Sai Nakka

Texas A&M University

November 7, 2017

Dr. Dorothy Todd

Dear Dr. Todd,

My research concerns how religion can create a business around itself for personal
monetary gain. Specifically asking What effects does Hinduism and its rituals have on the
commerce and economy of India?. The Hindu religion is polytheistic (the belief and worship of
more than one god) and has many rituals and customs surrounding each of the 330 million Hindu
gods. Many of these rituals come at many costs, such as food, clothing, and money. These same
rituals have effects such as good fortune and happiness. One example of such ritual is in which
the idol of the god is bathed in milk, honey, rose water, rice, and water. When conducted at
temples in India, Thousands of people will line up and give their offering to god. This process of
pouring milk on top of the god thousands of time has created lots of waste. This wastage could be
better used to help support Indias ever-growing lower class. I got this Idea while spending last
summer with my very religious family in India. After not only seeing first-hand the wastage but
seeing that some of the celebrities from Bollywood (Indian Hollywood) had released their own
take on this religious issue in the form of two feature-length films.
My sources have been taken from academic databases focusing on commerce and
Hinduism in India; both together and separately. After some preliminary research, I have found
some data on average spending of Hindus in India related to the goods used in these rituals
mentioned above. I have made a preliminary hypothesis that Hindus in India spend so much time
and money over these rituals and customs which is causing the decreased growth rate of the
economy and businesses.
The targeting audience would be middle-class Hindus in India so that they can be warned
of how they are being taken advantage of for the monetary gain of few. My readers will most likely
be attacked by a very religious group of people for being insensitive and dense, however, after a
being given a deeper understanding of what is going on, they should be willing to change.

Sincerely,

Sai Nakka
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Sai Nakka

Dr. Dorothy Todd

English 104. 55X

7 November 2017

Annotated Bibliography

Helble, Matthias. "Is God Good for Trade?." Kyklos, vol. 60, no. 3, Aug. 2007, pp. 385-413.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1467-6435.2007.00377.x. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.

In this article, the author discusses how the exchange of goods has now begun to have not
economic purpose, but a cultural dimension as well. The author looks specifically at the effects
of religion based culture to make a claim. This paper looks at the impact of 5 religions on trade.
Specifically, he approaches Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. Matthias not
only looks at these 5 religions, but also compares them to one another to see how they each
uniquely effect markets within their influence. This aspect of how Hinduism being compared to
different religions will assist my paper as it will help display how Hinduism is different from
other religions in terms of how it affects the trading of goods. I see this assisting in the analysis
of how Hinduism creates business around itself.

Sahoo, Sarbeswar. Ethno-Religious Identity and Sectarian Civil Society: A Case from India.

Studies in Ethnicity & Nationalism, vol. 8, no. 3, Nov. 2008, pp. 453-480. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1111/j.1754-9469.2008.00037.x. Accessed 26 Oct. 2017.

This Paper talks about the role of Rajasthan Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad(RVKP), an ethnic Hindu
organization, among the tribal populations in south Rajasthan. The RVKP has been expanding
itself socio-economically using a process called ethnification. This process involves four
steps: 1. utilizing development projects as means to spread the ideology of Hindutva, 2.
bringing religious awakening and organizing mass re-conversion programs, 3. redefining
indigenous identity and characterizing certain communities as the other, and 4. with the support
of the various state institutions.(Sarbeswar, p.457) This paper will probably not assist my paper.
It lacks information on commerce and trading. It would require more research to connects the
RVKP to their economic ventures.

Birtchnell, Thomas. "Jugaad as Systemic Risk and Disruptive Innovation in India."

Contemporary South Asia, vol. 19, no. 4, Dec. 2011, pp. 357-372. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1080/09584935.2011.569702. Accessed 26 Oct. 2017.

This Paper talks a about a new management trend called Jugaad used in India. Jugaad refers to
the widespread practice in rural India of jury-rigging and customizing vehicles using only
available resources and know-how. Jugaad has been identified across India's economy in the
inventiveness of call-centre workers, the creativity of global transnational elites, and in the
innovativeness of Indian product designs. The term has seen an unprecedented growth in
popularity and is now proffered as a tool for development and a robust solution to global
recession. However, Jugaad has impacts on society in negative and undesirable ways. It mainly
benefits the higher ups of a company and diminishes the livelihood of the middle and lower
class. Though not specifically mentioning Hinduism, this information can be used to infer trends
about how the middle and lower class can be affected by the upper class and its tyranny.

Fuller, Jason D. "Modern Hinduism and the Middle Class." Journal of Hindu Studies, vol. 2, no.

2, Nov. 2009, pp. 160-178. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/jhs/hip012. Accessed 29 Oct.

2017.

This article simply looks at the role of Hinduism in the middle class in the recent years going
back to the early twentieth century. The interprets the history of modern Hinduism through
multiple lens and addresses some opposition to its views. The article also goes into how
Hinduism has been reformed and revived over the last 50 years to better suit current times.
Afterwards, the article discusses how Hinduism is practiced by the middle class. The article talks
about stories told to children by the middle class and other cultural activities conducted by
Hindus. This article lack talk about commerce specifically, however it is still usable. The
previous article focused on a business model prominently used in India, and this article talks
about Hindu tradition and culture. Together these articles can correlate a trend for the middle
class of Hinduism in India.

Aukland, Knut. "Krishna's Curse in the Age of Global Tourism: Hindu Pilgrimage Priests and

Their Trade." Modern Asian Studies, vol. 50, no. 6, Nov. 2016, pp. 1932-1965.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1017/S0026749X1600007X.

This article specifically looks at how pandits (Hindu pilgrimage priests) have made changes to
their temples and other religious locations just to attract tourism, for monetary gain. Utilizing
audio-recordings of the pandits guided tours, the article first portrays how pandits acquire ritual
income from pilgrims by inspiring donations of which they get a percentage. While commercial
interests and economic conditions have always been crucial in shaping and perpetuating
pilgrimage institutions and practices, global tourism has become an increasingly significant
factor. Pandits all over India modify their services while the traditional exchange model wanes.
Changing travel patterns have made the guided tour a crucial component in the operation of
Hindu pilgrimage. Vrindavan pandits have therefore turned into guides conducting religious
sightseeing tours such as darshan and aarti (Common Hindu rituals conducted by priests in
exchange for donations). These tours are core to the new strategy for acquiring ritual income. To
secure clients, pandits build connections with travel agencies and drivers and, in some cases,
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establish their own travel agencies that combine priestly and tourism services. This source relays
information directly connecting Hindu religious institutions to personal monetary gain. This
source really exemplifies how religion in India has taken over a niche market and is making
money out of it.