000			01715nam a22001937a 4500
008			230423b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780195091021 (hb.)
082			_a294.52 _bSAX
100			_aSax, William S. (editor) _98567
245			_aThe gods at play: _blila in south asia
260			_aOxford _bOxford University Press _c1995
300			_aviii, 239p.,
500			_ahttps://global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-gods-at-play-9780195091021?cc=in&lang=en&
520			_a"God is playful. Like a child building sand castles on the beach, God creates the world and destroys it again. God plays with his (or her) devotees, sometimes like a lover, sometimes like a mother with her children, sometimes like an actor in a play. The idea of God's playfulness has been elaborated in Hinduism more, perhaps, than any other religion, providing one of the most distinctive and charming aspects of Indian religious life. Lila or ""divine play"" can refer to many things: to God's playful creation of the world and to religious dramas or ""plays,"" as well as to various motifs in Hindu art. But despite the importance of lila in the cultural history of South Asia, few comprehensive studies of it are available, partly because scholars have tended to emphasize only one dimension of lila--either the theological or the performative--at the expense of the other. The Gods at Play fills this gap by bringing together scholarly essays on all aspects of this important Hindu idea, providing students with a broader understanding of popular Hindu culture and religion."
650			_aPlay--Religious aspects--Hinduism _98568
650			_aHinduism--Doctrines--Drama _98569
650			_aCultural research _98570
942			_cBK
999			_c8448 _d8448