From Possession to Freedom – The Journey of Nili–Nilakeci
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A01=R. Umamaheshwari
Author_R. Umamaheshwari
Category=QRAB
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Product details
- ISBN 9789385932281
- Weight: 666g
- Dimensions: 150 x 250mm
- Publication Date: 15 Apr 2019
- Publisher: Zubaan
- Publication City/Country: IN
- Product Form: Hardback
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The Tamil text Nilakeci, published between the first and fifth centuries, deals with Jaina philosophy through the use of an unusual literary technique: retrieving a pey, or possessing spirit (usually a woman), from the folk tradition and casting it in a new image. Thus a demon becomes a philosopher, for example and if that is possible, then anyone can transform themselves into someone new, a redeemed self, by following the Jaina tenets. This is a profoundly subversive idea within the tradition, as is the use in Nilakeci of a female persona to debate with the most prominent teachers, all but one of them male, from the various schools of thought prevalent at the time. This book places Nilakeci within a historical context while nonetheless maintaining its status as a singular, radical work, using translations of selected excerpts to make a powerful case.
R. Umamaheshwari is a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advance Studies. She has been an independent journalist and history researcher and is based in Secunderabad.
