The Oxford History Of Hinduism Modern Hinduism

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The Oxford History of Hinduism: Modern Hinduism

Author : Torkel Brekke
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192508199
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (925 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford History of Hinduism: Modern Hinduism by : Torkel Brekke

Download or read book The Oxford History of Hinduism: Modern Hinduism written by Torkel Brekke and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-06-27 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford History of Hinduism: Modern Hinduism focuses on developments resulting from movements within the tradition as well as contact between India and the outside world through both colonialism and globalization. Divided into three parts, part one considers the historical background to modern conceptualizations of Hinduism. Moving away from the reforms of the 19th and early 20th century, part two includes five chapters each presenting key developments and changes in religious practice in modern Hinduism. Part three moves to issues of politics, ethics, and law. This section maps and explains the powerful legal and political contexts created by the modern state—first the colonial government and then the Indian Republic—which have shaped Hinduism in new ways. The last two chapters look at Hinduism outside India focusing on Hinduism in Nepal and the modern Hindu diaspora.

The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Law

Author : Patrick Olivelle
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0191007099
Total Pages : 576 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Law by : Patrick Olivelle

Download or read book The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Law written by Patrick Olivelle and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-12-08 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through pointed studies of important aspects and topics of dharma in Dharmaśāstra, this comprehensive collection shows that the history of Hinduism cannot be written without the history of Hindu law. Part One provides a concise overview of the literary genres in which Dharmasastra was written with attention to chronology and historical developments. This study divides the tradition into its two major historical periods—the origins and formation of the classical texts and the later genres of commentary and digest—in order to provide a thorough, but manageable overview of the textual bases of the tradition. Part Two presents descriptive and historical studies of all the major substantive topics of Dharmasastra. Each chapter offers readers with salest knowledge of the debates, transformations, and fluctcating importance of each topic. Indirectly, readers will also gain insight into the ethos or worldview of religious law in Hinduism, enabling them to get a feel for how dharma authors thought and why. Part Three contains brief studies of the impact and reception of Dharmasastra in other South Asian cultural and textual traditions. Finally, Part Four draws inspiration from "critical terms" in contemporary legal and religious studies to analyze Dharmasastra texts. Contributors offer interpretive views of Dharmasastra that start from hermeneutic and social concerns today.

The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Practice

Author : Gavin Flood
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0191053228
Total Pages : 608 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Practice by : Gavin Flood

Download or read book The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Practice written by Gavin Flood and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-08-20 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditions of asceticism, yoga, and devotion (bhakti), including dance and music, developed in Hinduism over long periods of time. Some of these practices, notably those denoted by the term yoga, are orientated towards salvation from the cycle of reincarnation and go back several thousand years. These practices, borne witness to in ancient texts called Upaniṣads, as well as in other traditions, notably early Buddhism and Jainism, are the subject of this volume in the Oxford History of Hinduism. Practices of meditation are also linked to asceticism (tapas) and its institutional articulation in renunciation (saṃnyăsa). There is a range of practices or disciplines from ascetic fasting to taking a vow (vrata) for a deity in return for a favour. There are also devotional practices that might involve ritual, making an offering to a deity and receiving a blessing, dancing, or visualization of the master (guru). The overall theme—the history of religious practices—might even be seen as being within a broader intellectual trajectory of cultural history. In the substantial introduction by the editor this broad history is sketched, paying particular attention to what we might call the medieval period (post-Gupta) through to modernity when traditions had significantly developed in relation to each other. The chapters in the book chart the history of Hindu practice, paying particular attention to indigenous terms and recognizing indigenous distinctions such as between the ritual life of the householder and the renouncer seeking liberation, between 'inner' practices of and 'external' practices of ritual, and between those desirous of liberation (mumukṣu) and those desirous of pleasure and worldly success (bubhukṣu). This whole range of meditative and devotional practices that have developed in the history of Hinduism are represented in this book.

