Jewels of Authority

"Laurie Patton has brought together a fascinating array of essays, a veritable collection of gems... The conscious decision to link textual traditions and ethnographic analysis makes this rich collection of interdisciplinary and multi-lingual scholarship, which takes the 'conversation', not only among North American scholars, much beyond the level of simple binary oppositions."--South Asia Research "A well-conceived, well-executed, and judicious consideration of this extraordinary encounter of two worlds, and the ultimate, apparent triumph of Christianity."--Catholic Southwest "The singular achievement of this collection--and it is truly groundbreaking--is its focus on quite specific intellectual, spiritual, and ritual contexts in order to examine the status of women in the history of Hinduism. . . . The book is unique in many ways. The scholars are all women, all are experts in Sanskrit or regional languages in India, all are trained in the most modern research methodologies, and all are theoretically astute, with penetrating feminist and critical analysis."--Choice "The singular achievement of this collection--and it is truly groundbreaking--is its focus on quite specific intellectual, spiritual, and ritual contexts in order to examine the status of women in the history of Hinduism. . . . The book is unique in many ways. The scholars are all women, all are experts in Sanskrit or regional languages in India, all are trained in the most modern research methodologies, and all are theoretically astute, with penetrating feminist and critical analysis."--Choice