Download or read book Why I Am a Hindu written by Shashi Tharoor and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-22 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hinduism is one of the world's oldest and greatest religious traditions. In captivating prose, Shashi Tharoor untangles its origins, its key philosophical concepts and texts. He explores everyday Hindu beliefs and practices, from worship to pilgrimage to caste, and touchingly reflects on his personal beliefs and relationship with the religion. Not one to shy from controversy, Tharoor is unsparing in his criticism of 'Hindutva', an extremist, nationalist Hinduism endorsed by India's current government. He argues urgently and persuasively that it is precisely because of Hinduism's rich diversity that India has survived and thrived as a plural, secular nation. If narrow fundamentalism wins out, Indian democracy itself is in peril.

Download or read book The True History and the Religion of India written by Swami Prakashanand Saraswati and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 826 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The India I Know and of Hinduism written by Indira G and published by Partridge Publishing. This book was released on 2018-01-08 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Liberals in India appear to think that it is their birth right to bash the Hindus. Liberalism only entails criticising the majorities not to touch minorities remotely. It goes without saying that Indian minorities, most of them, were Hindus once upon a timeOnce a Hindu gets converted, he becomes a minority. Whatever special privileges the minorities have will apply to him! The minorities have their personal laws, educational institutions, rights to promote, and propagate their religion, to uplift their language, to keep up their identity. The other countries recognise minorities on ethnicity. Attacking majorities in India is easier than anywhere in the world. For the successive governments of the Congress have weakened and made them emasculated and incapable of intellectually defending themselves. The baiting of Hindu majorities of India is continually being done in other western countries also by our Indian diehard leftists, extreme secularists, and the academic fringe to the amusement of the intellectuals of those countries. The type of calumny they have been doing against Hindus, no civilized person on earth could ever do. About them, the less said, the better! However, in India Hinduism still persists in its pristine form for two reasons. One, basically Indians are religious, and the other, an organisation like the RSS works for the cause. There is one cautionsome media groups have been consistently trying to bring all and sundry so-called Hindu groups into one umbrella and whatever havoc they cause on Hindu name, they are covering the rot with a nomenclature of Hindu or saffron terror. They are promoting a dubious brand name, in all these cases. In any case, the miscreants should be booked as per the law of the land and punished. When terrorism has no religion, so also the criminality.

Download or read book What is Hinduism written by Mahatma Gandhi and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A selection of Gandhiji s articles drawn mainly from his contributions to young india, the Harijan and the Navjivan on Hinduism. Written on different occassions, these articles present a picture of hindu dharma I all its richness, comprehensiveness and sensitivity to the existential delimmas of human existence.

Download or read book What Every Hindu Should Know about Christianity written by Kalavai Venkat and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WHAT EVERY HINDU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CHRISTIANITY leverages cutting-edge scholarly researches in textual criticism and cognitive sciences to arrive at a reasonable understanding of Christian beliefs. The findings it presents reveal a hitherto unknown face of Christianity to the rational Hindu. It concludes that Christianity originated in a psychotic milieu, Christian beliefs are self-contradictory, and theology invalidates the need to believe. It explores the provocative question of whether Jesus is a myth. It systematically argues that Christianity lacks an ethical framework, 'Herem warfare' is the Christian code of holy extermination, Christian beliefs and practices may cause harm to both Hindus and Christians, and concludes that Hinduism and Christianity cannot coexist. It offers a prescription on and how to engage Christianity and why mutual respect cannot be the precondition for Hindu-Christian engagement.

Download or read book Heathen Hindoo Hindu written by Michael J. Altman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Heathen, Hindoo, Hindu is a groundbreaking analysis of American representations of religion in India before the turn of the twentieth century. Before Americans wrote about "Hinduism," they wrote about "heathenism," "the religion of the Hindoos," and "Brahmanism." Americans used the heathen, Hindoo, and Hindu as an other against which they represented themselves. The questions of American identity, classification, representation and the definition of "religion" that animated descriptions of heathens, Hindoos, and Hindus in the past still animate American debates today.

Download or read book Unifying Hinduism written by Andrew J. Nicholson and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2013-12-01 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some postcolonial theorists argue that the idea of a single system of belief known as "Hinduism" is a creation of nineteenth-century British imperialists. Andrew J. Nicholson introduces another perspective: although a unified Hindu identity is not as ancient as some Hindus claim, it has its roots in innovations within South Asian philosophy from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. During this time, thinkers treated the philosophies of Vedanta, Samkhya, and Yoga, along with the worshippers of Visnu, Siva, and Sakti, as belonging to a single system of belief and practice. Instead of seeing such groups as separate and contradictory, they re-envisioned them as separate rivers leading to the ocean of Brahman, the ultimate reality. Drawing on the writings of philosophers from late medieval and early modern traditions, including Vijnanabhiksu, Madhava, and Madhusudana Sarasvati, Nicholson shows how influential thinkers portrayed Vedanta philosophy as the ultimate unifier of diverse belief systems. This project paved the way for the work of later Hindu reformers, such as Vivekananda, Radhakrishnan, and Gandhi, whose teachings promoted the notion that all world religions belong to a single spiritual unity. In his study, Nicholson also critiques the way in which Eurocentric concepts—like monism and dualism, idealism and realism, theism and atheism, and orthodoxy and heterodoxy—have come to dominate modern discourses on Indian philosophy.

