Wandering with Sadhus: Ascetics in the Hindu Himalayas

In this moving ethnographic portrait of Hindu renouncers -- sadhus or
ascetics -- in northern India and Nepal, Sondra L. Hausner considers a paradox that
shapes their lives: while ostensibly defined by their solitary spiritual practice,
the stripping away of social commitments, and their break with family and community,
renouncers in fact regularly interact with "householder" society. They form a
distinctive, alternative community with its own internal structure, but one t…