Nine Lives by William Dalrymple

Nine Lives

In Search of the Sacred in Modern India

William Dalrymple

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group · Print & ebook · June 14, 2011

From the author of The Last Mughal, an enlightening book that explores with remarkable compassion and expansive insight nine varieties of religious devotion in India today.

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Who it’s for
A compact, searching look at sacred life in modern India.
Genres
Eastern Religions, India & South Asia Travel, Religious Lives
Published
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, June 14, 2011

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About this book

From the author of The Last Mughal, an enlightening book that explores with remarkable compassion and expansive insight nine varieties of religious devotion in India today. In portraits of people we might otherwise never know William Dalrymple distills his twenty-five years of travel in India to explore the challenges faced by practitioners of traditional forms of faith in contemporary India.

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For two months a year, a man in Kerala divides his time between jobs as a prison warden and a well-builder and his calling as an incarnate deity. A temple prostitute watches her two daughters die from AIDS after entering a trade she regards as a sacred calling. A Jain nun recalls the pain of watching her closest friend ritually starve herself to death. Together, these tales reveal the resilience of individuals in the face of the relentless onslaught of modernity, the enduring legacy of tradition, and the hope and honor that can be found even in the most unlikely places.

Sacred Routes

A compact, searching look at sacred life in modern India.

Come here for

  • faith and travel braided together
  • Dalrymple’s steady, observant guide-hand

Expect

  • reflective, varied encounters
  • religion treated as lived experience

Where it sits

Eastern Religions55%
India & South Asia Travel55%
Religious Lives32%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Religious Lives
  • Mind & Spirit
  • India & South Asia Travel
Authors
William Dalrymple
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published
June 14, 2011
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Religious Lives