Soulless Matter, Seats of Energy

Fabrizio M. Ferrari is Professor of Indology and South Asian Religions in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Chester.Thomas Dahnhardt is Assistant Professor in Hindi and Urdu Languages and Literatures in the Department of Asian and Mediterranean African Studies at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice.

• IntroductionFabrizio M. Ferrari and Thomas DahnhardtSection 1: Myth and Ritual1. Five Stones - Four Rivers - One Town: the Hindu Pancayatana PujaMikael Aktor, University of Southern Denmark 2. A "Sulphurous" Sakti: The Worship of Goddess Hingula in BaluchistanFrancesco Brighenti, University of Hyderabad 3. From Iron to Sapphire: Indian Myths and Rituals about Saturn, the Implacable Lord of Celestial SpheresMonia Marchetto, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, and Manuel Hoefer, Venetian Academy of Indian Studies Section 2: Science and Health4. Mineral Healing: Gemstone Remedies in Astrological and Medical TraditionsAnthony Cerulli, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, and Caterina Guenzi, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales5. Mercury Tonics (Rasayana) in Sanskrit Medical LiteratureDagmar Wujastyk, University of Zurich6. When Ngulchu is not Mercury: Tibetan Taxonomies of 'Metals', Barbara Gerke, Humboldt University of BerlinSection 3: Power and Devotion7. In Search of the Sadhu's Stone: Metals and Gems as Therapeutic Technologies of Transformation in Vernacular Asceticism in North IndiaAntoinette E. DeNapoli, University of Wyoming 8. Deg Tegh Fateh: Metal as Material and Metaphor in Sikh Tradition Eleanor Nesbitt, University of Warwick Section 4: Body and Embodiment 9. A Little Lipstick Goes a Long Way: Chit-chatting with Women in the Ramayana and MahabharataDeeksha Shivakumar, Emory University10. Ratna: A Buddhist World of Precious ThingsMattia Salvini, Mahidol University, Thailand 11. Living Earth: Earth-bodied Beings in Jain TraditionAna Bajzelj, University of Rajasthan