Bhattars(priests): at Srivaisnava temple
(Penn Hills, PA), 232
Bhavna: at Ramlilas of Ramnagar,
132–36; of sadhus, 134
Bhiksa(food for ascetics), 79, 80, 84, 85
Bhopal, marriage age in, 75n1
Bhramara(bee messenger): appearance at
Vrindaban, 16–17, 53, 57–59
Bindí (beauty mark), 41
Birth groups (jati), 13
Biruni, al-, 13
Body parts, images of, 267
Bombay, films from, 142, 143, 154n8
Bopp, Franz, 272
Bose, N. K., 108
Bose, Naren, 178
Boys: celebrants ofRamlilas, 20, 117,
118, 127, 129, 133, 150; life cycles of, 17
Brahma(creator): mudrasof, 51, in
Ramlilasof Ramnagar, 133, 138n18
Brahmacaris (male renunciants), 82;
baths for, 85; sanyasatrials for, 78–79
Brahmacarini(female renunciants), 178
Brahman: nature of, 51–52; sound as, 38
Brahmavaivarta Purana, 107
Brahmins, 13; of Banaras, 205; bhakti,
203–4; hegemony of, 15; Hindu chau-
vinist view of, 5–6; in Holi festival, 108,
109; Ravidas and, 200, 204–5, 206; ritu-
als of, 200; Saiva, 231; violence against,
6; of Vrindaban, 57, 59; women, 70
Braj, 99, 107
Brides: socialization of, 74–75; visits to
natal families, 73–74, 75, 105. See also
Wives
Brindavan. SeeVrindaban
Brueghel, Pieter, 126
Buniyaad(television serial), 144
Bunkal ki Devi, melaat, 27n4
Bynum, Caroline Walker, 181
Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri, 53, 55, 59, 107
Cancal, Narendra, 169n6
Caribbean, Hindus of, 24
Case, Margaret, 16
Cassirer, Ernst, 131
Caste, 13–14; bhaktiand, 201; in British
India, 22; dharmain, 251; in Hindu fes-
tivals, 105, 106; in Holi festival, 100;
interdependence in, 48; marriage out-
side, 66; marriage within, 66, 70, 71,
251; Ravidas and, 200, 206; social di-
versity of, 47
Celibacy, in Hindu monasticism, 80
Césaire, Aimé, 277
Chaitanya (ecstatic), 2, 174–75
Chakras(energy), 40
Chakravarti, Sitansu: Hinduism, 24
Chatterji, Uma, 178–79
Chauvinism, Hindu, 5–6
Chickens, sacrifice of, 27n4
Chikhlia, Dipika, 145
Chinmaya Mission West, 243
Chinnamasta (avatara), 179
Chintpurni (pilgrimage site), 161, 165
Chitrahaar(movie clips), 143, 146
Chopra, Deepak, retreats of, 8–9
Choral singing, Fakta, 104
Choti Divali (feast day), 92, 93
Christianity: Communion in, 41; divine
images in, 45; Hindu participation in,
6–7; interlogue with Hinduism,
288–89, 294, 298, 299n1
Chronology, historical, 274
Cittor, queens of, 215n9
Claus, Peter J., 169n4
Cokhamela, 203
Colebrooke, H. T., 272
Colonialism: codes of, 272,; in Indology,
275; “inner,” 286n14
Congress Party, 210, 264; secular tenets
of, 261
Consciousness, 78; genderless, 181
Consecration, rituals of, 37
Contextuality: in interpretation, 296
Cosmology, Hindu, 14, 51, 278