Download or read book Modi s India written by Christophe Jaffrelot and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2023-04-11 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A riveting account of how a popularly elected leader has steered the world's largest democracy toward authoritarianism and intolerance Over the past two decades, thanks to Narendra Modi, Hindu nationalism has been coupled with a form of national-populism that has ensured its success at the polls, first in Gujarat and then in India at large. Modi managed to seduce a substantial number of citizens by promising them development and polarizing the electorate along ethno-religious lines. Both facets of this national-populism found expression in a highly personalized political style as Modi related directly to the voters through all kinds of channels of communication in order to saturate the public space. Drawing on original interviews conducted across India, Christophe Jaffrelot shows how Modi's government has moved India toward a new form of democracy, an ethnic democracy that equates the majoritarian community with the nation and relegates Muslims and Christians to second-class citizens who are harassed by vigilante groups. He discusses how the promotion of Hindu nationalism has resulted in attacks against secularists, intellectuals, universities, and NGOs. Jaffrelot explains how the political system of India has acquired authoritarian features for other reasons, too. Eager to govern not only in New Delhi, but also in the states, the government has centralized power at the expense of federalism and undermined institutions that were part of the checks and balances, including India's Supreme Court. Modi's India is a sobering account of how a once-vibrant democracy can go wrong when a government backed by popular consent suppresses dissent while growing increasingly intolerant of ethnic and religious minorities.

Download or read book The Hindus written by Wendy Doniger and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009 with total page 808 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An engrossing and definitive narrative account of history and myth that offers a new way of understanding one of the world's oldest major religions, The Hindus elucidates the relationship between recorded history and imaginary worlds. The Hindus brings a fascinating multiplicity of actors and stories to the stage to show how brilliant and creative thinkers have kept Hinduism alive in ways that other scholars have not fully explored. In this unique and authoritative account, debates about Hindu traditions become platforms to consider history as a whole.

Download or read book The History of Hindu India written by Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and published by . This book was released on 2011-10-01 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A book for kids, teenagers, parents and teachers, the history of today's Hindus, one-sixth of our human race, extends back beyond recorded history. In this book, we pick up the threads of Hindu practice evident in the Indus-Sarasvati civilization, which was the largest and in many ways the most advanced of the ancient civilizations. From there we trace the development of Hinduism through the early empires of India, a time of great advances in science, architecture, art and literature—during which Europe was experiencing the Middle Ages. Then came the years of trial by invasion, followed by colonization and finally, in the 20th century, independence from the British Crown. Throughout these periods of history, we highlight the people, philosophical ideas and religious practices that are key to the Hindu religion today. While the text is written for sixth grade social studies classes in US schools, it is also suitable for high school classes. It has even been used in college course work, due to its refreshingly accurate, terse but comprehensive presentation of the world's most ancient faith.Review: from amazon.com: 5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference book for travel to India..., October 23, 2011 By MilsP - See all my reviews This review is from: The History of Hindu India (Hardcover) I picked up this book (History of Hindu India) on a whim. I really enjoyed the photographs throughout the book; I would read further and further just to find out what the picture was depicting. The book is true to its title, the authors give us a much better understanding of the Hindu religion from its origins to present day and how the multitude of invaders left their mark on the religion. An aspect of this book that I found surprising and wonderful was the way the authors linked the history of the religious teachings with modern day "heroes" if you will, such has Martin Luther King and Gandhi. Overall I really enjoyed the book and I felt that it is a great reference book and would be very useful to anyone who may be considering a trip to India as well.

Download or read book Hindu Nationalism written by Christophe Jaffrelot and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-10 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hindu nationalism came to world attention in 1998, when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won national elections in India. Although the BJP was defeated nationally in 2004, it continues to govern large Indian states, and the movement it represents remains a major force in the world's largest democracy. This book presents the thought of the founding fathers and key intellectual leaders of Hindu nationalism from the time of the British Raj, through the independence period, to the present. Spanning more than 130 years of Indian history and including the writings of both famous and unknown ideologues, this reader reveals how the "Hindutuva" movement approaches key issues of Indian politics. Covering such important topics as secularism, religious conversion, relations with Muslims, education, and Hindu identity in the growing diaspora, this reader will be indispensable for anyone wishing to understand contemporary Indian politics, society, culture, or history.

