Author: Nirad C Chaudhuri
Madeleine Biardeau/D F Pocock
:
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 910
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195664116
Description
Although South Asia is the original homeland of Hinduism, its adherents, counted in millions, are today found in many parts of the world. For centuries, the religion has attracted the attention of scholars both at home in South Asia and abroad and has inspired a wide spectrum of approaches. The four books brought together in this omnibus consider Hinduism from various angles: as a personal experience, as a rich textual tradition, and as a body of belief and practice.
Nirad C Chaudhuri’s Hinduism: A Religion to Live By is a wholly original exposition of Hinduism, focusing on Hindu religion psychology and behaviour. Rejecting familiar assumptions about early Hinduism, Chaudhuri examines temple and image worship, as well as the three major cults of Shiva, Krishna, and the Mother Goddess.
Madeleine Biardeau’s Hinduism: The Anthropology of a Civilization offers interpretation of the epics, traditional customs, and social norms. Using evidence from archaeological monuments and literary texts, the book brings to light the underlying unity beneath the bewildering diversity of this living tradition.
Mind, Body and Wealth: Belief and Practice in an Indian village by D F Pocock examines Hinduism as a body of belief and practice. Based on fieldwork in Gujarat, the study is distinguished by an eye for detail and a capacity for empathy, as well as by literary felicity.
Finally. T N Madan’s Non-Renunciation: Themes and Interpretation of Hindu Culture presets religion as inseparable from secular life. Focusing on the householder’s life in Hindu society, Madan deals with asceticism, eroticism, altruism, and death as elaboration of the main theme. The book constitutes a reading of Hindu tradition as a rich and sensible philosophy of life in this world.
Contents
Publisher’s Note
Introduction –T N Madan
HINDUISM: A RELIGION TO LIVE BY
Explanations
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction: What is Hinduism?
Historical
Descriptive
Analytical
Bibliography
Index
HINDUISM: THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF A CIVILIZATION
Introduction
Man and the Absolute
The Four Goals of Man
Salvation Through Deeds: The Yogin Warrior
The Universe of bhakti
Desireless Activity
Divine Loves
Hinduism and the Future
Notes
Glossary
MIND, BODY AND WEALTH: A STUDY OF BELIEF AND PRACTICE IN AN INDIAN VILLAGE
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introductory-Brothers are Rivals
The Evil Eye-Envy and Greed
Goddess Cults-Status and Change
The Old Pattern- Purity with Impurity
A Vaishnavite Sect – the Way of Grace
A Reformed Sect – the Satsang
The Contemporary Need –Guruji
Appendix 1: Morality and Non-Violence
Appendix 2: Selections from the Shikshapatri of Swami Narayan
Glossary
Index
NON-RENUNCIATION: THEMES AND INTERPRETATION OF HINDU CULTURE
Preface to the Paperback Edition
Acknowledgements
A Note on Transliteration
Introduction: Intimation of the Good Life
Domesticity and Detachment
Auspiciousness and Purity
Asceticism and Eroticism
The Desired and the Good
Living and Dying
Appendix: A Note on the Epigraphs
References
Index