Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri present a lively introduction to one of the world's richest intellectual traditions: the philosophy of classical India. They begin with the earliest extant literature, the Vedas, and the explanatory works that these inspired, known as Upanisads. They also discuss other famous texts of classical Vedic culture, especially the Mahabharata and its most notable section, the Bhagavad-Gita, alongside the rise of Buddhism and Jainism. In this opening section, Adamson and Ganeri emphasize the way that philosophy was practiced as a form of life in search of liberation from suffering. Next, the pair move on to the explosion of philosophical speculation devoted to foundational texts called 'sutras,' discussing such traditions as the logical and epistemological Nyaya school, the monism of Advaita Vedanta, and the spiritual discipline of Yoga. In the final section of the book, they chart further developments within Buddhism, highlighting Nagarjuna's radical critique of 'non-dependent' concepts and the no-self philosophy of mind found in authors like Dignaga, and within Jainism, focusing especially on its 'standpoint' epistemology. Unlike other introductions that cover the main schools and positions in classical Indian philosophy, Adamson and Ganeri's lively guide also pays attention to philosophical themes such as non-violence, political authority, and the status of women, while considering textual traditions typically left out of overviews of Indian thought, like the Carvaka school, Tantra, and aesthetic theory as well. Adamson and Ganeri conclude by focusing on the much-debated question of whether Indian philosophy may have influenced ancient Greek philosophy and, from there, evaluate the impact that this area of philosophy had on later Western thought.

The Hindu World is the most complete, authoritative and up-to-date one-volume guide to Hindu faith and culture available today. Written by the world's leading scholars on Hinduism, its twenty-four chapters explore the history, philosophy and practice of one of the world's great religious traditions.

The Hindu World offers new insights into all aspects of Hindu life, ranging from the devotional texts of the Vedas and Ramayana to current perspectives on dharma and kama, temple architecture, sacred food, ritual, caste, cosmic philosophy, history and modernization. This is an ideal reference for students and scholars of Hinduism.

Offering a summary of ancient Indian philosophy, "The Gita" places particular emphasis on the Supreme Spirit as both immanent and transcendent. In this translation and interpretation, the author bridges this ancient thought with a modern occidental approach.

Modern Hindu Traditionalism addresses Hindu traditions that resisted contact with both Neo-Hindu thought and views of "classical" Hinduism perceived to be outmoded. This book provides an in-depth understanding of Modern Hindu Traditionalism through the case study of the Ramanandi order (sampradaya) and the portrait of the Jagadguru Ramanandacarya Ramnaresacarya. This guru belongs to the ancient tradition of the Ramanandi order, which is active at the present time and the biggest Vaisnava religious order in Northern India. Analyzing the historical evolution of the Ramanandi order, the author shows how different centers have undergone different changes over the centuries, and focuses on the independence struggle of a group of Ramanandis from the Ramanujis, which led to the creation of the role of Jagadguru Ramanandacarya and the construction of the Sri Math. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, this book casts light on figures and processes central to the development of Hinduism in the twentieth and twenty-first century and consequently describes the role of religion in contemporary Indian society. The author examines the role religious institutions and their leaders have in the everyday life of individuals, how they interact with and in the society, and how they approach and interpret social and political issues. The Ramanandis' use of new methods of communication, in particular social media, is an innovative part of the study. A welcome innovation in the studies of South Asian religion, this book will be of interest to historians, anthropologists, and scholars of Hinduism and religion and politics.

This is a compact yet authoritative history of Hinduism, from its origins over 4000 years ago to the impact of the belief system across the world today. It highlights key figures in Hinduism, including Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva and, in recent times, Vivekanada, Sahajananda Swami and Bhaktivedanta Swami. It focuses on the major historical events that have shaped Hinduism - the Vedic Period and the North Classical Age, the Mughal Empire and the impact of British Rule. Hindiuism is often called the world's oldest living major religion, and this beautifully illustrated history is an excellent introduction to the subject. It opens with a timeline and an account of how Hinduism has spread over time from India, its country of origin, to become a truly global religion. The central section describes the major holy texts, including the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad-gita or Song of God. It ends with an exploration of Hinduism's profound teachings about the self, the law of karma, and the cycle of birth and death. This is the perfect book for anyone wanting to discover the history at the heart of Hinduism.

Digital Religion does not simply refer to religion as it is carried out online, but more broadly studies how digital media interrelate with religious practice and belief. This collection explores Digital Hinduism and consequentially studies how Hinduism is expressed in the digital sphere and how Hindus utilise digital media. Highlighting digital Hinduism and including case studies with foci on India, Asia and the global Hindu diaspora, this book features contributions from an interdisciplinary and international panel of academics. The chapters focus on specific case studies, which in summary exemplify the wide variety and diversity of what constitutes Digital Hinduism today. Applying methods and research questions from various disciplinary backgrounds appropriate to the study of religion and digital culture, such as Religious Studies, South Asian Studies, Anthropology and Media and Communication Studies, this book is vital reading for any scholar interested in the relationship between religion and the digital world.

