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Hindu Bhakti Through Muslim Eyes: Islam and Caitanya Vaiṣṇavism in the Twenty-First Century (Routledge Studies in Religion)
by R. David CoolidgeHindu Bhakti Through Muslim Eyes puts the Caitanya Vaiṣṇava tradition of devotion to Krishna in scholarly conversation with Islam for the first time. It builds on a millennium of Muslim reflections regarding Hindu theology and practice, despite common assumptions that Hindus and Muslims are destined for misunderstanding and conflict. Beginning with al-Bīrūnī in the 11th Century, Muslims often commented on the beliefs and practices of the Hindu tradition in relation to their own tradition of Islam. This process continues until today, as Muslims increasingly articulate a scholarly perspective on our planet's religious diversity. Centered in the author’s Islamic theological, ethical, and liturgical commitments, this study explores the tradition of Krishna worship traced to the charismatic figure Caitanya who preached in the Bengal Sultanate of the early 16th Century. The book explores possibilities for Muslim interreligious scholarship beyond Judeo-Christian frameworks, as well as the revival of al-Bīrūnī's legacy in the 21st Century. Relevant for scholars in Islamic Studies, Hindu Studies, Interreligious Studies, Comparative Theology, and Decolonial Studies, Hindu Bhakti Through Muslim Eyes forges new ground in Muslim scholarship regarding religious and cultural pluralism. In particular, it offers a model of engagement built on patient learning of a different textual corpus and communal praxis, while still remaining rooted in the Islamic tradition as a distinctive intellectual paradigm.
Hindu Customs and their Origins (Routledge Revivals)
by Stanley RiceHindu Customs and their Origins (1937) primarily examines the topic of caste in India, looking at the ancient ideas of the origins of caste and testing modern theories through a critical examination. It also looks at the veneration for the ox and cow, a custom that is unique to India.
Hindu Goddesses
by David R. KinsleyGoddess worship has long been a significant aspect of Hinduism. In this book David Kinsley, author of The Sword and the Flute--Kali & Krsna: Dark Visions of the Terrible and the Sublime in Hindu Mythology, sorts out the rich yet often chaotic history of Hindu goddess worship.
Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition
by David R. KinsleyGoddess worship has long been a significant aspect of Hinduism. In this book David Kinsley, author of The Sword and the Flute--Kali & Krishna: Dark Visions of the Terrible and the Sublime in Hindu Mythology, sorts out the rich yet often chaotic history of Hindu goddess worship.
Hindu Gods and Goddesses: 300 Illustrations from "The Hindu Pantheon"
by Edward MoorReflecting the spirit of East Indian myths, legends, and fables, these illustrations were compiled by one of the nineteenth century's foremost Orientalists. Edward Moor published The Hindu Pantheon in 1810, and this new volume draws upon his exposition of India's religious iconography to offer a spectacular array of images of Hindu deities.Dramatic engravings and line drawings include scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata as well as temple images of Krishna, Vishnu, Siva, and other major gods and goddesses. Many are derived from bronze figurines; others are reproduced from manuscript illustrations. All appear with captions for ease of identification.
Hindu Histories: The Beginnings
by Nipun ShuklaThe basis of the work is in the assumption that Hindu myths are poetic (hyperbolic) forms of ancient social and political realities. The work builds on this assumption and moves on two intertwined paths.
