Contents -- Abbreviations -- Introduction: On Understanding Culture Through the Body -- Dharma -- Adharma -- 1. Images and Symbols of Dharma -- Smrti as Remembrance -- The Symbol and the Image -- Mahāvrata Images -- The Structure of Images -- Indian Images -- 2. The Duration of Images in Time -- Conceptions of Time in India -- Temporal Images-Method -- Time in the Rāmāyana -- Time in the Mahāvrata Ritual -- Musical Time -- Conclusion -- 3. Why Rivers Purify (And Only Bad Witches Are Ugly) -- Conceptual Approaches to Pollution and Sin -- Bathing (Snāna) -- The Phenomenology of Bathing-A Gestalt Approach -- Isomorphism -- Good Forms in Perception -- The Phenomenal Ego -- Perception and Proprioception -- The Meaning of Bathing -- Concluding Remarks -- 4. Dermatology and Cosmology -- Apālā and Indra -- The Symbolism of the Apālā Sukta -- Skin Therapy -- Dermatology -- Interpretation -- Ksetriya and Jaundice -- Nonsymbolic Analysis of Disease -- Animal Skins (Carman) -- 5. Boundaries in Space and Time -- Dharma Metaphors -- Perception and Forms in Space -- Being and Becoming-Time and Space Reversed -- The Picture Frames of Tribal India -- House Walls -- Temple Walls -- Fences -- Doors -- Crossing Boundaries -- 6. Passage to Marriage-The Dharma Agent -- The Marriage Ritual -- The Marriage as a Rite de Passage -- Sociological and Cosmological Meaning of Passage -- The Wedding in Verbal Formulas -- The "Person" in Passage -- The Perception of Passage -- The Dharma Agent: Intention by Extension -- 7. Playing The Field: Adultery as Claim Jumping, by Wendy Doniger -- The Appeal of the Human Lover: The Kāmāsutra -- The Wife's Reasons for Committing Adultery -- The Wife's Reasons for Not Committing Adultery -- The Lover's Reasons for Committing Adultery -- The Lover's Reasons for Not Committing Adultery -- The Appeal of the Divine Lover: Bhakti Texts.

The Appeal of Theft: The Romance of Adultery -- Breaching the Boundary: The Husband's Nightmare -- Conclusion -- 8. Thieves and Dharma in the Story Literature -- Thieves and Kings -- The Theft of Identity -- Achievements of the Best in the Trade -- Idiot Thieves -- Brahmin Thieves-A Digression on Dharma Itself -- Divine Thieves: The Theft of Soma, Vedas, Amrta -- 9. The Adharmic Force of Punishment (Danda) -- Vertical Space -- Danda in Nature -- Danda in Society -- Danda in the Sacrifice -- Danda in Mythology -- Danda and the Goddess -- Conclusion -- Conclusion: Back to the Body -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z.