Strong Arms and Drinking Strength: Masculinity, Violence, and the Body in Ancient India

by Jarrod L. Whitaker

Jarrod L. Whitaker examines the ritualized poetic construction of male identity in the Rigveda, India's oldest Sanskrit text, arguing that an important aspect of early Vedic life involves the sustained promotion and embodiment of what it means to be a true man. The Rigveda contains over a thousand hymns, primarily addressed to three gods: the deified ritual Fire, Agni, the war-god Indra, and the sacred beverage soma. The hymns were sung in day-long...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199755701
• ISBN13: 9780199755707
• Release Date: April 2011
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.3"