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Acknowledgments No author produces a body of scholarship without the support and assistance of countless others: colleagues, university sta√, students, friends, and family. I thank all those who have contributed to this work in large and small ways. In particular, I thank Georgia State University for the financial support of two Research Initiation Grants, which made trips to India possible. I am also grateful to the sta√ of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune, who facilitated my research on several trips, and to the sta√ at the Johns Hopkins University Press, particularly executive editor Henry Tom and copy editor Grace Carino. I also appreciate the personal and professional support of the faculty and sta√ of the Religious Studies department at Georgia State University: Tim Renick, John Herman, John Iskander, Claire Murata Kooy, Ellen Logan, Caroline Nikitas, Felicia Thomas, Lou Ruprecht, Kenny Smith, and Christopher White. Numerous students read drafts of various chapters, especially Russell Cambron, Tony Petro, and John Rivenbark. Special thanks to Andrew Durdin and Sherry Morton, who worked through the copyediting of the manuscript with me. Colleagues in other departments have also given helpful feedback, either at conference presentations of this material or informally. In addition to several anonymous readers along the way, I especially want to thank Steve Berkwitz, Francis X. Clooney, Sara Karesh Coxe, William Gilders, Robert Goldenberg, Richard Hecht, Barbara Holdrege, Tim Lubin, Laurie Patton, Ellen Posman, Brian K. Smith, Gregory Spinner, Ivan Strenski, Michael Swartz, Thomas Wilson, and the members of the Comparative Studies in Hinduisms and Judaisms Group for their comments on this work at various stages and for their general encouragement.∞ Most important, I express my deep appreciation to my family. My viii Acknowledgments daughter, Sarah, will never know how much joy she brings to my life on a daily basis. My parents, Gretchen and Ferdinand Schoch, have demonstrated completely unconditional faith and support, even during dark times. More than anyone else, these two people have sacrificed to make good things possible for me, and so I dedicate this book to them. ...

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