This book focuses on how religion-particularly Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and, to a lesser extent, Hinduism-is shaping the ethos and daily actions of market participants within the global money markets. The concepts inherent within Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism are making themselves felt within the global money markets. As Islamic finance led to the introduction of sharia compliant derivatives, for example, Christian investment funds are leading ethical initiatives on Wall Street, the City of London, and elsewhere such as divesting from fossil fuels in response to the climate change emergency. Jewish faith led funds are making significant strides with the further development of impact investments. The concept of Hindu economics is also beginning to shape the actions of some market participants which are tied to the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi.

This book provides the first full-scale English-language study of Pradyumna, the son of the Hindu god Krsna. Often represented as a young man in mid-adolescence, Pradyumna is both a handsome double of his demon-slaying father and the rebirth of Kamadeva, the God of Love. Sanskrit epic, puranic, and kavya narratives of the 300-1300 CE period celebrate Pradyumna's sexual potency, mastery of illusory subterfuges, and military prowess in supporting the work of his avatara father. These materials reflect the values of an evolving Brahminical and Vaisnava tradition that was deeply invested in the imperatives of family, patrilines, the violent but necessary defense of the social and cosmic order, and the celebration of beauty and desire as a means to the divine. Pradyumna's evolving narratives, almost completely absent from existing studies of Hindu mythology, provide a point of access to the development of Krsna bhakti and Vaisnava theism more broadly. Conversely, Jain sources cast Pradyumna as an exemplary figure through whom a pointed rejection of these values can be articulated, even while sharing certain of their elementary premises. Pradyumna: Lover, Magician, and Scion of the Avatara assembles these narratives, presents key Sanskrit materials in translation and summary form, and articulates the social, gender, and religious values encoded in them. Most importantly, the study argues that Pradyumna's signature two-handed maneuver-the audacious appropriation of a feminine partner, enabled by the emasculating destruction of her demonic male protector-communicates a persistent fantasy of male power expressed in the language of a mutually implicating sex and violence.

This volume presents a comparison of seven major religious reformers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: For Islam, Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad 'Abduh and Muhammad Rashid Rida; for Hinduism, Dayananda Sarasvati and Swami Shraddhananda; for Confucianism, K'ang Yu-wei and Liang Ch'i-ch'ao. Each of these reformers attempted to bring a major world religion in line with global modernity by creatively reinterpreting the traditions on which this religion was based. The book outlines the lives and major ideas of these reformers, highlights the similarities between them, interprets their agenda as expressions of peripheral geoculture (centrist liberalism, antisystemic movements, positivism) in line with the Modern World-System (MWS) approach and links them with their 'fundamentalist' successors from the mid-twentieth to the early twenty-first centuries. This way, the author seeks to redress the Eurocentric bias that sometimes sneaks into the MWS perspective. While there are numerous studies dealing with each of these reformers, the original contribution of this book is to provide a systematic comparison between them and to interpret them within a larger theoretical framework. It will be of interest for scholars and students working on issues related to religion, modernity and historical sociology.

Hindu Images in the Global Age explores changes in perception of Hindu icons in the United States where second and third generation Hindu Americans have increasingly adopted American attitudes toward sacred objects. Viewing them as symbolic, rather than as actual presence of the deity, this change marks an important transition in Hindu attitudes. The text describes the traditional path in India where Hindu images have been cast for millennia through the lost wax process and brought to life by priests. It also explores the origins of western attitudes toward sacred objects as symbolic. Both perceptions now co-exist in a western globalized world in the United States in a complex layering of attitudes.

The Upanisads are among the most sacred foundational scriptures in the Hindu religion. Composed from 800 BCE onwards and making up part of the larger Vedic corpus, they offer the reader "knowledge lessons" on life, death, and immortality. While they are essential to understanding Hinduism and Asian religions more generally, their complexities make them almost impenetrable to anyone but serious scholars of Sanskrit and ancient Indian culture. This book is divided into five parts: Composition, authorship, and transmission of the Upanisads; The historical, cultural, and religious background of the Upanisads; Religion and philosophy in the Upanisads; The classical Upanisads; The later Upanisads. The chapters cover critical issues such as the origins of the Upanisads, authorship, and redaction, as well as exploring the broad religious and philosophical themes within the texts. The guide analyzes each of the Upanisads separately, unpacking their contextual relevance and explaining difficult terms and concepts. The Upanisads: A Complete Guide is a unique and valuable reference source for undergraduate religious studies, history, and philosophy students and researchers who want to learn more about these foundational sacred texts and the religious lessons in the Hindu tradition.