Hindu Kush-Himalaya Watersheds Downhill: Landscape Ecology and Conservation Perspectives
by Falk Huettmann Ganga Ram RegmiThis book describes the myriad components of the Hindu Kush-Himalaya (HKH) region. The contributors elaborate on challenges, failures, and successes in efforts to conserve the HKH, its indigenous plants and animals, and the watershed that runs from the very roof of the planet via world-rivers to marine estuaries, supporting a human population of some two billion people. Readers will learn how the landforms, animal species and humans of this globally fascinating region are connected, and understand why runoff from snow and ice in the world’s tallest mountains is vital to inhabitants far downstream. The book comprises forty-five chapters organized in five parts. The first section, Landscapes, introduces the mountainous watersheds of the HKH, its weather systems, forests, and the 18 major rivers whose headwaters are here. The second part explores concepts, cultures, and religions, including ethnobiology and indigenous regimes, two thousand years of religious tradition, and the history of scientific and research expeditions. Part Three discusses policy, wildlife conservation management, habitat and biodiversity data, as well as the interaction of animals and humans. The fourth part examines the consequences of development and globalization, from hydrodams, to roads and railroads, to poaching and illegal wildlife trade. This section includes studies of animal species including river dolphins, woodpeckers and hornbills, langurs, snow leopards and more. The concluding section offers perspectives and templates for conservation, sustainability and stability in the HKH, including citizen-science projects and a future challenged by climate change, growing human population, and global conservation decay. A large assemblage of field and landscape photos, combined with eye-witness accounts, presents a 50-year local and wider perspective on the HKH. Also included are advanced digital topics: data sharing, open access, metadata, web portal databases, geographic information systems (GIS) software and machine learning, and data mining concepts all relevant to a modern scientific understanding and sustainable management of the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region. This work is written for scholars, landscape ecologists, naturalists and researchers alike, and it can be especially well-suited for those readers who want to learn in a more holistic fashion about the latest conservation issues.
Hindu Matham
by Uma SampathThe book traces the history of Hindu Religion, the ancient religion of the majority of the population of India and touches various treasures of Hinduism such as Puranas, Upanishads, Epics, Vedas, Four Varnas and Hindu culture, customs and traditions.
Hindu Mission, Christian Mission: Soundings in Comparative Theology (SUNY series in Religious Studies)
by Reid B. LocklinFor some four hundred years, Hindus and Christians have been engaged in a public controversy about conversion and missionary proselytization, especially in India and the Hindu diaspora. Hindu Mission, Christian Mission reframes this controversy by shifting attention from "conversion" to a wider, interreligious study of "mission" as a category of thought and practice. Comparative theologian Reid B. Locklin traces the emergence of the nondualist Hindu teaching of Advaita Vedānta as a missionary tradition, from the eighth century to the present day, and draws this tradition into dialogue with contemporary proposals in Christian missiology. As a descriptive study of the Chinmaya Mission, the Ramakrishna Mission, and other leading Advaita mission movements, Hindu Mission, Christian Mission contributes to a growing body of scholarship on transnational Hinduism. As a speculative work of Christian comparative theology, it develops key themes from this engagement for a new, interreligious theology of mission and conversion for the twenty-first century and beyond.
Hindu Monotheism (Elements in Religion and Monotheism)
by Gavin Dennis FloodIf by monotheism we mean the idea of a single transcendent God who creates the universe out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo), as in the Abrahamic religions, then that is not found in the history of Hinduism. But if we mean a supreme, transcendent deity who impels the universe, sustains it and ultimately destroys it before causing it to emerge once again, who is the ultimate source of all other gods who are her or his emanations, then this idea does develop within that history. It is a Hindu monotheism and its nature that is the topic of this Element.
Hindu Mysticism
by S. N. SasguptaThis 1927 classic is a systematic introduction to Hindu mysticism as it evolved in India through the ages. This book gives a brief general outline of some of the most important types of mysticism, indicating their mutual relations, sometimes genetically and sometimes logically. These include early sacrificial, Upanisadic, Yogic, Buddhistic, and Classical as well as Popular Bhakti cult explaining concisely and clearly their main characteristics, basing the interpretations directly on the original sources.
Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook Translated from the Sanskrit
by Wendy DonigerRecorded in sacred Sanskrit texts, including the Rig Veda and the Mahabharata, Hindu Myths are thought to date back as far as the tenth century BCE. Here in these seventy-five seminal myths are the many incarnations of Vishnu, who saves mankind from destruction, and the mischievous child Krishna, alongside stories of the minor gods, demons, rivers and animals including boars, buffalo, serpents and monkeys. Immensely varied and bursting with colour and life, they demonstrate the Hindu belief in the limitless possibilities of the world - from the teeming miracles of creation to the origins of the incarnation of Death who eventually touches them all.
