Religion in India: A Historical Introduction

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ISBN: 9780415940238 | 0415940230
Cover: Hardcover
Copyright: 2/26/2007

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In his introduction to the history of lived religion in India, Clothey will emphasize the importance of ritual, local mythology, and historical context for the beginning student's understanding of religious belief and practice. Clothey's attention to the cultural production of religious movements and to the interactions between movements over time reflects his engagement with some of the liveliest conversations in the field of religious studies. There is currently no book on Indian religion that presents new trends in the study of regional religious movements in a way that is accessible to beginning students. This book will fill that gap.

Preface	p. ix
List of illustrations and maps	p. xiii
On Wearing Good Lenses	p. 1
Lenses used through the years	p. 2
Pejorative putdown	p. 2
Romanticism	p. 4
"Noble savage"	p. 6
Interpretation by imposition	p. 7
"Benign neglect"	p. 9
On understanding the "nature" of religion	p. 10
Recommended reading	p. 12
Sources of Indian Religion	p. 14
Hunting communities	p. 15
Agricultural communities	p. 16
The "Indo-European" influence	p. 20
The Vedic period	p. 21
The ritual system	p. 23
Hymns and commentaries	p. 26
Recommended reading	p. 28
The Early Urban Period	p. 30
The Upanisads	p. 31
The "heterodoxies"	p. 36
Jainism	p. 37
Early Buddhism	p. 41
Recommended reading	p. 48
Timeline of Chapters 2 and 3	p. 50
The Urban Period	p. 51
The context	p. 52
Kingship and artha	p. 56
Theism: Buddhist and vaidika	p. 56
Devotionalism	p. 60
Articulation of an "urban" ethic	p. 61
The household	p. 63
The role of women	p. 63
Jati or caste	p. 66
The symbolism of food	p. 67
Yoga	p. 68
Summary	p. 69
The epics	p. 69
Aesthetics and the arts	p. 72
Religious life at the popular level	p. 76
Developments in Buddhism	p. 78
Kingship	p. 79
Ethics	p. 79
Attitude toward city-state	p. 79
Pantheon	p. 79
Iconography	p. 80
Sacred spaces	p. 80
Recommended reading	p. 84
Timeline of Chapter 4	p. 86
The Post-classical Period	p. 87
South India	p. 87
Bhakti	p. 90
The emergence of temples	p. 93
The Colas	p. 96
Deities as reflections of cultural history	p. 100
Philosophical developments	p. 102
Saiva Siddhanta	p. 102
Vedanta	p. 103
North India	p. 107
Temple construction	p. 108
Tantrism	p. 109
The rise of the goddesses to "high deity" status	p. 111
Buddhism and Jainism	p. 114
Recommended reading	p. 116
Timeline of Chapter 5	p. 120
The Coming of Islam	p. 122
The origins of Islam	p. 123
Sunnis and Shi'is	p. 124
Islam in India	p. 125
The political context	p. 127
Diversity of Islam in India	p. 131
Sunnis	p. 131
Shi'is	p. 132
Sufism	p. 133
Recommended reading	p. 136
Developments in the Late Medieval Period	p. 137
Orthopraxy	p. 137
Hindu polities	p. 138
Devotionalism	p. 141
Marathi	p. 142
Bengali	p. 144
Hindi	p. 145
Accommodation and appropriation	p. 150
Conversion	p. 152
Syncretism	p. 154
Sikhism	p. 156
Recommended reading	p. 159
Timeline of Chapters 6 and 7	p. 161
Streams from the "West" and their Aftermath	p. 162
Religious minorities	p. 163
Jewish communities	p. 163
"Cochin Jews"	p. 163
Bene Israel	p. 165
Syrian Christians	p. 166
Zoroastrians or Parsis	p. 168
The "colonial impact"	p. 171
The Portuguese, British and other Europeans	p. 171
The Indian response	p. 175
Stage one	p. 176
Stage two	p. 178
Neo-bhakti	p. 179
Muslim responses to coloniality	p. 181
Inter-religious relations: conciliation and confrontation	p. 183
Pre-independence India	p. 186
Recommended reading	p. 189
Religion in Contemporary India	p. 193
The context	p. 193
The practice of religion	p. 197
Pilgrimages and festivals	p. 197
Varanasi	p. 198
Palani, Tamil Nadu	p. 200
Festivals	p. 201
Makara Vilakku, Sabaramala, Kerala	p. 201
Bonalu, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh	p. 202
Festivals in other religious communities	p. 205
The shrine or temple as the focus of religious expression	p. 206
Ritual in other religious communities	p. 209
Religious innovation, hybridization, and reinterpretation	p. 210
The changing faces of deities	p. 210
Conversions of another kind	p. 212
Gurus and their movements	p. 214
The Brahmakumaris	p. 214
The Satya Sai Baba movement	p. 216
The resurgent right	p. 217
Recommended reading	p. 221
India's Global Reach	p. 224
Greater India in Asia	p. 224
The westward impetus	p. 228
Early contacts	p. 228
The colonial period	p. 230
The modern era	p. 232
The emigration of South Asians	p. 236
Recommended reading	p. 245
Glossary	p. 248
Notes	p. 260
Index	p. 275
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Religion in India: A Historical Introduction

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