The Oxford History of Hinduism: The Goddess

Author : Mandakranta Bose
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0191079693
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford History of Hinduism: The Goddess by : Mandakranta Bose

Download or read book The Oxford History of Hinduism: The Goddess written by Mandakranta Bose and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-31 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford History of Hinduism: The Goddess provides a critical exposition of the Hindu idea of the divine feminine, or Devī, conceived as a singularity expressed in many forms. With the theological principles examined in the opening chapters, the book proceeds to describe and expound historically how individual manifestations of Devī have been imagined in Hindu religious culture and their impact upon Hindu social life. In this quest the contributors draw upon the history and philosophy of major Hindu ideologies, such as the Purāṇic, Tāntric, and Vaiṣṇava belief systems. A particular distinction of the book is its attention not only to the major goddesses from the earliest period of Hindu religious history but also to goddesses of later origin, in many cases of regional provenance and influence. Viewed through the lens of worship practices, legend, and literature, belief in goddesses is discovered as the formative impulse of much of public and private life. The influence of the goddess culture is especially powerful on women's life, often paradoxically situating women between veneration and subjection. This apparent contradiction arises from the humanization of goddesses while acknowledging their divinity, which is central to Hindu beliefs. In addition to studying the social and theological aspect of the goddess ideology, the contributors take anthropological, sociological, and literary approaches to delineate the emotional force of the goddess figure that claims intense human attachments and shapes personal and communal lives.

The Emergence of Modern Hinduism

Author : Richard S. Weiss
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520973747
Total Pages : 222 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (29 download)

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Book Synopsis The Emergence of Modern Hinduism by : Richard S. Weiss

Download or read book The Emergence of Modern Hinduism written by Richard S. Weiss and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. The Emergence of Modern Hinduism argues for the importance of regional, vernacular innovation in processes of Hindu modernization. Scholars usually trace the emergence of modern Hinduism to cosmopolitan reform movements, producing accounts that overemphasize the centrality of elite religion and the influence of Western ideas and models. In this study, the author considers religious change on the margins of colonialism by looking at an important local figure, the Tamil Shaiva poet and mystic Ramalinga Swami (1823–1874). Weiss narrates a history of Hindu modernization that demonstrates the transformative role of Hindu ideas, models, and institutions, making this text essential for scholarly audiences of South Asian history, religious studies, Hindu studies, and South Asian studies.

The Oxford India Hinduism Reader

Author : Vasudha Dalmia
Publisher : Oxford India Collection (Paper
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford India Hinduism Reader by : Vasudha Dalmia

Download or read book The Oxford India Hinduism Reader written by Vasudha Dalmia and published by Oxford India Collection (Paper. This book was released on 2009 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contributed articles orginally presented at symposia in 1990 and 1997.

Hindu Law

Author : Patrick Olivelle
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198702604
Total Pages : 572 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (987 download)

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Book Synopsis Hindu Law by : Patrick Olivelle

Download or read book Hindu Law written by Patrick Olivelle and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The foundation of Hindu law is the voluminous textual tradition called Dharmaśāstra, the expert tradition on dharma. This book seeks to delineate the historical development of Dharmaśāstra, even though the tradition presented dharma as timeless and ahistorical. The volume establishes the importance of law for the history and study of Hinduism by providing interpretive descriptions of all the major topics of Hindu dharma according to this tradition. First, two broad introductions to the historical development of the textual sources of Hindu law suggest new ways to understand both the original texts (smṛti) and the later commentaries and digests. Next, groundbreaking research into the origin of the householder (gṛhastha), who is at the center of the Dharmaśāstric enterprise, provides new insights into both the origin of this genre and many of its topics, such as the āśrama system and married household life. The book devotes its central chapters to each of the major topics of Dharmaśāstra: epistemology of dharma, caste and social class, orders of life, rites of passage, Vedic student and graduate, marriage, children, inheritance, women, daily duties, food, gifting, funeral and ancestral offerings, impurity and purification, ascetic modes of life, dharma during emergencies, king, punishment, legal procedure, titles of law, penances, vows, pilgrimage, images, and temples. The final chapters then explore both the reception of Dharmaśāstra in other religious traditions, both Hindu and Buddhist, and the relevance of Dharmaśāstra to studies of critical concepts in religious studies—the body, emotions, material culture, subjectivity, animal studies, and vernacular culture."--

