cover image India: A Sacred Geography

India: A Sacred Geography

Diana L. Eck. Harmony, $27 (560p) ISBN 978-0-385-53190-0

At a time of religious intolerance and extremism, Harvard comparative religion and Indian studies professor Eck (Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras) offers an important corrective to the idea that Hindu religious and cultural distinction depend on, or correlate to, uniqueness and exclusivity. This rich study of “the pilgrim’s India” emphasizes the repetition of meaning as well as the “complexity, mobility, and plurality” attendant on the country’s vast network of pilgrimage sites, which form an intricately “imagined landscape” linking the physical topography with cherished stories of gods and heroes—a “practical everyday pluralism.” Similar to (but distinct from) Benedict Anderson’s formulation of nationalism as the “imagined community,” the imagined landscape is far from fanciful. No Google Earth search can capture the embedded meaning of this geography, explains Eck, who persuasively describes a lived social landscape centuries old, yet very much alive—with literally millions of pilgrims on the roads today. Cogent and erudite, this carefully crafted investigation is replete with accounts of myths modern and ancient, and offers an extensive glossary of key terms. An important addition to the study of religion, comparative cultures, and politics, the book should also serve intellectually adventurous readers as a “thick descriptive” travel guide, while offering a reflection on the social and cultural construction of our own landscapes. Agent: Jill Kneerim, the Kneerim & Williams Agency. (Mar.)