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Contents: Director's Note-Ashish Anand, * The Body of the Ascetic-Gayatri Sinha, * Embodying the Mahavratas: Female Renouncers Among the Jains-Manisha Sethi, * Multivalent Presences: The Ascetic Body of Ramanuja in the Shrivaishnava Tradition-Prathik Murali, * The Palimpsest of Embodied Woman-Ascetics of Bhakti-Neeti Singh, * Ascetic Body in the Early Sikh Art-Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh, * The Mughals in India and the Contemporary Intellectual Practice of Syncretic Asceticism-Nuzhat Kazmi, * Catalogue, * Glossary, About the Editor, About the Contributors.

While Jainism and Buddhism were fundamentally founded on the ideals of renunciation and monastic life, Hinduism integrated ascetic practices into various sectarian traditions, particularly within Shaivism and Vaishnavism. In these traditions, the sanyasi--a renunciate--forsakes all worldly attachments to seek union with the divine. The forms of renunciation varied across traditions. While some ...