Vijayanagara Visions – Religious Experience and Cultural Creativity in a South Indian Empire

The book Vijayanagara Visions – Religious Experience and Cultural Creativity in a South Indian Empire is written by William J. Jackson Professor, Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis. The book focuses on the religious imagination and the visual images of the great South Indian Bhakti saints such as Vidyaranya, Purandaradasa, Jayatirtha, Vedanta Deshika, Potana, Vemana, Kanakadasa, Annamacharya, Appaya Dikshita and Badhrachalam Ramadas.

About the book from Oxford University Press

William J. Jackson discusses two specific themes – patterns shared in the culture of bhakti, and visionary experiences of saints. There are vivid phrases, ideas, images, and melodies that echo in the lyrics of the singer-saints across the different regions and centuries. Jackson investigates these patterns and the persistent continuities in the bhakti tradition.

The work is scholarly in nature and Vanamala Parthasarathy reviews the book in The Hindu - the book based on extensive research, original ideas, copious notes, and appropriate illustrations is a treat to the religious and the rationalist.