Poetics of Conduct: Oral Narrative and Moral Being in a South Indian Town

Leela Prasad

Paper, 312 pages, 25 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-13921-2
$26.50 / £16.00

November, 2006
Cloth, 312 pages, 25 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-13920-5
$78.00 / £45.00

"Combining scholarly imagination, ethnographic acumen, and literary flair, Leela Prasad portrays a pilgrimage town and its memorable residents to offer a compelling experience-centered approach to ethics." — Kirin Narayan, author of Storytellers, Saints, and Scoundrels: Folk Narrative as Hindu Religious Teaching

"This is perhaps the only book that moves our attention from the texts of the Dharmashastras to the practice of dharma in the actual lives of Hindu families. Prasad radically revises our concept of Shastra by presenting a dialectical relationship between texts and lives. Her book is beautifully written with deep erudition coupled with genuine understanding." — Velcheru Narayana Rao, University of Wisconsin

Related Subjects

• Asian Religion
• Asian Studies

About the Author

Leela Prasad is assistant professor of practical ethics and Indian religions at Duke University. She has edited Live Like the Banyan Tree: Images of the Indian American Experience and coedited Gender and Story in South India. Her book in progress, Annotating Pastimes, is a study of folktale collecting in colonial India.

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