Hindu Nationalism and Terrorism in India: The Saffron Threat to Democracy (Routledge Critical Terrorism Studies)
by Eamon MurphyThis book discusses terrorism and the rise of Hindu nationalism in contemporary India and examines how this movement has become a threat to democracy in the country. The work analyses the rise of Hindu nationalism, culminating in the success of Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the political arm of the movement, in the 2019 Indian national elections. It offers an accessible account of the complexities and subtleties of Hindu nationalism and the dangers it poses to India’s pluralistic democracy and secularism. A major theme of the book is the role that terrorism has played in the rise of Hindu nationalism, a factor often underplayed or ignored in other studies, and it also challenges the widespread belief that terrorism is largely an Islamic phenomenon. Employing a cross-disciplinary approach, the book is highly relevant to both academics and policymakers, given India’s importance as a major global economic and military power. This book will be of interest to students of terrorism and political violence, South Asian history, Indian politics and international relations, as well as policymakers.
Hindu Nationalism: A Reader
by Christophe JaffrelotHindu nationalism came to world attention in 1998, when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won national elections in India. Although the BJP was defeated nationally in 2004, it continues to govern large Indian states, and the movement it represents remains a major force in the world's largest democracy. This book presents the thought of the founding fathers and key intellectual leaders of Hindu nationalism from the time of the British Raj, through the independence period, to the present. Spanning more than 130 years of Indian history and including the writings of both famous and unknown ideologues, this reader reveals how the "Hindutuva" movement approaches key issues of Indian politics. Covering such important topics as secularism, religious conversion, relations with Muslims, education, and Hindu identity in the growing diaspora, this reader will be indispensable for anyone wishing to understand contemporary Indian politics, society, culture, or history.
Hindu Perspectives on Evolution: Darwin, Dharma, and Design (Routledge Hindu Studies Series)
by C. Mackenzie BrownProviding new insights into the contemporary creationist-evolution debates, this book looks at the Hindu cultural-religious traditions of India, the Hindu Dharma traditions. By focusing on the interaction of religion and science in a Hindu context, it offers a global context for understanding contemporary creationist-evolution conflicts and tensions utilizing a critical analysis of Hindu perspectives on these issues. The cultural and political as well as theological nature of these conflicts is illustrated by drawing attention to parallels with contemporary Islamic and Buddhist responses to modern science and Darwinism. The book explores various ancient and classical Hindu models to explain the origin of the universe encompassing creationist as well as evolutionary—but non-Darwinian—interpretations of how we came to be. Complex schemes of cosmic evolution were developed, alongside creationist proofs for the existence of God utilizing distinctly Hindu versions of the design argument. After examining diverse elements of the Hindu Dharmic traditions that laid the groundwork for an ambivalent response to Darwinism when it first became known in India, the book highlights the significance of the colonial context. Analysing critically the question of compatibility between traditional Dharmic theories of knowledge and the epistemological assumptions underlying contemporary scientific methodology, the book raises broad questions regarding the frequently alleged harmony of Hinduism, the eternal Dharma, with modern science, and with Darwinian evolution in particular.
Hindu Philosophy
by Theos BernardWho were India's foremost thinkers? What systems did they establish? What problems have agitated the minds of India's philosophers, intellectuals and mystics? Tersely and in pleasing style Dr. Bernard has answered these questions satisfactorily alike to the layman and the special student of India and her philosophic life without effecting a compromise with Western philosophy and its narrow categories. Moreover, the important Kashmir Shaivism, so long omitted from works on Indian Philosophy, has at last been given its due here. In a sense, a major portion of the book is also dictionary--a dictionary of Sanskrit philosophical terms, arranged alphabetically, explained as to grammatical construction or composition, and defined, often with emphasis on special meanings within the different types of philosophy. Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS (18 May 1872 - 2 February 1970), was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, social reformer, and pacifist. Although he spent the majority of his life in England, he was born in Wales, where he also died. Russell led the British revolt against Idealism in the early 1900s and is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy along with his protg Wittgenstein and his elder Frege. He co-authored, with A. N. Whitehead, Principia Mathematica, an attempt to ground mathematics on logic. His philosophical essay On Denoting has been considered a paradigm of philosophy. Both works have had a considerable influence on logic, mathematics, set theory, linguistics and analytic philosophy. He was a prominent anti-war activist, championing free trade between nations and anti-imperialism. Russell was imprisoned for his pacifist activism during World War I, campaigned against Adolf Hitler, for nuclear disarmament, criticised Soviet totalitarianism and the United States of America's involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1950, Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought.
