Malinowski, Bronislaw, 100
Manas (Ramcaritmanas)performances,
141–42, 145, 150; elaboration of, 149;
garden scene in, 154n8. See also Tulsi-
das, Ramcharitmanas
Mandalas: for sannyasaceremony, 84
Mandhi(fried sweet), 19; recipe for, 98
ManikarnikaGhat (Banaras), 83; cre-
mation at, 82, 83, 86; Deviworship
at, 83
Manikunndawell (Banaras), 82
Mannikkavachakar (Tamil poet-saint), 7
Mantras, 296; for the dead, 85; efficacy
of, 134
Maratha Seva Sangh (organization), 6
Margali, festivals of, 8
Mariamman (goddess), 33; images of, 36;
possession by, 169n2; worship of, 34,
36
Marriage: advertisements for, 68; age of,
64, 73, 75n1; arranged, 64, 66, 67;
within caste, 66, 70, 71, 251; ceremony,
69; choice of spouse in, 67–68; con-
summation ceremony, 64–65, 72–73,
74; dowries in, 68, 70, 75n4; exoga-
mous, 104–5; high-caste, 64; within
kin groups, 66; Maharajji on, 188;
Muslim, 65–66, 70; negotiations for,
67–68; outside caste, 66; preparation
for, 69; prepubescent, 64, 73; rituals
of, 17, 63–75; virginity in, 65–66. See
alsoBrides
Matas (“mothers”: possessed women),
165–66, 168. See alsoDevi; Durga
Mathrubhumi(journal), 218
Mathura: pilgrimage to, 107, 112n16;
poets of, 112n16; royal house of, 54
Matter, and spirit, 161, 166
Mauni Baba, 137n4
Maya(illusory world), 78; and lila, 124,
125, 135; of Ram, 136
McKim, Marriott, 18, 281
Meditation, 253
Megha Bhagat, vision of, 128
Men: husbands, 219, 222; life cycles of, 17
Menstruation, 170n11; onset of, 63–64
Militants, anti-Muslim, 24–25, 249–65;
versus secularists, 261
Mirabai (poet), 202; Ravidas’s initiation
of, 211, 215n9; shrines to, 210; temple
of, 205
Mishra, Shrinath, 155n24
Mithai(sweets), 92
Mohali (Chandigarh), goddess posses-
sion at, 158–59
Moksa(liberation), 248n10; dharmaand,
12
Monasticism, Hindu, 76–87; celibacy in,- See also Sannyasi ̇s
Monier-Williams, Monier: Hinduism, 10
Monism: in Hinduism, 12, 47
Monotheism: in Hinduism, 12, 249; West-
ern, 47, 48
Moreno, Manuel, 160
Motion pictures, American, 142; visual
stimulation in, 155n33
Motion pictures, Indian, 142–44; devo-
tional behavior at, 142; mythological,
152, 153n5; ofRamayana, 142
Mukerji, Bithika, 177
Müller, Max, 49, 211
Multiculturalism: in India, 47–48; in uni-
versities, 291
Murthy, U. R. Anantha, 46
Music, Indian: classical, 38; at Sri
Venkateswara temple (Penn Hills,
PA), 241, 242. See alsoSinging
Muslims: accusations of violence against,
5; conflict with Hindus, 258, 266; mar-
riage customs, 65–66, 70; polygamy
of, 71; power over India, 258; relations
with Hindus, 25, 262
Nabhadas: Bhaktamal, 215nn8–9
Nagpur, televised Ramayanain, 148
Naidu, R. Balakrishna, 234