Dealing With Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia

Introduction: the deal with deities--ways vows work in South Asia / Selva J. Raj and William P. Harman --
\"The vow\": a short story / Shankarrao Kharat --
Negotiating relationships with the goddess / William P. Harman --
Shared vows, shared space, and shared deities: vow rituals among Tamil Catholics in South India / Selva J. Raj --
Religious vows at the Shrine of Shahul Hamid / Vasudha Narayanan --
In the company of pirs: making vows, receiving favors at Bangladeshi Sufi shrines / Sufia Uddin --
Bara: Buddhist vows at Kataragama / Sunil Goonasekera --
Performing vows in diasporic contexts: Tamil Hindus, temples, and goddesses in Germany / Martin Baumann --
Singing a vow: devoting oneself to Shiva through song / Karen Pechilis --
Monastic vows and the Ramananda Sampraday / Ramdas Lamb --
Negotiating karma, merit, and liberation: vow-taking in the Jain tradition / M. Whitney Kelting --
Vows in the Sikh tradition / Louis E. Fenech and Pashaura Singh --
When vows fail to deliver what they promise: the case of Shyamavati / Tracy Pintchman --
Two critiques of women\'s vows / Jack E. Llewellyn --
Toward a typology of South Asian lay vows / Selva J. Raj and William P. Harman.