The cow in the elevator
Book • 2018
In The Cow in the Elevator, Tulasi Srinivas investigates experiences of wonder across religious sites in India, drawing on extended ethnographic work in Bangalore.
The book analyzes rituals, temple practices, and the technologies priests use to create wonder, arguing that such experiences mediate modern urban life and religious imagination.
Srinivas situates wonder within broader social and political contexts, connecting everyday religiosity to urban transformations.
The work is framed as the first part of a trilogy exploring categories—wonder, beauty, and grace—through contemporary urban ethnography.
By attending to sensory, narrative, and material dimensions, the book offers a nuanced account of religion's role in public and private life.
The book analyzes rituals, temple practices, and the technologies priests use to create wonder, arguing that such experiences mediate modern urban life and religious imagination.
Srinivas situates wonder within broader social and political contexts, connecting everyday religiosity to urban transformations.
The work is framed as the first part of a trilogy exploring categories—wonder, beauty, and grace—through contemporary urban ethnography.
By attending to sensory, narrative, and material dimensions, the book offers a nuanced account of religion's role in public and private life.
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Tulasi Srinivas
Tulasi Srinivas, "The Goddess in the Mirror: An Anthropology of Beauty" (Duke UP, 2025)
