DREAMS, ILLUSION AND OTHER REALITIES

In this dazzling book—which analyses scores of stories from the Puranas, Mahabharata, Ramayana and Yogavasishtha, among other texts—one of the world’s great scholars of Indian and world mythology writes about our myths, dreams and illusions and what they tell us about reality; about self and non-self; about our perception of the world and the world’s perception of us; about ‘our dreams of God and God’s dream of us’. ‘Wendy Doniger…weaves a brilliant analysis of the complex role of dreams and dreaming in Indian religion, philosophy, literature, and art… In her creative hands, enchanting Indian myths and stories illuminate and are illuminated by authors as different as Aeschylus, Plato, Freud, Jung, Thomas Kuhn, Borges… This richly suggestive book challenges many of our fundamental assumptions about ourselves and our world.’—New York Times Book Review ‘Dazzling analysis… The book is firm and convincing once you appreciate its central point, which is that in traditional Hindu thought the dream isn’t an accident or byway of experience, [it] actually embodies the whole problem of knowledge… [Doniger] wants to make your mental flesh creep, and she succeeds.’—Village Voice ‘[Doniger] uses her encyclopedic command of the literature on dreams and illusions (both Eastern and Western) to take us on a dizzying spin through multiple levels of reality… A marvelous book recommended to students of religion and philosophy, to devotees [of] metaphysical brainteasers…or to any reader who enjoys a challenge.’—Booklist