Structure and Cognition

This is a sociological analysis of Hindu caste and ritual, which bases its data on an examination of the myths of Puranic and Sutra literature that have given local communities in India their shape and character.

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Sociological analysis of Hindu caste and ritual has hitherto been confined to the empirical study of local communities. This work adds a new dimension to such analysis by basing its data on an examination of selected myths in Puranic and Sutra literature, in particular the Dharmaranya Purana and the Grihya Sutra, thus going to the sources of the ideology that have given local communities their particular shape and character.