Overview

- Complete, updated English translation of a seminal work on Central Asian religions first available in German in 1975. - An essential reference for all people and institutions with focus on Asian religion. - Relevant not only to students of the cultures of the Hindukush region but also to those with interest in the current practice of popular religion in the borderlands of Tibet, such as Ladakh. - It may safely be assumed that this study will not be replaced as a standard work of reference. Per Kvaerne, Journal of the Tibet Society. - .. .future scholars of this region must take Jettmar as their indispensible guide and point of departure. Peter Parkes, Man, New Series, Vol. 22, No. 3 The traditional religion and rituals of the remote tribal groups along the borderlands of eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, with their complex cosmology of gods and demons, preserved elements from archaic Indo-Aryan, and possibly even pre-Vedic, beliefs. While the peoples of this region were converted to Islam by the turn of the 20th century, the deeply conservative nature and geographical isolation of these tribes have combined to preserve ancient folk religious practices long extinct elsewhere in Central and South Asia. The author, a renowned Austrian anthropologist, integrates the diverse scholarly findings of colleagues in the fields of linguistics, cultural history and archaeology, with his own field investigations to construct an authoritative, yet highly readable account of the religious practices of this remote and little understood corner of Asia. A groundbreaking and indispensable reference both for the general student of Asian religions and for those with special focus on the tribal cultures and customs of eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province.

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9789745242180

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It may safely be assumed that this study will not be replaced as a standard work of reference. Per Kvaerne, Journal of the Tibet Society. .. .future scholars of this region must take Jettmar as their indispensible guide and point of departure. Peter Parkes, Man, New Series, Vol. 22, No. 3 (1987)

Author Information

Professor Dr. Karl Jettmar (1918-2002) was a renowned Austrian ethnologist, religious scholar, archaeologist and educator. Professor Jettmar completed his doctorate in 1941 in Vienna and served as a key member of the Austrian expedition to the Himalayas (1958). He first taught in Vienna and Mainz and later held the position of professor of anthropology at the University of Heidelberg.

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