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9780190640798

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McGovern has provided a monumentally valuable contribution. This is a must for anyone who teaches undergraduate courses on South Asian religion. The Snake and the Mongoose will re-define much of the field, particularly in the powerful ways McGovern retires age-old historical narratives. * Michael Jerryson, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Youngstown State University * In this comparative study of religious identity formation in early India, McGovern skillfully identifies the flaws in the methods that dichotomize the sramanic and Brahmanical traditions. This welcome volume makes an important contribution to the academic field of South Asian religions by challenging the old assumptions embedded in standard textbook presentations on early Buddhism, and it can be also read with benefit by non-specialists in South Asia. * Vesna A. Wallace, Professor of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara * In his well-argued and detailed textual study of the relationship between the figure of the ascetic and the Brahman in early Indian religion, McGovern confronts broader issues in the field of South Asian religion which have long divided the research into the fields of Hinduism/Brahaminism and Buddhism. His prose is crisp and his historical analysis is accompanied with delightful stories drawn from a wide variety of Jain, Buddhist, and Brahmanical sources. This is an important study that should be required reading for students and scholars of early Indian religions. * Justin Thomas McDaniel, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania * Nathan McGovern's the Snake and the Mongoose is a welcome addition to a rapidly expanding crpus of scholarship * Brian Campbell, Reading Religion *

Nathan McGovern's the Snake and the Mongoose is a welcome addition to a rapidly expanding corpus of scholarship -- Brian Campbell, Reading Religion

McGovern has provided a monumentally valuable contribution. This is a must for anyone who teaches undergraduate courses on South Asian religion. The Snake and the Mongoose will re-define much of the field, particularly in the powerful ways McGovern retires age-old historical narratives. * Michael Jerryson, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Youngstown State University * In this comparative study of religious identity formation in early India, McGovern skillfully identifies the flaws in the methods that dichotomize the sramanic and Brahmanical traditions. This welcome volume makes an important contribution to the academic field of South Asian religions by challenging the old assumptions embedded in standard textbook presentations on early Buddhism, and it can be also read with benefit by non-specialists in South Asia. * Vesna A. Wallace, Professor of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara * In his well-argued and detailed textual study of the relationship between the figure of the ascetic and the Brahman in early Indian religion, McGovern confronts broader issues in the field of South Asian religion which have long divided the research into the fields of Hinduism/Brahaminism and Buddhism. His prose is crisp and his historical analysis is accompanied with delightful stories drawn from a wide variety of Jain, Buddhist, and Brahmanical sources. This is an important study that should be required reading for students and scholars of early Indian religions. * Justin Thomas McDaniel, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania *

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Nathan McGovern is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He received his PhD in Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and has taught at Franklin and Marshall College and Dalhousie University. His research interests include early Indian religions and religion in Thailand, especially exploring the boundary between Buddhism and Hinduism.

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