Eclecticism and Modern Hindu Discourse

Author : Brian A. Hatcher
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0195344138
Total Pages : 213 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (953 download)

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Book Synopsis Eclecticism and Modern Hindu Discourse by : Brian A. Hatcher

Download or read book Eclecticism and Modern Hindu Discourse written by Brian A. Hatcher and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1999-05-13 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this new book, Brian Hatcher examines the modern Hindu penchant for constructing religious worlds in an eclectic fashion. Noting how Hindu apologists from Rammohun Roy to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan make an almost promiscuous use of the world's many philosophies and religions to define and defend Hinduism, Hatcher sets out to explore the ancient roots and contemporary significance of such eclectic borrowing. A discussion of the Vedic and classical roots of Hindu eclecticism affords Hatcher the opportunity to reflect upon the profound and widespread role of eclecticism in South Asian religion, while consideration of the work of Swami Vivekananda--as well as a variety of religious reformers from nineteenth-century Bengal--suggests the ongoing significance of the phenomenon in colonial and postcolonial contexts. By examining the development of Brahmo and Neo-Vedanta discourse, Hatcher is able both to problematize the notion of a monolithic concept of religious eclecticism and to reflect upon the various ways scholars might nevertheless attempt to make sense of a bewildering variety of eclectic philosophies. What emerges is not simply an attempt to refine our understanding of the role eclecticism has played in the modern Hindu context, but an extended reflection upon changing attitudes toward eclecticism in the West, from Diderot and Kant through postmodern critical theory. By investigating modern and postmodern perspectives on such issues as history, system, authenticity, and difference, Hatcher seeks to set in motion a dialectical approach to the study of eclectic world construction that balances the positivisitic confidence of modern scholarship with the playful exuberance of postmodern pastiche. Invoking the critical theories of Salman Rushdie, Theodor Adorno, and Richard Rorty, Hatcher advocates an approach to modern Hindu eclecticism that honors its creative poetics while retaining the critical distance necessary for judging its sometimes baleful fruits.

Modern Hindu Personalism

Author : Ferdinando Sardella
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199865906
Total Pages : 361 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (998 download)

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Book Synopsis Modern Hindu Personalism by : Ferdinando Sardella

Download or read book Modern Hindu Personalism written by Ferdinando Sardella and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-01-10 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work explores the life and work of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati (1874-1937), a guru of the Chaitanya (1486-1534) school of Vaishnavism who, at a time when various interpretations of nondualistic Hindu thought were most prominent, managed to establish a pan-Indian movement for the modern revival of personalist bhakti - a movement that today encompasses both Indian and non-Indian populations throughout the world.

Was Hinduism Invented?

Author : Brian K. Pennington
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780198037293
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (372 download)

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Book Synopsis Was Hinduism Invented? by : Brian K. Pennington

Download or read book Was Hinduism Invented? written by Brian K. Pennington and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-04-28 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on a large body of previously untapped literature, including documents from the Church Missionary Society and Bengali newspapers, Brian Pennington offers a fascinating portrait of the process by which "Hinduism" came into being. He argues against the common idea that the modern construction of religion in colonial India was simply a fabrication of Western Orientalists and missionaries. Rather, he says, it involved the active agency and engagement of Indian authors as well, who interacted, argued, and responded to British authors over key religious issues such as image-worship, sati, tolerance, and conversion.