Download or read book Hinduism in the Modern World written by Brian A. Hatcher and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-05 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hinduism in the Modern World presents a new and unprecedented attempt to survey the nature, range, and significance of modern and contemporary Hinduism in South Asia and the global diaspora. Organized to reflect the direction of recent scholarly research, this volume breaks with earlier texts on this subject by seeking to overcome a misleading dichotomy between an elite, intellectualist "modern" Hinduism and the rest of what has so often been misleadingly termed "traditional" or "popular" Hinduism. Without neglecting the significance of modern reformist visions of Hinduism, this book reconceptualizes the meaning of "modern Hinduism" both by expanding its content and by situating its expression within a larger framework of history, ethnography, and contemporary critical theory. This volume equips undergraduate readers with the tools necessary to appreciate the richness and diversity of Hinduism as it has developed during the past two centuries.

Download or read book The Republic of India written by Alan Gledhill and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Roots of Hinduism written by Asko Parpola and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-07-15 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hinduism has two major roots. The more familiar is the religion brought to South Asia in the second millennium BCE by speakers of Aryan or Indo-Iranian languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family. Another, more enigmatic, root is the Indus civilization of the third millennium BCE, which left behind exquisitely carved seals and thousands of short inscriptions in a long-forgotten pictographic script. Discovered in the valley of the Indus River in the early 1920s, the Indus civilization had a population estimated at one million people, in more than 1000 settlements, several of which were cities of some 50,000 inhabitants. With an area of nearly a million square kilometers, the Indus civilization was more extensive than the contemporaneous urban cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Yet, after almost a century of excavation and research the Indus civilization remains little understood. How might we decipher the Indus inscriptions? What language did the Indus people speak? What deities did they worship? Asko Parpola has spent fifty years researching the roots of Hinduism to answer these fundamental questions, which have been debated with increasing animosity since the rise of Hindu nationalist politics in the 1980s. In this pioneering book, he traces the archaeological route of the Indo-Iranian languages from the Aryan homeland north of the Black Sea to Central, West, and South Asia. His new ideas on the formation of the Vedic literature and rites and the great Hindu epics hinge on the profound impact that the invention of the horse-drawn chariot had on Indo-Aryan religion. Parpola's comprehensive assessment of the Indus language and religion is based on all available textual, linguistic and archaeological evidence, including West Asian sources and the Indus script. The results affirm cultural and religious continuity to the present day and, among many other things, shed new light on the prehistory of the key Hindu goddess Durga and her Tantric cult.

Download or read book Hinduism written by K. M. Sen and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2020-12-29 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essential guide to one of the world's most diverse and fascinating faiths, with a Foreword by Amartya Sen K. M. Sen discusses the evolution of Hinduism's central systems of belief and codes of conduct, as well as popular cults and sects such as Bhakti, Tantrika and the mystics of North India, and describes the varying incarnations of its supreme deity, Krishna and Rama among them. He recounts its history from the Indus Valley civilization c.2500 BC and the Vedic age nature gods to its relationship with Buddhism and Jainism and the impact of western culture. And he describes the day-to-day practice of Hinduism - customs, festivals and rituals; the caste system; and its philosophies and exponents. The author's grandson Professor Amartya Sen brings his work right up to date, examining the role of Hinduism in the world today.

Download or read book Hinduism For Dummies written by Amrutur V. Srinivasan and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-07-12 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Your hands-on guide to one of the world's major religions The dominant religion of India, "Hinduism" refers to a wide variety of religious traditions and philosophies that have developed over thousands of years. Today, the United States is home to approximately one million Hindus. If you've heard of this ancient religion and are looking for a reference that explains the intricacies of the customs, practices, and teachings of this ancient spiritual system, Hinduism For Dummies is for you! Provides a thorough introduction to this earliest and popular world belief system Information on the rites, rituals, deities, and teachings associated with the practice of Hinduism Explores the history and teachings of the Vedas, Brahmans, and Upanishads Offers insight into the modern daily practice of Hinduism around the world Continuing the Dummies tradition of making the world's religions engaging and accessible to everyone, Hinduism For Dummies is your hands-on, friendly guide to this fascinating religion.

Download or read book A Prehistory of Hinduism written by Manu V. Devadevan and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-01-01 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a pioneering attempt to understand the prehistory of Hinduism in South Asia. Exploring religious processes in the Deccan region between the eleventh and the nineteenth century with class relations as its point of focus, it throws new light on the making of religious communities, monastic institutions, legends, lineages, and the ethics that governed them. In the light of this prehistory, a compelling framework is suggested for a revision of existing perspectives on the making of Hinduism in the nineteenth and the twentieth century.