This volume explores the effects of the religious transformation taking place in India as sacred symbols assume the shapes of media images.

This volume explores the effects of the religious transformation taking place in India as sacred symbols assume the shapes of media images. Lifted from their traditional forms and contexts, many religious symbols, beliefs, and practices are increasingly refracted through such media as god posters, comic books, audio recordings, and video programs. The ten original essays here examine the impact on India's traditional social and cultural structures of printed images, audio recordings, film, and video.

Contributors: Lawrence A. Babb, Steve Derné, John Stratton Hawley, Stephen R. Inglis, John T. Little, Philip Lutgendorf, Scott L. Marcus, Frances W. Pritchett, Regula Burckhardt Qureshi, H. Daniel Smith, and Susan S. Wadley.

List of Illustrations
A Note on Transliteration

1. Introduction

SECT. 1. PRINTED IMAGES
Introduction
2. Impact of "God Posters" on Hindus and Their Devotional Traditions
3. Suitable for Framing: The Work of a Modern Master
4. The World of Amar Chitra Katha
5. The Saints Subdued: Domestic Virtue and National Integration in Amar Chitra Katha

SECT. 2. AUDIO RECORDINGS
Introduction
6. Recorded Sound and Religious Music: The Case of Qawwali
7. On Cassette Rather Than Live: Religious Music in India Today

SECT. 3. VISUAL MEDIA
Introduction
8. Market Forces at Work: Religious Themes in Commercial Hindi Films
9. All in the (Raghu) Family: A Video Epic in Cultural Context
10. Video Vacana: Swadhyaya and Sacred Tapes

Contributors
Index