Vrindavan Studios, 145
Vyas(storyteller), 149
Wadia, Homi: Sampoorna Ramayana, 142
Wadley, Susan, 162
Water: feminine aspect of, 40; in pujas,
40; sacred, 37
Weddings, Holiplaying at, 105. See also
Brides; Marriage
Welzer, Albrecht, 272
West: cultural archive of, 278–79; Hindu
diaspora in, 24, 25–26, 171, 276–78; in-
fluence on Hindu studies, 272, 274-79,
280, 282; Indian culture in, 285n11;
view of human nature, 278; view of
Other, 278
Widows: Brahmin, 70; immolation of, 71;
remarriage of, 67
Wieseltier, Leon, 293
Wilson, H. H., 272
Wives, 69; in Divali festival, 105; pos-
sessed, 167
Women: attacks on men, 104, 105, 112n15;
Brahmin, 70, 218; daughters-in-law,
69, 75; devotees of Anandamayi Ma,
179–82; devotional chants of, 181;
dharmaof, 181; film viewing by, 143;
healers, 168n; life cycles of, 17; men-
struating, 63–64; Nambudiri, 23, 218;
Nayar, 218–19; performance by, 15;
possession by goddess, 158–68;
promiscuous, 65; in Ramlilasof Ram-
nagar, 119, 123; subordination of, 75;
unmarried, 65, 69; widowed, 67, 70,- See alsoBrides; Wives
Wood: presentation to teachers, 298
World, devaluation of, 188, 191
Yajñavalkya (sage): on polytheism,
49–50
Yoga, 8, 253, 278; Ramayanaas, 133; surat
shabd, 191
Yogananda, Paramahamsa, 175
Yudhishthira, 298
Yusuf (son of Shahul Hamid), 266, 267Zamindars, post-Mughal, 141
Zam zam(spring at Mecca), 268