Hinduism for Our Times

Author : Arvind Sharma
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 136 pages
Book Rating : 4.X/5 (4 download)

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Book Synopsis Hinduism for Our Times by : Arvind Sharma

Download or read book Hinduism for Our Times written by Arvind Sharma and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1996 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the contours of this creative tension in the context of Hinduism in our own times. For Hinduism, a religion of unknown antiquity, is also, in several ways, surprisingly modern. Hinduism for Our Times is an attempt to raise this dimension of Hinduism to an unprecedented level of self-awareness.

Hinduism in the Modern World

Author : Brian A. Hatcher
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 113504631X
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (35 download)

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Book Synopsis Hinduism in the Modern World by : Brian A. Hatcher

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 340 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.

Diaspora of the Gods

Author : Joanne Punzo Waghorne
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019028885X
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (92 download)

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Book Synopsis Diaspora of the Gods by : Joanne Punzo Waghorne

Download or read book Diaspora of the Gods written by Joanne Punzo Waghorne and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2004-09-16 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many Hindus today are urban middle-class people with religious values similar to those of their professional counterparts in America and Europe. Just as modern professionals continue to build new churches, synagogues, and now mosques, Hindus are erecting temples to their gods wherever their work and their lives take them. Despite the perceived exoticism of Hindu worship, the daily life-style of these avid temple patrons differs little from their suburban neighbors. Joanne Waghorne leads her readers on a journey through this new middle-class Hindu diaspora, focusing on their efforts to build and support places of worship. She seeks to trace the changing religious sensibilities of the middle classes as written on their temples and on the faces of their gods. She offers detailed comparisons of temples in Chennai (formerly Madras), London, and Washington, D.C., and interviews temple priests, devotees, and patrons. In the process, she illuminates the interrelationships between ritual worship and religious edifices, the rise of the modern world economy, and the ascendancy of the great middle class. The result is a comprehensive portrait of Hinduism as lived today by so many both in India and throughout the world. Lavishly illustrated with professional photographs by Dick Waghorne, this book will appeal to art historians as well as urban anthropologists, scholars of religion, and those interested in diaspora, transnationalism, and trends in contemporary religion. It should be especially appealing for course use because it introduces the modern Hinduism practiced by the friends and neighbors of students in the U.S. and Britain.

The Hindus

Author : Wendy Doniger
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0199593345
Total Pages : 801 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (995 download)

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Book Synopsis The Hindus by : Wendy Doniger

Download or read book The Hindus written by Wendy Doniger and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2010-09-30 with total page 801 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. Hinduism does not lend itself easily to a strictly chronological account: many of its central texts cannot be reliably dated even within a century; its central tenets karma, dharma, to name just two arise at particular moments in Indian history and differ in each era, between genders, and caste to caste; and what is shared among Hindus is overwhelmingly outnumbered by the things that are unique to one group or another. Yet the greatness of Hinduism - its vitality, its earthiness, its vividness - lies precisely in many of those idiosyncratic qualities that continue to inspire debate today. Wendy Doniger is one of the foremost scholars of Hinduism in the world. With her inimitable insight and expertise Doniger illuminates those moments within the tradition that resist forces that would standardize or establish a canon. Without reversing or misrepresenting the historical hierarchies, she reveals how Sanskrit and vernacular sources are rich in knowledge of and compassion toward women and lower castes; how they debate tensions surrounding religion, violence, and tolerance; and how animals are the key to important shifts in attitudes toward different social classes. The Hindus brings a fascinating multiplicity of actors and stories to the stage to show how brilliant and creative thinkers - many of them far removed from Brahmin authors of Sanskrit texts - 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 from which to consider the ironies, and overlooked epiphanies, of history.

