Karen Pechilis Prentiss

	The Embodiment of Bhakti is an interpretive history of Shiva-bhakti in Tamil south Indian literature and culture. Bhakti is a religious path that involves active participation on the part of worshippers; the author calls this a theology of embodiment. Through Tamil language, literature, and culture, the God Shiva was honored through the bhakti perspective. The author explores how this religious path was created and developed in medieval Tamil country (7th-14th centuries). Topics considered include: analysis of the worldview in bhakti hymns, the development of Shiva-bhakti in temples through song and stories of saints, and the interpretation of Shiva-bhakti through the philosophy of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta. The book includes the translation of an early anthology of the bhakti hymns and a Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta text. This book would be most interesting to those who would like to read about the Saiva saints of the medieval period. Most of the Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus learnt about the Saiva saints in our mandatory religion class during our high school years. So this would be like a revival for our memory and since the book is in English it is also the more appreciable. Our pure classical Tamil is corroded and the writings and devotional hymns, which are captivating, are in pure classical Tamil. Dr. Prentiss, who is of Greek ancestry, teaches at Drew University in New Jersey. This book is derived from Dr. Prentiss' doctoral dissertation. The sangam became familiar with Dr. Prentiss' inspiring work in November, 1999 when she gave a talk on her research to those gathered for our annual dinner. During her talk she remarked that most Tamils are unaware that they have the oldest continuously spoken language in the world. For instance, modern Greek is almost completely unrelated to ancient Greek and a modern Greek cannot understand ancient texts, while those speaking Tamil today have a direct, if not exact, connection with their own ancient literature.