Product Description The earliest authentic testimonies of the Mahima Dharma ("the Dharma of Glory") movement-which originated during the 19th century as an autochthonous reform movement, emerging out of the nirguna bhakti tradition of India-are included in this volume. The impressive compositions of Bhima Bhoi, a lay guru who fought against social evils such as caste and ritualized piety and initiated women into his community, paint a picture of one of the most fascinating living religious traditions of Orissa. About the Author Bettina Baumer is an Indologist from Austria who has been researching and teaching in India since 1967 and has done fieldwork in Orissa for more than 20 years. She is a former professor of religious studies at the universities of Vienna, Berne, and Salzburg and a former coordinator of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in Varanasi. She is the author of many books and articles and the translator of texts on Orissan temple architecture, Kashmir shaivism, and Indian aesthetics. Johannes Beltz is the curator of Indian art at the Museum Rietberg in Zurich, Switzerland, and a teacher of Buddhism and Hinduism courses at the University of Zurich. From 1999 to 2003 he did intensive field research on Bhima Bhoi.
