ABOUT US
BOOKS
SUBJECTS
SERIES
PUBLISH WITH US
CONTACT
LOGIN
PROFILE
ORDERS
LOGOUT
0
vikramjain@sanctumbooks.com
×
x
x
LOGIN
PROFILE
ORDERS
LOGOUT
x
ABOUT US
BOOKS
SUBJECTS
SERIES
PUBLISH WITH US
CONTACT
Home:
Subjects:
Hinduism
Buddhism & Buddhist Studies
History, Culture & Politics
x
Front Cover
Back Cover
The Guardian of the Hills: Devata Culture and Living Shamanism in the Western Himalaya (Shimla Hills)
Authors:
G.C. Chauhan
,
Malvika Chauhan
ISBN:
9789376540068
Binding:
Hardcover
Year:
2027
Pages:
204
Size:
16 x 24 cm
Price:
INR
1095.00
FORTHCOMING
About the Book
The Guardian of the Hills: Devata Culture and Living Shamanism in the Western Himalaya (Shimla Hills)
examines the enduring significance of Devata culture and shamanistic traditions in the religious and social life of the Shimla Hills. Situating these traditions within the wider context of indigenous religious practices, the book explores a world in which deities, ritual specialists, and local communities remain closely intertwined, and religious belief continues to shape social customs, cultural traditions, and moral life.At the heart of the study is a challenge to the view that the Devi-Devatas of the Shimla Hills are merely local Hindu gods or figures of regional folklore. The authors argue that these deities are better understood as territorial sovereigns: guardians, judges, and final authorities within their respective domains. Their authority is embedded in the social and territorial organisation of local communities and historically connected with land and structures of administration. Devata culture thus emerges not simply as a body of belief, but as a living institution of authority and governance.Through an examination of the localisation of deities, rituals of worship, shamanistic practices, and the role of the
gur
or
mali
as a medium of divine communication, the book reveals the complex relationship between sacred authority and everyday social life. It presents the Devata tradition not as a relic of the past, but as a living religious and social institution through which faith, authority, community, and regional identity continue to intersect in the Western Himalaya.
About the Authors
G.C. Chauhan
G.C. Chauhan is a scholar of ancient Indian history, specializing in social institutions and economic history. He has authored sixteen books and published over seventy research papers in national and international journals. His notable works include
Economic Dimensions of Buddhism in Early India: From 6th Century BCE to 7th Century CE
(Sanctum Books, New Delhi);
Origin and Growth of
Satī
in Early Medieval India: A Historical Investigation
(Sanctum Books, New Delhi);
Ancient India: Insights into Social & Economic Dynamics
(Sanctum Books, New Delhi);
An Overview of Historiographical Approaches
;
Reflections: Looking Back on Social Institutions of Ancient India
;
Economic History of Mauryan India
;
Early Indian Feudal Society and its Culture
;
What Happened in Ancient India, Vol. II: From the Mauryas to 1200 CE
;
Agrarian Economy of Ancient India (from the earliest times to 1200 AD)
;
Light and Shades of Popular Beliefs in Hill States: A Case Study of Shimla Hills
;
Indian Buddhism: A Historical Overview
;
Some Aspects of Early Indian Society
;
Origin and Growth of Feudalism in Early India (from the Mauryas to 650 AD)
; and
Economic History of Early Medieval Northern India
.
Professor Chauhan’s works are widely recognised for their depth of analysis and insightful interpretation of ancient India’s social and economic structures.
Malvika Chauhan
Malvika Chauhan is a scholar and researcher in sociology whose work focuses on the cultural and religious traditions of the Western Himalayas. She completed her Ph.D. at Panjab University, Chandigarh, with a doctoral study titled
The Realm of Devtas: Sociological Study of Shamanistic Traditions in Kotkhai Tehsil (Shimla District)
. Her research examines shamanistic traditions, folklore, local belief systems, gender, and the social and cultural life of the Shimla Hills.
She is the author of
Women and Patriarchy as Reflected in Folklore of Shimla Hills
and has published seven research articles on subjects ranging from folk songs and patriarchal structures to local deity traditions and popular beliefs. Through her work, she seeks to document and interpret the indigenous traditions and cultural heritage of the Himalayan region, with particular attention to the relationship between belief, folklore, gender, and society.
Customer Reviews
Books of related interest
The Supreme Refuge, Volume 2: History, Myths, Wors...