Handbook of Hindu Mythology

Author : George M. Williams
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 019533261X
Total Pages : 395 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (953 download)

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Book Synopsis Handbook of Hindu Mythology by : George M. Williams

Download or read book Handbook of Hindu Mythology written by George M. Williams and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2008-03-27 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlike many other ancient mythologies, Hinduism thrives in the modern world. One billion followers and countless others have been captivated by its symbolic representations of love, karma, and reincarnation. Handbook of Hindu Mythology offers an informative introduction to this dauntingly complex mythology of multifaceted deities, lengthy heroic tales, and arcane philosophies-all with a 3,000-year history of reinterpretations and adaptations. Williams offers a number of pathways by which to approach Hinduism's ever-changing gods and goddesses (e.g., Brahma, Vishnu, Siva), spiritual verses (such as the vedas), secular epics (including the Ramayana and the Mahabharata), myths within myths, devotional and esoteric traditions, psychic and yogic disciplines, and magical practices. With this handbook, readers can explore the history of Hindu mythology, follow a detailed timeline of key episodes and historical events, and look up specific elements of historical or contemporary Hinduism in a beautifully illustrated reference work. It is the ideal introduction to the origins of Hinduism, the culture that shaped it from antiquity to the present, and the age-old stories, ideas, and traditions that speak to the human condition as eloquently today as ever. Including annotated bibliographies, a glossary of cultural and mythological terms, and numerous illustrations, here is a gold mine of information on Hindu mythology. "

Modern Hindu Personalism

Author : Ferdinando Sardella
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199865922
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (998 download)

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Book Synopsis Modern Hindu Personalism by : Ferdinando Sardella

Download or read book Modern Hindu Personalism written by Ferdinando Sardella and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-11-20 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern Hindu Personalism explores the life and works of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati (1874-1937), a Vaishnava guru of the Chaitanya school of Bengal. Ferdinando Sardella examines Bhaktisiddhanta's background, motivation and thought, especially as it relates to his creation of a modern traditionalist institution for the successful revival of Chaitanya Vaishnava bhakti. Sardella provides the historical background as well as the contemporary context of the India in which Bhaktisiddhanta lived and functioned, in the process shedding light on such topics as colonial culture and sensibilities, the emergence of an educated middle-class, the rise of the Bengal Renaissance, and the challenge posed by Protestant missionaries. Bhaktisiddhanta's childhood, education and major influences are examined, as well as his involvement with Chaitanya Vaishnavism and the practice of bhakti. Sardella places Bhaktisiddhanta's life and work within a taxonomy of modern Hinduism and compares the significance of his work to the contributions of other major figures such as Swami Vivekananda. Finally, Bhaktisiddhanta's work is linked to the development of a worldwide movement that today involves thousands of American and European practitioners, many of whom have become respected representatives of Chaitanya bhakti in India itself.

The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Diasporas

Author : Knut A. Jacobsen
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198867697
Total Pages : 442 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (988 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Diasporas by : Knut A. Jacobsen

Download or read book The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Diasporas written by Knut A. Jacobsen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-10-05 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hindu Diasporas presents the histories and religious traditions of Hindus with a South Asian ancestral background living outside of South Asia. Hinduism is a global religion with a significant presence in many countries throughout the world. The most important cause of this global expansion is migration. This book presents and analyses the most important of the geographies, migration histories, religious traditions and developments, rituals, places, institutions, and representations of Hinduism in the diasporas, capturing some of the great plurality of Hindu religious traditions. The first part of the book concentrates on the major regions in the world in which Hindu diasporas are found. The main focus is the modern period, but the book discusses also the possibility of premodern Hindu diasporas in Southeast Asia. The second part focuses on specific central themes such as Vaishnava, Shaiva, and Shakta traditions in diasporas, temples, and traditions of sacred sites and pilgrimage outside of South Asia, Hindutva organizations and the diaspora, as well as relations between Hindu diasporas and new followers of Hindu traditions. The chapters in this book show some of the global presence of the Hindu diasporas and some of the dynamic developments in multiple geographical spaces. Analysing specific spaces and themes, the chapters of the book offer a foundation for understanding the Hindu traditions in its most important global diasporic contexts and the dynamic developments around the world.