Food, Community, and the Spirit World: An Indian Village Study

This is an ethnographic study of Hindu food beliefs, language, and practices in a rural community of Karnataka State (formerly Mysore), India. The author is an anthropological linguist who resided in the locality for almost two years in 1966-67. He provides the reader with an unusually detailed view of the intersections of language, food, and social relationships. Food is viewed as an important structuring aspect of the Hindu world view, a way that people symbolically represent and reproduce their own identities, gender relationships, and the differences among local castes and sub-castes. The role of foods and food exchange in weddings, ancestor ceremonies, and other family ceremonies is explored. The area studied no longer exists, having been submerged by an irrigation dam project. Includes bibliography and more than 100 photographs.