<p> The present work comprises a detailed study of specific terms of discourse in the pre-twelfth century sources of esoteric "Tantric" Shaivism, both scriptural and exegetical, some of which are still unpublished and others of which are published only in the original Sanskrit. As a dissertation in South Asian Studies using the philological method, the primary purpose of the study is to ascertain the range of meanings of certain technical terms of great importance to the theology and practice of the &Sacute;aiva religion, namely <i> &amacr;ve&sacute;a, sam&amacr;ve&sacute;a,</i> and <i>&sacute;aktip&amacr;ta. </i> The work focuses on both the independent meaning and the intersection of these key terms, incorporating also the terms <i>d&imacr;k&dotbelow;s&amacr; </i> and <i>vedha</i> in the latter endeavor. The intersection of these terms constitutes a complex set of relationships, a nexus of ideas that lie at the very heart of the &Sacute;aiva tradition and which, due to the latter's widespread influence, came to be important in Tantric Buddhism and later forms of Hinduism as well. This thesis contends that <i>sam&amacr;ve&sacute;a </i>&mdash;meaning the fusion or commingling of one's self with the energy of one's deity and/or the consciousness of one's guru&mdash;is <i>the </i> key term that distinguishes Tantric Shaivism from mainstream (esp. Vaidika) Indian religion. This constitutes a reinterpretation and overcoding of the earlier meaning of <i>&amacr;ve&sacute;a,</i> i.e. self-induced controlled possession by a deity. </p><p> <i>Sam&amacr;ve&sacute;a</i> is important to all forms of Shaivism, whether dualistic and ritualized (the Siddhanta) or nondual subitist charismatic forms (the Kaula). This thesis further contends that a philological study of <i>sam&amacr;ve&sacute;a</i> and related terms like <i> &sacute;aktip&amacr;ta</i> demonstrates that <i>religious experience </i> (or evidence thereof) was considered central and indispensable to initiatory Shaivism throughout the medieval period. <i>&Sacute;aktip&amacr;ta </i> was requisite to receive the basic level of initiation, and in the Kaula branch of the tradition, <i>sam&amacr;ve&sacute;a</i> denoted forms of religious experience that were necessary for aspirants to demonstrate in order to receive higher-level initiations. The former term is still commonly used in many Hindu communities today to designate a "spiritual awakening" or initiatory experience that is transmitted by a qualified guru. </p><p> Part One of this work is a comprehensive overview of the nature and structure of the Shaiva religion, providing important context to what follows. Part Two studies the key terms of <i>(sam)&amacr;ve&sacute;a, &sacute;aktip&amacr;ta, </i> etc. in a) early Sanskrit literature generally, b) &Sacute;aiva scriptures, and c) the abundant exegetical literature based on those scriptures. </p>

<p> Around 260 BCE, King Ashoka Maurya is said to have ceased warring, marauding and expanding his kingdom and converted to a small local pacifist religious sect centered in the Ganges River valley of Northern India, and in so doing, spread Buddhism to the nether regions of his kingdom. This is the noble story that is told of Ashoka, but in reality, his actions may have been alternatively motivated than simply being an evangelist for Buddhism. Examining stone inscriptions and other writings regarding Ashoka will shed light on his attitudes towards Buddhism and other local religious sects, which will help reevaluate this cursory assumption about Ashoka's relationship with Buddhism. </p>

<p> Theological trends change from time to time to make the faith more meaningful and relevant to the contemporary context. To an extent, the Second Vatican Council, by its commitment to two concepts, &ldquo;ressourcement&rdquo; and &ldquo;aggiornamento,&rdquo; succeeded in this mission in the last century. The communion ecclesiology of the Council, which has its foundation in the sacrament of Eucharist, shows that the centrality of the Eucharist in the Church cannot be overlooked, because the ecclesial body of the Church is built up by the Eucharistic body of Christ. Any Eucharist-centered ecclesiology is prophetic and eschatological by nature. The &ldquo;Eucharistic&rdquo; and &ldquo;prophetic&rdquo; dimensions of the Church are not exclusive as they are seen today. Rather, these are intertwined and mutually fulfilling. This was seen very strongly in the Church of the apostolic times, and this thrust continued in the writings of the Fathers of the Church. Though there are different models of ecclesiology, the Indian Church is in need of regaining the Eucharistic ecclesiology so that it can be more &ldquo;prophetic&rdquo; in India and face its challenges courageously. Even five decades after the Second Vatican Council, the teachings of the Council have not brought about many changes in the Indian Church. Though the Church tries to be involved in social issues, clericalism or hierarchism still adversely affects the Indian Church today. The Indian Theological Association&rsquo;s indigenous ecclesiology serves as a mirror of the Indian Church, reflecting both the face of the Indian Church and the face of the country. In these reflections, the Church can engage herself in the cultural, social, economic, religious, and ecclesial context of India. I argue that if the Indian Theological Association would emphasize the centrality of the Eucharist in its indigenous ecclesiology, then its ecclesiology would be more prophetic and appealing to the Indian Church. In the pluralistic context of India, it would help the Indian Church to be challenged in its way of life and to become truly the Body of Christ and a prophetic witness to the nation. </p><p>

