This elegantly written book introduces a new perspective on Indic religious history by rethinking the role of mantra in Vedic ritual. In Bringing the Gods to Mind, Laurie Patton takes a new look at mantra as "performed poetry" and in five case studies draws a portrait of early Indian sacrifice that moves beyond the well-worn categories of "magic" and "magico-religious" thought in Vedic sacrifice. Treating Vedic mantra as a sophisticated form of artistic composition, she develops the idea of metonymy, or associational thought, as a major motivator for the use of mantra in sacrificial performance. Filling a long-standing gap in our understanding, her book provides a history of the Indian interpretive imagination and a study of the mental creativity and hermeneutic sophistication of Vedic religion.

"Patton does a remarkable job in opening the worlds of Vedic and Indological study. Enhanced by Patton's flashes of beauty and humor, the book is sure to become a standard read." - Jeffrey J. Kripal, Rice University; "Bringing the Gods to Mind is extremely important to the field." - Whitney Sanford, Iowa State University"

Laurie L. Patton is Winship Distinguished Research Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Early Indian Religion at Emory University. She is author of Myth as Argument: The Brhaddevata as Canonical Commentary (1996), editor of Jewels of Authority: Women and Text in the Hindu Tradition (2002), and author of Fire's Goal: Poems from a Hindu Year (2003), among other books.