BOOK REVIEW 101 course, the most common Tamil attitude towards them the fact that some famous writers have contributed to humorous religious literature shows that in Tamil culture there is no objection, in principle, to joking about religion* (p. 96). He shows how numerous inversions of roles of Rama and other characters of Ramayana, mainly ridiculing Rama, has been written capriciously and how they have survived as popular literature among the Tamils. At a time when the belligerent Hindu communalists are trying to homogenise Hinduism by denying the space to popular Hinduism, this book makes a significant contribution towards an understanding of various lesser known faiths and cults within Hinduism which, as ideological resistance, even if disguised, muted and veiled, challenges the dominant and subjugating practices of upper castes/Brahmanic Hinduism. However, most of the papers in this otherwise fascinating book, remain anthropological devoid of any historical enquiries into the evolution of various popular cultural practices. Moreover, the orientalist predilections of the authors, evident in their narratives of popular culture, lead them to essentialise popular practices and present them as internally harmonious and tolerance towards other religious faiths and beliefs. This is indeed contestable given the ground level reality. ANANDHI. S. Indian Social Institute New Delhi