Ascetics and Kings in a Jain Ritual Culture

by Lawrence A. Babb and Satya Ranjan Banaerjee, Fwd.

Jainism is aside from Buddhism, the only surviving example of India`s ancient non-Vedic religious traditions celebrated for its systematic practice of non-violence and for the rigor of the asceticism it promotes. It sheds light on a little known religious tradition and demonstrates that divine absence. LAWRENCE A. Babb teaches anthropology and Asian Studies at Amherst College. He is the author of Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition