New Books Network Tracy Pintchman ed., "Engaging Hindu Narratives and Practices in the Contemporary World" (2025)
Dec 25, 2025
Tracy Pintchman, Director of Global Studies at Loyola University Chicago and guest editor of the recent special issue on Hindu narratives, shares insights into modern retellings of Hindu stories. She discusses how contemporary literature, like Amish Tripathi’s work, reflects cultural shifts and feminist perspectives. Tracy highlights unique practices such as Tamil women's protest rituals and the role of beauty parlors in religious commentary. They explore the significance of popular literature in understanding Hinduism's adaptive history and its innovative expressions in the diaspora.
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Modern Retellings Continue An Old Tradition
- Contemporary popular novels retell and rework epic Hindu narratives to reflect modern contexts and audiences.
- Tracy Pintchman frames these retellings as part of a long tradition of commentary and adaptation within Hinduism.
Two Lenses: Narratives And Practices
- The issue groups contributions into three on narratives and three on practices to show parallel processes of reinvention.
- Each essay examines how modernity reshapes stories and rituals across different spaces and media.
Beauty Parlors As Storytelling Spaces
- Tulsi Srinivas's chapter examines women telling Mahabharata stories in beauty parlors, showing unexpected public sites of religious narrative.
- Pintchman highlights this as a creative space where ethics and myth intermix in everyday life.