David L. Haberman, “Loving Stones: Making the Impossible Possible in the Worship of Mount Govardhan” (Oxford UP, 2020)

Loving Stones: Making the Impossible Possible in the Worship of Mount Govardhan(Oxford University Press) explores the worship world of Mount Govardhan: located in the Braj region of India, the mountain is considered an embodied form of the Hindu deity Krishna.

Above and beyond providing insight into the fascinating religious practices surrounding worship of Mount Govardhan, Haberman probes the paradox of an infinite god embodied in finite form, In doing so, he offers critical consideration of the pejorative concept of idolatry in the study of religions, in particular its problematic use to when applied to Hindu religiosity.

David L. Haberman is Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University.

For information about your host Raj Balkaran’s background, see https://www.rajbalkaran.com/scholarship