Hinduism in India
Modern and Contemporary Movements
- Will Sweetman - Associate Professor of Asian Religions, University of Otago, New Zealand
- Aditya Malik - Professor and Dean, School of Historical Studies, Nalanda University, Bihar
Hinduism in India
A major contribution toward the ongoing debates on the nature and history of Hinduism in India
Is Hinduism coherent, or should it be viewed as a conglomeration of many distinctive traditions? What were (or are) its most important and central teachings? When did the idea of “Hinduism” first arise and what have been the consequences? What were the effects of British rule on the religion and what are the effects of continuing modernization?
This book responds to all such debates surrounding Hinduism in the colonial and contemporary periods. It emphasizes on Hinduism as it arose and developed in the subcontinent itself—an approach which facilitates greater attention to detail and an understanding of the specific context in which new movements and changes have taken place.
“The book is a compilation of essays by eminent researchers to the ongoing discussions on nature, history, and practice of Hinduism in India. The book challenges several notions of Hinduism that describe it as a uniform and monolithic tradition. The book serves as an avenue to dialogue with the past and participates in the ongoing debates on issues pertaining to Hinduism, nationalism, and world affairs…. The most significant contribution of the book is that it explains how any understanding of Hinduism is rooted in conflict”
“This volume of 12 contributions from eminent scholars is well-timed because it examines multiple aspects of Hinduism as a philosophy and its engagement with society and politics…. This study is welcome because it exposes the designs of political Hindu organisations”
“This book is after all more focused on contemporary Indian sociology than on religious contents through classical or vernacular sources.”