India’s cultural heritage is rich and diverse due to its civilizational past. It is represented by thousands of monuments, temples and other works of art, such as paintings, sculptures and handicrafts found across the length and breadth of this country. Besides these tangible heritages are the less visible forms of cultural heritages, pertaining to oral traditions, aesthetic and religious beliefs, rituals and festivals, arts, music, folk traditions, dances, theatre forms, performing arts and narrative styles of storytelling. They are the insignia of the rich and diverse, multicultural, multi–linguistic cultural heritage of India. These are also called traditional expressions and include oral literature, music, dance, games, mythology, rituals, costumes and crafts. Sometimes the cultural spaces, such as sites for storytelling, rituals and festivals, market places, where traditional cultural activities take place, are also included under the intangible cultural heritage.Quick and easy access to information is vital to the development of varies fields of Knowledge. Therefore, it is essential that relevant information be brought to the attention of the professional, administrators, and researchers who have urgent need of it. In this respect, bibliography plays an important role. There was a time in the past, when it was possible to a scholar to keep himself up to date and well informed on current literature in his field of interest. But due to the increase in the amount of literature available, it has become more and more difficult for him to do so. But for bibliography even a scholar faced with such a vast amount of literature would lose his way, wasting much time before he is able to read even a part of what he is required to study. Much has been written on the Religious practices, and the related fields and the references are many and distributed over numerous journals, monographs, memoirs, Internet database and other publications that are not easily accessible to research workers and the seekers of information. Keeping in view these facts, it has been considered useful to compile a bibliography available. This bibliography on ‘Intangible cultural heritage of India: a selected bibliography. Vol. I: Indian religious practices aimed at covering scholarly literature on concerned and related fields. We sincerely hope that this bibliography would be useful for Scientists, research scholars, Anthropologists, and other personnel related with this field.
Profile of Prof. Kamal K. MisraDr. Kamal K. Misra is Professor of Anthropology at the Central University of Hyderabad and is currently on deputation to the Government of India as Director of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal. He is also holding the additional charge of Director, Anthropological Survey of India, Kolkata. He had his education at Utkal University, Bhubaneswar; Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and University of Kent at Canterbury (U.K.). He was the recipient of Utkal University Gold Medal, Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship and Fulbright ScholarinResidence Award. He was also Visiting Guest Researcher at the University of Bergen in Norway. He had earlier taught at Utkal University, Bhubaneswar and at Austin College, Sherman, Texas (USA). Dr. Misra’s research interests include Environmental Anthropology, Anthropological Linguistics, Theory in Anthropology, and Museum Anthropology. He has written/edited/coedited 9 books and has published more than 50 research papers in journals of repute and anthologies. He is editor of Humankind and Journal of Anthropological Survey of India, and on the editorial advisory boards of several professional journals. Mohammad Rehan (b. 1974: Bhopal) Library and Information Assistant, Indira Gandhi Rastriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal has a Master Degree in Library and Information Science from Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, Sagar and M.P. Bhoj Open University, Bhopal. He also earned Master Degree in Botany with specialization in Forest Ecology from Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, Sagar. Previously he worked as an Assistant Professor in Rajeev Gandhi College, affiliated with Barkatullah University, Bhopal. He is also in the Guest faculty in Department of Library and Information Science, Madhya Pradesh Bhoj Open University (MPBOU), Bhopal and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Bhopal center. He is the life member of MP Library Association (MPLA). President of the Young Librarians Association [YLA] and the SubEditor of the Journal of the Young Librarians Association He has attended many conference and seminars at regional and national level. Ravindra K. Gupta (b. 1975: Jhansi) did his B. Sc. from Dr. Hari Singh Gour University Sagar, M.L.I.Sc. and M.A. (Economics) from Jiwaji University Gwalior. He also obtained PGDCA from Makhanlal Chaturvedi Rashtriya Patrakarita Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal. He worked in various libraries in New Delhi such as IGNOU, NIFT. Presently working as a Library and Information Assistant in the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal. As a dedicated library professional, he is associated with Madhya Pradesh Library Association (MPLA) and attended several conferences, seminars at the national level.