Sacred Sovereignty: Kingship, Heritage, and Politi...
Economic Dimensions of Buddhism in Early India: Fr...
Negotiating Historical Change Hindu Style
Word, Chant, and Song: Spiritual Transformation in...
The Supreme Refuge, Volume 2: History, Myths, Wors...
The Japanese Image of India: From the Heavenly Wor...
Introduction to the Tantrāloka: A Study in Structu...
Taking Territory: The Persistence of Conquest Sinc...
Ireland: Looking East
Women, Wealth and the State in Early Colonial Indi...
Myth and History in Ancient Persia: The Achaemenid...
Haram in the Harem: Domestic Narratives in India a...
Parting Gifts of Empire: Palestine and India at th...
Tibetan Manuscripts and Early Printed Books, Volum...
Introducing Hindu Worldviews: Tradition, Transitio...
काश्मीर शिवाद्वयवाद की मूल अवधारणाएँ (द्वितीय संशो...
The Socialist Opposition in Nehruvian India 1947–1...
South Asian Technospaces
Across the Color Line: Indians, Blacks, and Landsc...
Education and Training in a Globalized World Socie...
Visions of Empire and Other Imaginings: Cinema, Ir...
The Center of the World: A Global History of the P...
The Islamic State in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Str...
The Ethics of Oneness: Emerson, Whitman, and the B...
Rāma Jāmadagnya as Symptom and Symbol of Brahmin I...
Exploring the Structure of Emptiness - Philosophic...
Seven Saktis: An Ancient Force is Re-Awakening in ...
Respectability on the Line: Gender, Race, and Labo...
Far from the Rooftop of the World: Travels among T...
Reading across Borders: Afghans, Iranians, and Lit...
The Bejewelled Buddha from India to Burma: New Con...
The Rise of the Modern West: Europe, 1400-1599
Turning Wind into Power Effects of Stakeholder Net...
Hindu India: Another Approach to its Multiflorous ...
Clearing a Space: Reflections on India, Literature...
Islamic Law on Trial: Contesting Colonial Power in...
Ancient India: Insights into Social & Economic...
The Supreme Refuge, Volume 1: Durgā’s Transformati...
The Lion's Roar: Actualizing Buddhism in Daily...
The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddh...
US Hegemony Global Ambitions and Decline- Emergenc...
Female Militants in South Asia: Fighters and Facil...
Civilisation, Education and School in Ancient and ...
Un-Disciplining Literature: Literature, Law, and C...
Muslim Cultures of the Indian Ocean: Diversity and...
An Environmental History of Postcolonial North Ind...
Wonder in South Asia: Histories, Aesthetics, Ethic...
Kings and Dervishes: Sufi World Renunciation and t...
Origin and Growth of Satī in Early Medieval India:...
Gender Equality in Buddhism (Asian Thought and Cul...
Clearing a Space: Reflections on India, Literature...
The Rise of the Modern West: Europe, 1600-1799
The House of the Satrap: The Making of the Ancient...
Renunciation and the Making of Social Worlds
Democracy’s Second Act: Why Politics Needs the Pub...
Buddhisms in Asia: Traditions, Transmissions, and ...
Strategic Dynamics and Nuclear Weapons Proliferati...
Everyday Islamic Law and the Making of Modern Sout...
Literary Orientalism, Postcolonialism, and Univers...
Machiavelli on War
Garland of Visions: Color, Tantra, and a Material ...
Against Heritage: The Reinvention of Traditional F...
Life of the Buddha
Under Osman’s Tree: The Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and...
A Physician on the Nile: A Description of Egypt an...
Die Rani von Jhansi – Rebellin wider Willen: Biogr...
Global South Rising?: BRICS and the Reconfiguratio...
Rule-extension Strategies in Ancient India: Ritual...
From Ravidas and Nanak to Waris Shah: Texts, Langu...
City of Lyrics: Ordinary Poets and Islamicate Popu...
The Breakup of India and Palestine: The Causes and...
D. T. Suzuki on the Unconscious in Zen Art, Medita...
Life at a Distance: Medicine and Nationalism in In...
Hinduism Against Caste
Motilal Tejawat: Life and Work
A Story of Ambivalent Modernization in Bangladesh ...
Education, Labour & Science: Perspectives for ...
Asians ahead after the first round?: Indo-British ...
India in the World since 1947: National and Transn...
Earthquake Disaster Management: Focussing on the E...
