India's Religions: Perspectives from Sociology and History

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The Oxford in India Readings in Sociology and Social Anthropology comprise a set of volumes each on an important theme or sub- area within these disciplines. Along with authoritative introductions and sectional prefaces, each book brings together key essays that apprise readers of the current debates and development within that area with specific reference to India. The volumes act both as introductions to sociology and social anthropology and as essential reference works for students, teacher and researchers.

Religion occupies an important place in both the private and public domains in India. This book presents essays on India's major religion from ethnographic and historical perspectives rather than from a theological angle.

Thoughtfully organized and integrated the book opens with a discussion of the dimensions of religious plurality and the ideologies of religious pluralism. The editor characterizes religion as the processes of setting the sacred apart from the non-sacred and bonding them together at a higher level. He further explores the construction and dynamism of religious traditions and points out that religious creativity is as important as tradition. In an earlier volume, Religion in India T. N. Madan presented selections from work published between the 1950s and 1990s. this reader brings together more recent explorations thus updating the historical and sociological literature on India religions.

This volume will be interest to students and scholars of sociology, social anthropology religion, politics, and history.

About the Author:

He is Honorary Professor at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute and Docteur Honoris Causa of the University of Paris. His numerous publication include Non-renunciation: Themes and Interpretation of Hindu Culture and Modern Myths, /locked Minds: Secularism and Fundamentalism in India (1997).