| Description |
1 online resource (vii, 236 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
The hook -- Gods' eyes -- Crazy saints -- The seven-horned mountain -- Blind blue heavens, pure blue light -- Fused doubles -- Doorways -- Gurus and urugs -- Mrs. Contractor's eldest unmarried daughter -- Conjunctions -- The Moon pearl -- At the border -- Twin goddess -- The clasp |
| Summary |
"In 1969 Kirin Narayan's older brother Rahoul announced that he was dropping out of school and leaving home to seek enlightenment with a guru. Young Kirin adored her high-spirited, charismatic brother and looked on bewildered at the events that his dramatic departure set in motion." "A funny, poignant, and always affectionate memoir, My Family and Other Saints follows the ways that Rahoul's spiritual journey reverberates through the entire, family. As the family's beachside Bombay home becomes a crossroads for Westerners seeking Eastern enlightenment, Kirin's sari-wearing American mother Didi enthusiastically embraces ashrams and gurus, adopting her son's spiritual quest as her own. Her urbane Indian father Narayan, however, coins the term "urug" guru spelled backward to mock these seekers. Meeting radiant holy men, sensing her parents drilling apart, and observing waves of young Westerners turning to meditation. Kirin is left to find her own answers. She listens closely to family stories and ponders Goddess mythology, all the while trying to hide the eccentric goings-on at her home from her classmates." "Deftly re-creating the turbulent emotional world of her bicultural childhood, but overlaying it with the hard won understanding of adulthood. Narayan presents a rambunctious cast of quirky characters, from Rahoul's friend Young Swamiji, who lives with his Mother Goddess in the jungle, to her grandmother Ba, who enjoys visits from Hindu deities, to such live in urugs as Bhagavan Das and the Cupboard Swami. Throughout, she brings to life not only a family but also a colorful era when just about everyone, it seemed, was consumed by some sort of spiritual quest."--Jacket |
| Notes |
English |
|
Print version record |
| Subject |
Narayan, Kirin
|
| SUBJECT |
Narayan, Kirin fast |
| Subject |
Women anthropologists -- India -- Mumbai -- Biography
|
|
Anthropology of religion -- India -- Mumbai
|
|
Families -- India -- Mumbai
|
|
Hinduism and culture -- India -- Mumbai
|
|
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Social Scientists & Psychologists.
|
|
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Cultural Policy.
|
|
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
|
|
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Popular Culture.
|
|
Anthropology of religion
|
|
Families
|
|
Hinduism and culture
|
|
Manners and customs
|
|
Women anthropologists
|
|
Familienleben
|
|
Religiöses Leben
|
|
Hinduismus
|
|
Hindoeïsme.
|
|
Heiligenlevens.
|
| SUBJECT |
Mumbai (India) -- Religious life and customs
|
|
Mumbai (India) -- Social life and customs
|
| Subject |
India -- Mumbai
|
|
Mumbai
|
| Genre/Form |
autobiographies (literary works)
|
|
Autobiographies
|
|
Biographies
|
|
Autobiographies.
|
|
Biographies.
|
|
Autobiographies.
|
|
Biographies.
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
9780226568157 |
|
0226568156 |
|