Hegel’s Lectures on the Philosophy of World Histor...
Literarische Selbstverortung als historische Handl...
The Supreme Refuge, Volume 1: Durgā’s Transformati...
Dialogic Elements of Buddhist Mythology
Contemporary Global Governance: Multipolarity vs N...
Images of India in British Fiction: Anglo-India vs...
Independent Kashmir: An Incomplete Aspiration
God’s Shadow: Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, an...
Comparative Constitutional Traditions
The Rise of a Multipolar World: Papers presented a...
The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya
Determinants, Consequences and Perspectives of Lan...
The Literary Thing: History, Poetry and the Making...
The Politics of Muslim Identities in Asia
Decolonization and the Struggle for National Liber...
A Post-Liberal Peace: How Emergent Powers Are Resh...
Making a Canon: Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Sri Lanka,...
The Political Economy of Education in South Asia: ...
Seeking Sakyamuni: South Asia in the Formation of ...
Indian Agents: Rulers of the Reserves
Lineages of the Global City: Occult Modernism and ...
Colonial Indology: Sociopolitics of the Ancient In...
The Discovery of Insulin: Special Centenary Editio...
Women in Buddhist Traditions
Globalisation and the Changing Face of Port Infras...
Media, Knowledge, and Contemporary India
The Book of Monasteries
Behind Kṛṣṇa’s Smile: The Lord’s Hint of Laughter ...
Pakistan and the New Nuclear Taboo: Regional Deter...
The Purāṇic Condition: Textual Identity, Transform...
The Discourses: Reflections on History, Sufism, Th...
Federalism and Second Chambers: Regional Represent...
The Ethnography of Tantra: Textures and Contexts o...
Emotion, Mission, Architecture: Building Hospitals...
The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows: Tibetan Thi...
Sojourners, Sultans, and Slaves: America and the I...
Inward: Vipassana Meditation and the Embodiment of...
"The Ethos of Britain": Delderfieldʼs Sw...
The Yoga of Nonseparation: Addressing Yoga’s Deepe...
Sweetening and Intensification: Currents Shaping H...
Songs of Home & Loss: Reconstructions of a Tam...
Fictions of 1947: Representations of Indian Decolo...
Insecurities of Expulsion: Afro-Asian Entanglement...
The Physics of Capitalism: How a New Political Eco...
The Road to Empire: The Political Education of Kha...
Artificially Intelligent: The Very Human Story of ...
After Belsen: Christian Encounters with Holocaust ...
Medieval Worlds: Origins, Nature, Debates, and Exc...
License to Travel: A Cultural History of the Passp...
Against Heritage: The Reinvention of Traditional F...
Meditation, Vol. I: History And Present Time
Warriors after War: Indian and Pakistani Retired M...
Nagarjuna and the Art of Negation: Discerning Subj...
Outsiders and Insiders: Perspectives of Third Worl...
Malleable Mara: Transformations of a Buddhist Symb...
J.S. Mill’s Encounter with India
Versailles Meets the Taj Mahal: François Bern...
South Asian Technospaces - Hardcover
Exile and the Nation: The Parsi Community of India...
Shelter for the Night: On Afghanistan, Language, a...
Moral Perception and Human Flourishing: A Buddhist...
Tibetan Manuscripts and Early Printed Books, Volum...
Fictionalising Trauma: The Aesthetics of Marguerit...
Nationhood and Identity in Indian Adaptations of S...
Killing in the Name of the State: State-Sponsored ...
The Audacious Raconteur: Sovereignty and Storytell...
L’idee separatiste dans la presse anglo-musulmane ...
A Garland of Forgotten Goddesses: Tales of the Fem...
काश्मीर शिवाद्वयवाद की मूल अवधारणाएँ (द्वितीय संशो...
Serendipitous Translations: A Sourcebook on Sri La...
Religion, Orientalism and Modernity: Mahdi Movemen...
God’s Shadow: Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, an...
Remembering Empire: Power, Memory, & Place in ...
The Retrospective Raj: Medicine, Literature and Hi...
The Path of Desire: Living Tantra in Northeast Ind...
Between Life and Death: Governing Populations in t...
Old Stacks, New Leaves: The Arts of the Book in So...
Locating Hybridity: Creole, Identities and Body Po...
Under Osman’s Tree: The Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and...
The Greater Second World War: Global Perspectives
ADD REVIEW
Review Title
Review
Reviewer Name
Email