Hindu Pilgrimage: Shifting Patterns of Worldview of Srisailam in South India (Routledge Hindu Studies Series)
by Prabhavati C. ReddyIn recent years, changes in religious studies in general and the study of Hinduism in particular have drawn more scholarly attention to other forms of the Hindu faith that are concretely embodied in temples, icons, artworks, rituals, and pilgrimage practices. This book analyses the phenomenon of pilgrimage as a religious practice and experience and examines Shrî Shailam, a renowned south Indian pilgrimage site of Shiva and Goddess Durga. In doing so, it investigates two dimensions: the worldview of a place that is of utmost sanctity for Hindu pilgrims and its historical evolution from medieval to modern times. Reddy blends religion, anthropology, art history and politics into one interdisciplinary exploration of how Shrî Shailam became the epicentre for Shaivism. Through this approach, the book examines Shrî Shailam’s influence on pan-Indian religious practices; the amalgamation of Brahmanical and regional traditions; and the intersection of the ideological and the civic worlds with respect to the management of pilgrimage centre in modern times. This book is the first thorough study of Shrî Shailam and brings together phenomenological and historical study to provide a comprehensive understanding of both the religious dimension and the historical development of the social organization of the pilgrimage place. As such, it will be of interest to students of Hinduism, Pilgrimage and South Asian Studies.
Hindu Pluralism: Religion and the Public Sphere in Early Modern South India
by Elaine M. FisherAt publication date, a free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. In Hindu Pluralism, Elaine M. Fisher complicates the traditional scholarly narrative of the unification of Hinduism. By calling into question the colonial categories implicit in the term “sectarianism,” Fisher’s work excavates the pluralistic textures of precolonial Hinduism in the centuries prior to British intervention. Drawing on previously unpublished sources in Sanskrit, Tamil, and Telugu, Fisher argues that the performance of plural religious identities in public space in Indian early modernity paved the way for the emergence of a distinctively non-Western form of religious pluralism. This work provides a critical resource for understanding how Hinduism developed in the early modern period, a crucial era that set the tenor for religion's role in public life in India through the present day.
Hindu Selves in a Modern World: Guru Faith in the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission (Routledge South Asian Religion Series)
by Maya WarrierThis book explores devotional Hinduism in a modern context of high consumerism and revolutionised communications. It focuses on a fast-growing and high-profile contemporary Hindu guru faith originating in India and attracting a transnational following. The organisation is led by a vastly popular female guru, Mata Amritanandamayi, whom devotees worship as an avatar and a healer of the ills of the contemporary world. By drawing upon multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork among the mata's primarily urban, educated 'middle class' Indian devotees, the author provides crucial insights into new trends in popular Hinduism in a post-colonial and rapidly modernising Indian setting.
Hindu Widow Marriage
by Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar Brian A. HatcherBefore the passage of the Hindu Widow's Re-marriage Act of 1856, Hindu tradition required a woman to live as a virtual outcast after her husband's death. Widows were expected to shave their heads, discard their jewelry, live in seclusion, and undergo regular acts of penance. Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar was the first Indian intellectual to successfully argue against these strictures. A Sanskrit scholar and passionate social reformer, Vidyasagar was a leading proponent of widow marriage in colonial India, urging his contemporaries to reject a ban that caused countless women to suffer needlessly. Vidyasagar's brilliant strategy paired a rereading of Hindu scripture with an emotional plea on behalf of the widow, resulting in an organic reimagining of Hindu law and custom. Vidyasagar made his case through the two-part publication Hindu Widow Marriage, a tour de force of logic, erudition, and humanitarian rhetoric. In this new translation, Brian A. Hatcher makes available in English for the first time the entire text of one of the most important nineteenth-century treatises on Indian social reform. An expert on Vidyasagar, Hinduism, and colonial Bengal, Hatcher enhances the original treatise with a substantial introduction describing Vidyasagar's multifaceted career, as well as the history of colonial debates on widow marriage. He innovatively interprets the significance of Hindu Widow Marriage within modern Indian intellectual history by situating the text in relation to indigenous commentarial practices. Finally, Hatcher increases the accessibility of the text by providing an overview of basic Hindu categories for first-time readers, a glossary of technical vocabulary, and an extensive bibliography.
