Author: Gerald James Larson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 1997
Language: English
Pages: 390
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195640640
Description
This volume is a comprehensive study of the contemporary crisis about religion in India.
Many of ancient India's religious traditions are not only alive in modern India but also in conflict with one another. The most salient features of India's turmoil are the crisis with the Sikhs in the state of Punjab, the crisis in the Muslim majority state of Jammu & Kashmir, the crisis between Hindus and Muslims over the Muslim Personal law, the crisis over caste-reservations and special privileges for other backward classes and the crisis between Hindus and Muslims over Babri Masjid.
Gerald James Larson's competence in classical Indology allows him to explain lucidly and perceptively the present situation. This book analyses these various crises by looking at the historical background and by examining what is meant by 'Secular state' in India.
This book will fascinate all readers concerned with the issues surrounding religion in politics and society in South Asia.
Contents
Preface
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION : BEATING THE RETREAT
Permanence's Amid the Inescapable Flux
Present-Day India : An Introductory Profile
The Terms "State," "Nation-State" and "Civilization"
Theoretical Perspective
CHAPTER 2
DISCONTINUITY AS CONTINUITY (i) : OLD INDIC FORMATIONS
The World Turned Upside Down
Two Metaphors : Fault Lines and Banyan Tree
Discontinuity as Continuity
The Indus Valley
The Indo-Brahmanical
The Indo-Sramanical
The Indic (Hindu-Buddhist-Jain)
CHAPTER 3
DISCONTINUITY AS CONTINUITY (ii) : NEW INDIC FORMATIONS
The Indo-Islamic
The Indo-Anglian
CHAPTER 4
THE MINORITY AS MAJORITY
The Problem of Coherence in Indian History and Civilization
Frameworks of Meaning in Conversation (Old Indic and New Indic)
The Problem of "Religion" in Indian History and Civilization
CHAPTER 5
THE SECULAR AS RELIGION AND THE COMMUNITY AS CITIZEN
India's Hybrid Discourse of Modernity
The "Secular" as "Religion"
The Community as Citizen
Five Current Crises
The Sikh Community in Punjab
Kashmiri Muslim Demands
Shah Bano Begum
The Mandal Commission
Ayodhya (Babri Masjid)
CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION : THE END AS THE BEGINNING
Two Closing Tasks
Concluding Summary
The Search for a New Beginning
"Abide with meà" "Mother Great and Free"
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index