<p> Little is known about the vegetation, forests, useful plants and their patterns of use at the gradients of climate, geography and culture in Baitadi and Darchula districts, far western Nepal. The interactions among plants-people-places were analyzed using data from phyto-sociological studies, community interviews, and literature. Ecological sampling, participant observation, semistructured interviews, and informal discussions were held between February and September 2017. We compared plant collection, use and management of two culturally distinct groups (Baitadi and Darchula), who inhabit different physiographic regions, yet share the same ecological landscape, environmental resources and livelihood challenges. We hypothesized that the salient (visible, apparent and accessible) plants and places are likely to be more frequently foraged than the non-salient ones. We also hypothesized that the elderly, native and traditional healers living in rural and remote physiographic conditions possess more diverse and detailed knowledge of plant use and conservation than young, non-native and non-healer people. A total of 18 forest types including eight from the study districts showed that the study area is rich in forests and plants. A total of 975 plant species including 82 new species records and 23 new use reports to Baitadi and Darchula districts were recorded. There were 305 (31%) useful plant species including 122 useful reported in the present study. The people of study area showed a large repertoire of knowledge that helps them execute different strategies of plant use suited to their environment and geography. The knowledge of plant use follows a pattern according to ecological conditions (availability) as well as the cultural significance (transhumance, settlement) of the landscape. However, the latter prevails. Predominate foraging by the agro-pastoral communities from the remote undisturbed forests for quality products and medicines in Darchula district was divergent from the collections from ruderal areas in Baitadi district by generalist collectors for ritual purposes. The extensive usage of plants for socio-economic reasons, livelihood and rituals indicates that the plants and culture are inseparable. Conservation measures with acknowledgement of human, cultural, geographical and environmental variables, are therefore encouraged for sustainable management of the natural resources and traditional knowledge of the Baitadi and Darchula districts. </p><p>

<p> Community-based organizations (CBOs) represent an important segment of public services vital to the stability of invisible communities that otherwise remain vulnerable. Drawing from over three years of ethnographic fieldwork in a CBO in Santa Ana, California, I undertake an extensive case-study that examines their survival in a hostile funding environment by means of understanding their development, organizational learning and adaptation, social capital and networking and use of innovative sustainability strategies. The struggles this CBO encountered in their pursuit of sustainability speak to their unique aspects of service provision and community development making them an indispensable support structure for low-income immigrant and refugee communities.</p><p> I argue that their story of success reveals key principles, tenets and preliminary takeaways that may be useful toward improving the sustainability of organizational frameworks within other CBOs. Additionally, I explore how this CBO struggles to defend its vision of social change against existing conditions within the market environment that impact their success.</p><p> With growing interest toward scholarly work in this field, I emphasize the need to approach organizational fieldwork analytically as we engage with and try to understand the complicated social worlds of CBOs. The applied portion of this project resulted in the creation of promotional materials that may be useful toward fund development and historical preservation. </p><p>

abstract: Social equity research in public administration (PA) investigates different ways in which the practices of government intersect with the lives of socially marginalized individuals. However, due to limited direct engagement with marginalized groups; a predominant focus on formal state policies and institutions; and a lack of context-specific analyses of marginalization, there remain significant limitations in the existing PA research on social equity. To address these theoretical gaps, this dissertation focuses on the Khawaja Sira of Pakistan – a marginalized group culturally defined as neither men nor women – to empirically investigate the multiple intersections between government and life on margins of the state. Specifically, this dissertation explores research questions related to legal and self-identity of the Khawaja Sira, impact of their changed legal status, their informal institutional experiences, and their interaction with front-line government workers through an interpretive research methodology. The research design consisted of a ten-month long person-centered ethnography in Lahore, Pakistan during which in-depth person-centered interviews were conducted with 50 Khawaja Sira. I also conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 frontline workers from National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), social welfare department, and a local NGO and a group interview with 12 frontline workers of police. I coded the data collected from the fieldwork using qualitative thematic content analysis in MAXQDA. I then analyzed the main themes from the data using multiple theoretical perspectives to develop my findings. My analysis shows that the legal identity of the Khawaja Sira, as conceived by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, has limited relevance and benefits for the Khawaja Sira most of whom instead choose to register as men. The analysis of administrator-citizen interactions reveals that the Khawaja Sira are exposed to hyper-surveillance, moral policing and higher administrative burden during these interactions. These interactions are also strongly mediated by formal public policy, social discourses about gender identity and informal institutions. I discuss the implications of my analysis that can contribute to a more inclusive society for the Khawaja Sira. In doing so, my research makes important contributions to research on administrative burden, everyday citizenship, and social equity in public administration. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Public Administration 2016

