A lively account of the Ban Yatra, a circular pilgrimage that takes place in the northern Indian land of Braj, this anthropological chronicle offers an appealing mixture of personal anecdote, religious theory, Indian history, and tales of the gods. Based on personal experience in the field, a combination of primary sources in Sanskrit, Hindi, and Bengali--many never before translated into Western languages--and a wide range of secondary literature, Haberman places
the pilgrimage in its cultural and historical context. He interweaves his account with retellings of the tales of Krishna, perhaps the most popular of Indian deities and the entity around which the
journey revolves. In the process, Haberman explores the effects of the Ban-Yatra upon its participants and weighs its particular implications for current theories about pilgrimage in general. The first thorough study of this kind of cyclical Hindu pilgrimage, Journey through the Twelve Forests will interest any student of South Asian culture and pilgrimage.
Industry Reviews
"This is an engaging book of high scholarly quality on a subject about which very little has been written to date. Journey through the Twelve Forests ranks along with Irawati Karve's "On the Road, a Maharashtrian Pilgrimage" (1962), Ann Grodzins Gold's Fruitful Journeys: The Ways of Rajasthani Pilgrims (Berkeley, 1988), and William Sturman Sax's Mountain Goddess (New York, 1991) as one of very few detailed, firsthand, first-rate
scholarly account of Hindu pilgrimage."--Journal of Religion
"A remarkably rich study--moving from legend through geographical information and religious theory to the sweaty realism of pilgrimage. I particularly appreciated having the Krishna stories generally in association with the traditional sites--as a pilgrim would be hearing them. Setting and journey are quite effectively described."--Kenneth B. Welliver, West Virginia Wesleyan College
"Enchantingly written. Haberman makes pilgrimage come alive--maybe because he himself lived it. It's really fun to read, and would go very well with slides of Krishna miniatures."--F.W. Blackwell, Washington State University
"A delightful reading for layman and scholar alike. Very informative and clearly written."--Laxmi G. Tewari, Sonoma State University
"A splendid rendering of pilgrimage and the devotional motive. A better Krishna emerges through his accounting. Jai Radha, jai Krishna!"--Joanna Kirkpatrick, Bennington College
"Beautifully written, Highly evocative, and very attractive to student readers."--Gene R. Thursby, University of Florida
"[David Haberman] has become well-known as a knowledgeable and thorough scholar of Vaisnavism...[This work] is a pleasure to read and to recommend to everyone interested in not only the religion of Braj but of religion and its study in the broader context."--Journal of Vaisnava Studies
