Topic
Kakar
About: Kakar is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 52 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1089 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
Book•
1 Jan 1991
TL;DR: Sudhir Kakar as mentioned in this paper explores India's sexual fantasies and ideals, the "unlit stage of desire where so much of our inner theater takes place." Kakar's sources are primarily textual, and he practices a cultural psychology that distills the psyches of individuals from the literary products and social institutions of Indian culture.
Abstract: Plumbing the hearts of women and men in India and exploring the relations they engage in, Sudhir Kakar gives us the first full-length study of Indian sexuality. His groundbreaking work explores India's sexual fantasies and ideals, the "unlit stage of desire where so much of our inner theater takes place." Kakar's sources are primarily textual, celebrating the primacy of the story in Indian life. He practices a cultural psychology that distills the psyches of individuals from the literary products and social institutions of Indian culture. These include examples of lurid contemporary Hindi novels; folktales; Sanskrit, Tamil, and Hindi proverbs; hits of the Indian cinema; Gandhi's autobiography; interviews with women from the slums of Delhi; and case studies from his own psychoanalytic practice. His attentive readings of these varied narratives from a vivid portrait of sexual fantasies and realities, reflecting the universality of sexuality as well as cultural nuances specific to India. Moving from genre to genre, Kakar offers a brilliant reading of verses from the "Laws of Manu," the original source of Hindu religious laws, to uncover their psychological foundations male terror of the female sexual appetite that shields itself by idealizing women's maternal role. Kakar also examines the psychosexual history of Gandhi at length, though his near-lifelong celibacy makes him an atypical subject. Gandhi's story is universal, Kakar says, because "we all wage war on our wants." In India's lore and tradition, complex symbols abound snakes that take the shape of sensual women or handsome men, celibates sleep with naked women, gods rape their daughters, and a goddess fries a king in oil. With the analyst's "third ear," Kakar listens, decodes, and translates the psychological longings that find expression in Indian sexual relations."
263 citations
Book•
9 Apr 1991
TL;DR: Sudhir Kakar, a psychoanalyst and scholar, brilliantly illuminates the ancient healing traditions of India embodied in the rituals of shamans, the teachings of gurus, and the precepts of the school of medicine known as Ayurveda as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Sudhir Kakar, a psychoanalyst and scholar, brilliantly illuminates the ancient healing traditions of India embodied in the rituals of shamans, the teachings of gurus, and the precepts of the school of medicine known as Ayurveda. "With extraordinary sympathy, open-mindedness, and insight Sudhir Kakar has drawn from both his Eastern and Western backgrounds to show how the gulf that divides native healer from Western psychiatrist can be spanned." Rosemary Dinnage, "New York Review of Books" "Each chapter describes the geographical and cultural context within which the healers work, their unique approach to healing mental illness, and . . . the philosophical and religious underpinnings of their theories compared with psychoanalytical theory." "Choice""
196 citations
TL;DR: The fortunate reader is carried into a vivid and detailed experience of Islamic uranic soul knowledge and soul force, Hindu temple healing at Balaji, Dravidian shamans, Tibetan demonology, and the devotional mysticism of the sect of Radha Soami Satsang of Beas.
Abstract: This book, published by the Unitarian Universalist Association of Boston, is the result of a three-year study of traditional mental health and healing systems in India. The work was supported by the Homi Bhabha Fellowship. The fortunate reader is carried into a vivid and detailed experience of Islamic uranic soul knowledge and soul force, Hindu temple healing at Balaji, Dravidian shamans, Tibetan demonology, the devotional mysticism of the sect of Radha Soami Satsang of Beas, Tantra texts and healing, the cult of Primal Power Mata Nirmala Devi, Who Is God, and of Ayurveda and an Ayurvedic mental hospital at Jharsetli. Each system is well described from a structural-theoretical standpoint, and from the actual experience of patients, practitioners, and observers. Each system is then examined in the overall Indian medical context, and in Western (Christian, psychoanalytic, and medical) idiom. Most readers will find this journey to India fascinating and Sudhir Kakar
94 citations
Book•
1 Aug 1995
TL;DR: In this article, M. Hassan Kakar describes the events surrounding the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the encounter between the military superpower and the poorly armed Afghans, with eyewitness accounts and authoritative documentation that provide an unparalleled view of this historical moment.
Abstract: Few people are more respected or better positioned to speak on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan than M. Hassan Kakar. A professor at Kabul University and scholar of Afghanistan affairs at the time of the 1978 coup d'etat, Kakar vividly describes the events surrounding the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the encounter between the military superpower and the poorly armed Afghans. The events that followed are carefully detailed, with eyewitness accounts and authoritative documentation that provide an unparalleled view of this historical moment. Because of his prominence Kakar was at first treated with deference by the Marxist government and was not imprisoned, although he openly criticized the regime. When he was put behind bars the outcry from scholars all over the world possibly saved his life. In prison for five years, he continued collecting information, much of it from prominent Afghans of varying political persuasions who were themselves prisoners. Kakar brings firsthand knowledge and a historian's sensibility to his account of the invasion and its aftermath. This is both a personal document and a historical one - Kakar lived through the events he describes, and his concern for human rights rather than party politics infuses his writing. As Afghans and the rest of the world try to make sense of Afghanistan's recent past, Kakar's voice will be one of those most listened to.
67 citations
Book•
1 Jan 1991TL;DR: In this article, the Indian psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar focuses on the phenomenon of ecstatic mysticism and compares the mystical journey to the analytical process, in both he sees a creative immersion, with its potential risk of phases of chaos and disintegration.
Abstract: In this original contribution to the psychology of religion, the Indian psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar focuses on the phenomenon of ecstatic mysticism. Reviewing and revising traditional Freudian views of religion and drawing on the work of "relational" theorists such as Winnicott and Kohut, Kakar compares the mystical journey to the analytical process. In both he sees a creative immersion, with its potential risk of phases of chaos and disintegration. The centerpiece of The Analyst and the Mystic is the absorbing story of the nineteenth-century Bengali mystic and Hindu saint Sri Ramakrishna. Using Ramakrishna's life as a case study, Kakar discusses in depth three interacting factors that he feels may be essential in the making of an ecstatic mystic: particular life historical experiences, the presence of a specific artistic or creative gift, and a facilitating cultural environment. Kakar goes beyond the traditional psychoanalytic interpretation of Ramakrishna's mystical visions and practices. He clarifies their contribution to the psychic transformation of a mystic and offers fresh insight into the relation between sexuality and ecstatic mysticism. Through a comparison of the healing techniques of the mystical guru and those of the analyst, Kakar highlights the difference in their healing objectives and reveals the positive psychological aspects of the religious experience.
58 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
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| 2021 | 1 |
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2017 | 2 |
| 2015 | 2 |
| 2014 | 2 |