Poetry as Prayer in the Sanskrit Hymns of Kashmir by Hamsa St... - 9780190889814

Poetry as Prayer in the Sanskrit Hymns of KashmirAuthor(s): Hamsa Stainton\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Oxford University Press Inc, United States\nImprint: Oxford University Press Inc\nISBN-13: 9780190889814, 978-0190889814\nSynopsis\nHistorically, Kashmir was one of the most dynamic and influential centers of Sanskrit learning and literary production in South Asia. In Poetry as Prayer in the Sanskrit Hymns of Kashmir, Hamsa Stainton investigates the close connection between poetry and prayer in South Asia by studying the history of Sanskrit hymns of praise (stotras) in Kashmir. The book provides a broad introduction to the history and general features of the stotra genre, and it charts the course of these literary hymns in Kashmir from the eighth century to the present. In particular, it offers the first major study in any European language of the Stutikusum?jali, an important work of religious literature dedicated to the god ?iva and one of the only extant witnesses to the trajec.