiness, Charisma and Iconic Motherhood
Publisher: Niyogi Books
Author: Amiya P Sen
Price: Rs. 299/, ISBN-13: 978-93-91125-70-7
This is a short and accessible biography of Sarada Devi (1853–1920), the widow of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and a cultic leader in her own right. It is the work of a historian of modern Bengal and meant to serve as a corrective to the hagiographic slant that has hitherto permeated writings on the subject.
This book is about understanding religious charisma associated with an unschooled but dynamic woman who had ample courage, common sense and conviction, deftly combining in her person the roles of a social counsellor, a spiritual preceptor and a popular cultic leader. Though an orthodox Brahmin widow, Sarada Devi reveals an extraordinary openness and liberality in her everyday relationships, not hesitating to share food with her Western disciples or socialize with men and women from the marginalized castes and classes. Though never a mother herself, she played a tender motherly role towards many that eventually contributed to ascriptions of Divine Motherhood in her person. She was also a feminist who encouraged women to be free and self-reliant.
Sarada Devi has been the inspiration behind the Sarada Math and Mission that, quite uniquely, combines the world of feminine spirituality and active social work for Indian women. This work is a study in the social and historical processes that made this possible.
This book is a part of the series - Pioneers of Modern India. Other books in the series: (a) Homi J. Bhabha, (b) Heisnam Sabitri, (c) RK Laxman (d) Jamini Roy (e) Rani Gaidinliu (f) Charu Majumdar (g) Muthulakshmi Reddy.
Amiya P Sen retired as Professor of Modern Indian history from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. That apart, he has served Delhi University and Visvabharati, Santiniketan. He has been Agatha Harrison Fellow at the University of Oxford, Zimmer Chair at Heidelberg and Fellow at the IIAS, Shimla, and the NMML, New Delhi. Currently, he is also Honorary Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Oxford. Prof. Sen’s research interests lie primarily in the areas of intellectual and cultural history of modern Bengal.
To date, he has authored and edited fifteen books and served as Guest Editor for the MDPI international online journal, Religion.
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