Theistic Vedanta originated with Ramanuja (1077-1157), who was one of the foremost theologians of Visistadvaita Vedanta and also an initiate of the Srivaisnava sectarian tradition in South India. As devotees of the God Visnu and his consort Sri, the Srivaisnavas established themselves through various processes of legitimation as a powerful sectarian tradition. One of the processes by which the authority of the Srivaisnavas was consolidated was Ramanuja's synthesis of popular Hindu devotionalism with the philosophy of Vedanta. This book demonstrates that by incorporating a text often thought to be of secondary importance - the Visnu Purana (1st-4th CE) - into his reading of the Upanisads, which were the standard of orthodoxy for Vedanta philosophy, Ramanuja was able to interpret Vedanta within the theistic context of Srivaisnavism. Ramanuja was the first Brahmin thinker to incorporate devotional puranas into Vedanta philosophy. His synthetic theology called Visistadvaita (unity-of-the-differenced) wielded tremendous influence over the expansion of Visnu devotionalism in South India and beyond. In this book, the exploration of the exegetical function of this purana in arguments salient to Ramanuja's Vedanta facilitates our understanding of the processes of textual accommodation and reformulation that allow the incorporation of divergent doctrinal claims. Expanding on and reassessing current views on Ramanuja's theology, the book contributes new insights to broader issues in religious studies such as canon expansion, commentarial interpretation, tradition-building, and the comparative study of scripture. It will be of interest to students and scholars of Indian philosophy and Religious Studies.

Part of the ancient Hindu epic The Mahabharata, The Bhagavad Gita is one of the enduring religious texts of the world The Bhagavad Gita is an early poem that recounts the conversation between Arjuna the warrior and his charioteer Krishna, a manifestation of God. In the moments before a great battle, Krishna sets out the important lessons Arjuna must learn to understand his own role in the war he is about to fight. Krishna reveals to Arjuna his true cosmic form and counsels the warrior to act according to his sacred obligations. Ranging from instructions on yoga to moral discussion, the Gita has served for centuries as an everyday, practical guide to living well. Translated with an introduction by Laurie L. Patton

This second half of Bhishma describes the events from the beginning of the fifth day till the end of the tenth of the great battle between the K&#225uravas and the P&#225ndavas. Despite grandfather Bhishma's appeal to conclude peace with the P&#225ndavas, Dury&#243dhana continues the bloody battle. The key strategist is general Bhishma, commander of the K&#225urava forces. Even though he is compelled to fight on the side of the K&#225uravas, Bhishma's sympathies are with the P&#225ndavas. After the ninth day of war, when Bhishma has wreaked havoc with their troops, the P&#225ndavas realise that they will be unable to win as long as invincible Bhishma is alive. Bhishma willingly reveals to them how he can be destroyed. Strictly observing the warrior code, he will never fight with Shikh&#225ndin, because he was originally born a woman. Bhishma advises the P&#225ndava brothers that &#193rjuna should strike him from behind Shikh&#225ndin's back, and they follow the grandfather's advice.

The last and most intriguing book of the Ramayana, the Uttara Kanda is rendered here by noted Sanskrit scholar Arshia Sattar in vivid, sensuous detail. First composed around 500 BCE, it tells the story of an unjustly exiled prince, the abduction of his wife from the forest by a ten-headed demon king, his alliance with a band of magical monkeys, and the internal and external battles he must fight to win back his wife and keep her. India's great Sanskrit epic brings to readers the classic dilemmas every individual faces: love versus duty, destiny and free will, the public and the private self, the pull of family, and the right to personal happiness. These universal problems are layered with the quintessentially Indian ideas of karma (action) and dharma (duty).The book explores what it means to be human in a complex and demanding world, considering the parameters and contexts in which we make the decisions that will determine the color and tenor of our lives, the choices that make us who we are. It also offers a great, albeit tragic, love story-a story of the demands and pressures of love and how we might fail those that we love most. Accompanied by Sattar's thoughtful essays weighing the moral complexity of this most enduring of epics, this translation crystallizes her deep and intimate knowledge of the Ramayana in a way that is utterly compelling.

"The Life of Hinduism" brings together a series of essays - many recognized as classics in the field - that present Hinduism as a vibrant, truly 'lived' religion. Celebrating the diversity for which Hinduism is known, this volume begins its journey in the 'new India' of Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, where global connections and local traditions rub shoulders daily. Readers are then offered a glimpse into the multifaceted world of Hindu worship, life-cycle rites, festivals, performances, gurus, and castes. The book's final sections deal with the Hinduism that is emerging in diasporic North America and with issues of identity that face Hindus in India and around the world: militancy versus tolerance and the struggle between owning one's own religion and sharing it with others. Contributors of this title include: Andrew Abbott, Michael Burawoy, Patricia Hill Collins, Barbara Ehrenreich, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Sharon Hays, Douglas Massey, Joya Misra, Orlando Patterson, Frances Fox Piven, Lynn Smith-Lovin, Judith Stacey, Arthur Stinchcombe, Alain Touraine, Immanuel Wallerstein, William Julius Wilson, and Robert Zussman.