<p> This dissertation examines the transformation of the South Indian city of Kanchipuram into a major cosmopolitan sacred center during the course of the eighth through twelfth centuries. In this pivotal five hundred-year period, Kanchipuram served as the royal capital for two major dynasties, the Pallavas and then the Cholas. Both dynasties sponsored the production of prominent sacred monuments built from locally sourced stone. These temples were crowned with pyramidal towers, adorned with sculpted and painted figures of deities amid groves and palatial landscapes, and elegantly ornamented with courtly Sanskrit and Tamil inscriptions. Over time, the temples functioned as monumental statements of power, sites of devotion, and municipal establishments where diverse social groups negotiated their claims to political authority and economic prosperity. In Kanchipuram, temples also played a crucial role in defining urban space by demarcating the city's center and borders, marking crucial junctions, and orienting the gods towards avenues, hydraulic features, and royal establishments. As religious monuments, they also fostered vibrant circuits of pilgrimage and travel that were integrated with a broader Indian Ocean network.</p><p> The dissertation argues that the construction of temples fundamentally shaped and reordered landscape. The four chapters, organized chronologically, address the expanding geography of Kanchipuram and its widening sphere of influence. The first two chapters trace the city's shifting contours and the emergence of a major pilgrimage route that led precisely through the urban core. The city was radically reconfigured around this new central road, which functioned as a processional pathway that created relationships between monuments both inside the city and beyond its borders. The third chapter reveals patterns of movement linking the city with its rural and coastal hinterland, and considers connections with Southeast Asia. Temples in more remote areas disclose links to Kanchipuram through their use of shared architectural forms, a standardized iconographic program, and inscriptions that detail economic and political ties to the urban hub. The fourth chapter focuses on colonial-era encounters with Kanchipuram and the city's role in the broader production of colonial knowledge. As a site of antiquarian interest and military history, Kanchipuram was subject to competing narratives about India. Whereas European officials and surveyors such as James Fergusson saw in the city's monuments India's past glory and inevitable decline, other travelers found no evidence of rupture or disrepair. I read these conflicting representations against the grain to expose Kanchipuram's continuity as a flourishing cosmopolitan center. The dissertation's goal is twofold. First, it documents Kanchipuram and maps its monuments spatially and chronologically in relation to each other, the city, and features of the natural environment. Second, it situates the temples within their ritual and civic functions as agentive establishments that both served and fostered a growing urban landscape.</p><p>

<p> Despite being a popular tool for counterinsurgency, the literature on pro-government militias remain divided. One strand focuses on the security benefits that the militias bring, while the other argues that they generate a political backlash. Using India's counterinsurgency campaigns in Kashmir and Chhattisgarh, I test a wide variety of hypotheses generated from the literature. </p>

<p> When discussing Asian Indian population in the U.S. their economic success and scholastic achievement dominates the discourse. Despite their perceived economic and scholastic success and their status as a &ldquo;model minority&rdquo;, Asian Indians experience discrimination, exclusion, and marginalization from mainstream American society. These experiences of discrimination and perceived discrimination are causing second generation Asian Indians to give up on total assimilation and re-ethnicize. They are using different pathways of re-ethnicization to re-claim and to create an ethnic identity. This thesis provides evidence, through secondary sources, that Asian Indians in the U.S. do experience discrimination or perceived discrimination, and it is historic, cultural, and systemic. This thesis also uses secondary sources to explain several pathways of re-ethnicization utilized by second generation Asian Indians who have given up on complete assimilation. The process of re-ethnicization provides second generation Asian Indians agency, positionality, and placement in American society. Asian Indians through re-ethnicization occupy and embrace the margins that separate mainstream American society and the Asian Indians community in the U.S. It allows them to act as &ldquo;go &ndash;betweens&rdquo;.</p><p>

Abstract not available.