Social Structure and Change

The essays in this volume deal with issues related to religion and kinship, extending and diversifying some of the concerns in modern sociological and social anthropological studies on religion in India pioneered by M N Srinivas. The contributors analyze varied themes including: differences between the beliefs and practices of Hinduism and Sikhism; the division of male and female within the self; the translation of pollution ideas from ancient to modern societies; crisis management in Indian families; distribution of property in a matrilineal Muslim society; and hypergamy and hypogamy in pre-modern Kerala.