This innovative, interdisciplinary collection of essays by scholars based in Europe and the United States offers stimulating approaches to the role played by religion in present-day South Asia.

DIANA DIMITROVAis Assistant Professor of Hinduism and South Asian Religions at Michigan State University, USA.

On Myth and Mythologizing: An Introduction; D.Dimitrova PART I: RELIGION, MYTH, AND GENDER The Spiritual Quest in Amrita Bharati's Poetry; L.Rosenstein Who is Afraid of MÌrËbËÌ: Gulzar's Antidote for Meera's Poison; H.Pauwels Religion and Gender in Bollywood Film; D.Dimitrova The Creative 'Modern' and the Myths of the Goddess of Poxes; P.Srinivasan PART II: RELIGION, MYTH, AND POLITICS Constructed Communal Identities and Religious Discourse in GÌtËÕjalÌ ÉrÌ's Hamara sahar us baras; A.Consolaro Dharma Reconsidered: the Inappropriate Poetry of Arun Kolatkar; L.Zecchini From the Otherland to the Divine Land: Exile, Mysticism and Secularism in K.B. Vaid's Dard la dava; A.Castaing In the Face of Lesser Breeds: Reading Sahgal with Gandhi and Levinas; C.Joseph Censorship, Social Reform, and Mythological Drama in Colonial India; N.Bhatia From Kuruks?etra to Ramarajya: A Comparative Study of the Star Personas of Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan; S.Singh