In 1969, young Kirin Narayan’s older brother, Rahoul, announced that he was quitting school and leaving home to seek enl
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English Pages 246 [245] Year 2008
My Family and Other Saints
My Family and Other Saints
Kirin Narayan
The University of Chicago Press
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Chicago & London
Kirin Narayan is the author of Storytellers, Saints, and Scoundrels; Mondays on the Dark Night of the Moon; and the novel Love, Stars, and All That. A former Guggenheim fellow, she is professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2007 by Kirin Narayan All rights reserved. Published 2007 Printed in the United States of America 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07
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ISBN-13: 978-0-226-56820-1 (cloth) ISBN-10: 0-226-56820-2 (cloth) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Narayan, Kirin My family and other saints / Kirin Narayan. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-0-226-56820-1 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-226-56820-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Narayan, Kirin. 2. Women anthropologists—India—Bombay—Biography. 3. Anthropology of religion—India—Bombay. 4. Family—India—Bombay. 5. Hinduism and culture—India—Bombay. 6. Bombay (India)—Religious life and customs. 7. Bombay (India)—Social life and customs. I. Title. GN21.N37A3 2007 306.850954'792092—dc22 2007022669 All photographs courtesy of the Contractor / Narayan family. ç