Modern Hinduism
417 Followers
Recent papers in Modern Hinduism
A Bengali translation (and slight abbreviation) of my essay "Father, Son and Holy Text" originally published in Journal of Hindu Studies. This was done for inclusion in a volume honoring the career of Binay Bhushan Chaudhuri produced by... more
A seminal research article comprising the key scholarly texts on the Brahma Kumaris. Each sections includes a 400 word commentary and an annotated bibliography. Sections include Introduction, General Overviews, Feminism, Organisational... more
Ashrams, as spiritual retreats are a magnet for visitors seeking for the spirit of India. Certainly, the practice of tirtha-yatra or pilgrimage has been an element of Indian social life since ancient times and nowadays remains the... more
This special issue of the Journal of Hindu Studies explores Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava engagement with key facets of colonial modernity and its role in shaping modern Hindu discourse. The issue's publication, it is hoped, will serve to both nurture... more
This article discusses the first Indian compilation of the four Vedic Saṃhitās into a printed book in the year 1971 entitled “Bhagavān Vedaḥ.” This endeavor was the life’s mission of an udāsīn ascetic called Guru Gaṅgeśvarānand Mahārāj... more
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... more
Abstract Pt Madhusūdana Ojhā (1866-1939), a Maithili Brahman of great intellectual acumen, who was the chief pandit of the maharaja of Jaipur for almost four decades, is known today to a wide audience, especially in Rajasthan, as the... more
This edited volume with a mix of essays on Hindu traditions is divided into two parts, “Traditional Hinduism” and “Hinduism in the Modern World”. Part One comprises five chapters, Part Two six chap...
Bengali society has experienced religious encounters from time immemorial, resulting in various syncretic tendencies and various reform movements from time to time. Within the Hindu tradition, Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833) rose to eminence as... more
Second Prize winner of the Inaugural 2021 New Zealand Asian Studies Society Book Awards, this book is the first full-length study of the contemporary global revival a thousand-year-old medieval Hindu religious philosophy often referred to... more
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī (1874-1937) dedicated his adult life to the propagation of Caitanyaite Vaishnavism. He did this primarily through the establishment of a pan-Indian religious institution, the publication of newspapers and... more
Chapter in the volume, Bengal: Rethinking History Essays in Historiography, edited by Sekhar Bandyopadhyay
Eseje v této knize tematizují tři okruhy problémů. Prvním je popis nauky a praxe kršnovské bhakti v rámci hnutí Haré Kršna. Druhý okruh vytyčuje snaha o deskriptivní rekonstrukci dějin oddanosti Kršnovi na Západě a v českých zemích. Při... more
Popularly Hinduism is believed to be the world’s oldest living religion. This claim is based on a continuous reverence to the oldest strata of religious authority within the Hindu traditions, the Vedic corpus, which began to be composed... more
Some Hindu immigrants to America-those who subscribe to Hindutva values-desire full rights and recognition in their adopted homeland even as they simultaneously demand that so-called "migrants" to India (that is, Muslims and Christians... more
Delivered in 2013 at the AAR. This paper problematizes the prevalent model of studying the “Neo-Vedānta” of Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) principally in terms of an influx of Western ideas and nationalism. In particular, I demonstrate... more
My translation of an important early essay entitled "Balyabibher dosha" by Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar.
Nova Religio, vol. 15, no. 2 (2011): 20-49. In one popular devotional poster the Indian god-man Shirdi Sai Baba (d. 1918) gazes out at the viewer, his right hand raised in blessing. Behind him are a Hindu temple, a Muslim mosque, a Sikh... more
Problem przemian religijno-społecznych w Indiach jest w światowej literaturze naukowej podejmowany dość często. Stosunkowo nieczęsto jednak staje się on przedmiotem rozważań polskich uczonych, zwłaszcza jeśli chodzi o specyfikę tych... more
This article argues that colonial Hindu attempts to universalise strategies of ‘inclusivism’ to negotiate religious diversity are, at times, marked by tensions and ambiguities that are indicative of the forceful persistence of restrictive... more
Photos of Satya Sai Baba, with his flowing saffron robes and prodigious curly locks, adorn the worship rooms, public businesses, and vehicles of millions of Indians. Out of some of these photos, devotees say, flows a stream of sacred ash,... more
https://commonreader.wustl.edu/c/hindu-marriage-divine-dharmic-or-daring/
About Hindu Marriage and growing up under its ominous shadow.
About Hindu Marriage and growing up under its ominous shadow.
In India today, the sick can choose from a range of medical options, including Western biomedicine, homeopathy, Sanskritic ayurveda, Tamil siddha, Islamic unani, and Gandhian nature cure, among others. In this book, I seek to illuminate... more
Government-aided vernacular schools introduced " human physiology " as a subject in 1859. I use the first couple of schoolbooks and the debate running up to the introduction of the subject to open up the particular and specific histories... more
How exactly can world peace be established? How do we bring about harmony among the various religions in the world? What lessons does Hinduism have to share with other religions in this respect? What is the global duty, global... more
The aim of this thesis is to analyze Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s (1836-1886) revivalist discourse based on three perceptions (i.e. God-Nature, Self, and Society) in the context of the emergence of new religious movements in modern... more
The paper deals with a historical and hitherto obscure case of de-commercialisation of sacred geography of India. Sahajanand Swami, an eighteenth century religious leader from Gujarat who became popular as Bhagwan Swaminarayan took an... more
Ghyanshyamdas Birla (1894–1983) is one of the most recognised Indian entrepreneurs and philanthropists. He is also considered to be the father of the modern Indian economy as well as one of the architects of Indian independence. His... more
The conference Hinduism in Europe was organised by Dr. Ferdinando Sardella from the department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies (ERG) at StockholmUniversity in Sweden and Prof. Knut A. Jacobsen of the Department of... more
This paper discusses the phenomenon of Kāpil Maṭh (Madhupur, India), a Sāṃkhyayoga āśrama founded in the early twentieth century by the charismatic Bengali scholar-monk Swāmi Hariharānanda Ᾱraṇya (1869–1947). While referring to... more
Fundraising activity initiated by the Birla family in India resulted in the construction of more than 20 Hindu temples, commonly referred to as the Birla Mandirs. Although they vary in terms of architectural forms and iconographic... more
Initial chapters of "The Quest for Meaning of Svāmī Vivekānanda" demonstrating a methodology to study religious or spiritual change and transformation.
The so-called "Sun Salutation" (Skt. sūryanamaskāra, Hin. sūryanamaskār), is one of the most ubiquitous and iconic of all modern yoga practices. As Alter (2000), Singleton (2010), and Goldberg (2016) have discussed at length, the modern... more
An in-depth exploration of the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and their relevance to such pressing contemporary issues as inter-religious relations, religious fundamentalism, religion and violence, the challenge of the "new atheism," and... more
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... more