"Many memories, many myths" – this is how Wendy Doniger begins the story of her parents' origins in Europe and sharply bifurcated life in America. Recalling their contrasting attitudes toward Judaism and religion in general – and acknowledging the my...

Ancient Hindu texts speak of the three aims of human life: dharma,artha, and kama. Translated, these might be called religion, politics, and pleasure, and each is held to be an essential requirement of a full life. Balance among the three is a goal n...

We "take to our beds" to be born and to grow, to hide and to dream, to lie alone and cling together, to come of age and make love, to create and procreate, to ail and to heal, to rest and to die. Key rites of human passage occur underneath the swathe...