Hindu Widow Marriage
by Ishvarchandra VidyasagarBefore the passage of the Hindu Widow's Re-marriage Act of 1856, Hindu tradition required a woman to live as a virtual outcast after her husband's death. Widows were expected to shave their heads, discard their jewelry, live in seclusion, and undergo regular acts of penance. Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar was the first Indian intellectual to successfully argue against these strictures. A Sanskrit scholar and passionate social reformer, Vidyasagar was a leading proponent of widow marriage in colonial India, urging his contemporaries to reject a ban that caused countless women to suffer needlessly.Vidyasagar's brilliant strategy paired a rereading of Hindu scripture with an emotional plea on behalf of the widow, resulting in an organic reimagining of Hindu law and custom. Vidyasagar made his case through the two-part publication Hindu Widow Marriage, a tour de force of logic, erudition, and humanitarian rhetoric. In this new translation, Brian A. Hatcher makes available in English for the first time the entire text of one of the most important nineteenth-century treatises on Indian social reform.An expert on Vidyasagar, Hinduism, and colonial Bengal, Hatcher enhances the original treatise with a substantial introduction describing Vidyasagar's multifaceted career, as well as the history of colonial debates on widow marriage. He innovatively interprets the significance of Hindu Widow Marriage within modern Indian intellectual history by situating the text in relation to indigenous commentarial practices. Finally, Hatcher increases the accessibility of the text by providing an overview of basic Hindu categories for first-time readers, a glossary of technical vocabulary, and an extensive bibliography.
Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism. In Two Volumes. Volume I A-L (Routledge Library Editions: Hinduism #4)
by Benjamin WalkerThis work, first published in 1968, presents the fabulous world of Hinduism in its entirety in two volumes. It is the first general encyclopedia of Hinduism covering every major aspect of Hindu life and thought, embodying the results of modern scholarship yet not ignoring the traditional point of view. It contains over 700 articles, each of which gives a comprehensive account of the subject, and by a system of cross references interlinks all topics related to it, so that a single theme may be traced in all its ramifications through the whole book. An index of over 8,000 items, which in itself forms a veritable treasury of Sanskrit terms and names, will further assist the researcher finding their way among the lesser topics treated in the work.
Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism. In Two Volumes. Volume II M-Z (Routledge Library Editions: Hinduism #5)
by Benjamin WalkerThis work, first published in 1968, presents the fabulous world of Hinduism in its entirety in two volumes. It is the first general encyclopedia of Hinduism covering every major aspect of Hindu life and thought, embodying the results of modern scholarship yet not ignoring the traditional point of view. It contains over 700 articles, each of which gives a comprehensive account of the subject, and by a system of cross references interlinks all topics related to it, so that a single theme may be traced in all its ramifications through the whole book. An index of over 8,000 items, which in itself forms a veritable treasury of Sanskrit terms and names, will further assist the researcher finding their way among the lesser topics treated in the work.
Hindu and Buddhist Ideas in Dialogue: Self and No-Self (Dialogues in South Asian Traditions: Religion, Philosophy, Literature and History)
by Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad Jonardon Ganeri Irina KuznetsovaThe debates between various Buddhist and Hindu philosophical systems about the existence, definition and nature of self, occupy a central place in the history of Indian philosophy and religion. These debates concern various issues: what 'self' means, whether the self can be said to exist at all, arguments that can substantiate any position on this question, how the ordinary reality of individual persons can be explained, and the consequences of each position. At a time when comparable issues are at the forefront of contemporary Western philosophy, in both analytic and continental traditions (as well as in their interaction), these classical and medieval Indian debates widen and globalise such discussions. This book brings to a wider audience the sophisticated range of positions held by various systems of thought in classical India.