Hinglaj Devi
Identity, Change, and Solidification at a Hindu Temple in Pakistan
Jürgen Schaflechner
Reviews and Awards
"Drawing on six years of extensive ethnographic fieldwork and a wide-ranging literary study encompassing histor-ical sources in six languages, Jürgen Schaflechner brings to the forefront a much-neglected area of research, studying the Hindu goddess tradition and pilgrimage site of Hinglaj Devi in Balochistan, Pakistan." - Fizza Joffrey, Religions of South Asia
"Hinglaj Devi: Identity, Change and Solidification at a Hindu Temple in Pakistan is a valuable scholarly monograph...The book analyzes communities that claim Hi?glai as their ritual space, and shows how the Lohana community and their organization Hinglaj Sheva Mandal have succeeded in the homogenization of the traditions of the shrine. The book is a detailed textual, historical, and ethnographic study of this homogenization process, and is very valuable as a documentation of contemporary developments." - Knut A. Jacobsen, University of Bergen, Reading Religion
"Because of its great many strengths, this book is essential reading for those interested in Hinduism in parts of South Asia now officially separated from India - namely Pakistan and Bangladesh - and for those interested in sacred sites more broadly. Schaflechner ends his book with the hope that his work will generate interest in, and further research on, Hinduism in Pakistan, and aspects of that nation-state that go beyond well-worn narratives of a failed state. I have no doubt both hopes will be fulfilled." - Deonnie Moodie, Religion
