Llewellyn - Defining Hinduism: a reader

First published 2005 by Equinox, an imprint of Acumen

Published 2014 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

This selection and introductory material

J. E. Llewellyn 2005

Chapter 1 is reprinted by permission from Tradition and Reflection: Explorations in Indian Thought by Wilhelm Halbfass, State University of New York Press 1991, State University of New York Press. All rights reserved

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notices

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 13: 978-1-904768-73-9 (pbk)

Typeset by ISB Typesetting, Sheffield

Advaita Vedanta

Afghanistan

Africa

Agama

Agency

Ahimsa (nonviolence)

American

Andhra Pradesh

Anthropology

Arabia

Arabic

Aranyakas

Arya Samaj

Aryan

Ascetic

Ashrama

Asia

Astrology

Atharva Veda

Atheist

Atman

Augustinian

Authenticity

Authority

Avatar

Babri Masjid

Bali

Balmiki

Bania

Banyan

Benares see

Bengal

Bengal Asiatic Society

Bengali

Bhagavad Gita

Bhagavata Purana

Bhakti

Bharatiya Janata Party

Bible

Brahma (the god)

Brahman (the absolute)

Brahman (the caste)

Brahmana (the books)

Brahmanism

Brahmo Samaj

Britain

British colonialist

Buddhism

Buddhist see

Calcutta

Canon

Carvaka

Caste

as a colonial invention

lower

upper

Census

Chandogya Upanishad

China

Chola dynasty

Christian see

Christianity

Civilization

Class

Clown

Collective consciousness

Communalism

Communism

Comparative religion

Congress, Indian National

Congeries

Construction

Conversion

Cosmogony

Cow

Culture

Custom

Dalit

Dar-ul-lslam

Darshana

Decentering

Deconstruction

Democracy

Demographics of India

Demon

Devi-mahatmya

Devotion

Dharma

Dharmashastra

Diaspora Hindu

Diet

Difference-in-identity

Din

Din il-lllahi

East India Company

Eastern

Economy

Ecumenical

Egypt

Eighteenth century

Environmentalism

Epic

Essentialism

Ethnic

Ethnocentrism

Ethnography

Eurocentrism

European

Family

Family resemblance

Female

Feminism

Fire, sacred

France

Franciscan

Fundamental

Fundamentalism

Ganesha

Ganges

Garuda

Gender

Gentile

Gentoo

Ghaznavid dynasty

Goa

Goddess

Greek

Gujarat

Guru

Harijan

Heathen

Hegemony

Henotheism

Heretic

Hierarchy

Hindi

Hindoo

Hindu Christian

Hindu Mahasabha

Hindu majority

Hindu Muslim

Hindu nationalism

Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh

Hinduism

as a metareligion

as a plural phenomenon

as a religion

as a self-description

as a unity

as a world religion

as an ethnic or geographical designation

as diverse

as imagined

as invented

as lacking a doctrinal core

as lacking aspects of a religion

as oppressive

as tolerant

deconstruction of

definitions of

does not exist

etymology of

history of the term

textbook definitions of

Hinduness

Hindustan

Hinduta

Hindutva

Holland

Identity

Identity-in-difference

Idol

Imperialism

Indology

Indus River

Insider

Iramavataram

Ishvara

Islam

Italian

Itihasa

Jain see

Jainism

Jati

Jesuit

Jewish see

Jharkhand

Jnana

Jnanakanda

Judaism

Juggernaut

Jungle

Kabir-bijak

Kabir parcai

Kama (the god of love)

Karma

Karnataka

Kashmir

Kaurava

Kavya

Kerala

King

Kirtilata

Knowledge

Krishna

Kshatriyas

Latin

Law

Legitimacy

Liberal academics

Liberation

Life cycle ritual

Linga

Lingayat

Lodi sultanate

Lord

Lutheran

Madhya Pradesh

Mahabharata

Maharashtra

Malabar

Malabar rites

Malabarian heathenism

Male

Manasa

Mantra

Manu, Laws of

Manusht

Maps

Maratha

Marathi

Marga

Marxist

Master narrative

Masudi, al

Materialism

Mecca

Medieval

Mentalit

Meykanta Shatras

Middle East

Mimamsa

Mimamsa Sutras

Minority

Missionary

Mleccha

Modern

Moksha

Monolith

Monotheism

Monothetic definition

Moon

Moor

Mughal

Muslim see

Mutiny (rebellion) of 1857

Myth

Namadev parcai

Namak-hallal

Namak-haram

Namaskara

Nastika

Nation

Nationalism

Native contribution to European knowledge

Native informant

Naturalist

Neo-Hinduism

Neo-Vedanta

Nepal

Nineteenth century

Nivritti

Nontheological

Organic

Orientalism

Orissa

Orthodoxy

Otherness

Outcaste

Outsider

Pakistan

Pandava

Pandit

Parsi

Patriarchy

Persecution

Persia

Persian

Phenomenology

Philosophia perennis

Philosophy

Pilgrimage

Pluralism

Polarities

Politics

Polycentrism

Polytheism

Portuguese

Positivism

Postcolonialism

Postmodernism

Power

Prakriti

Prasada

Pravritti

Prithviraj raso

Protestant

Public and private

Puja

Punjab

Puranas

Purity

Purusha

Quran

Race

Racism

Rajasthan

Ram (the Hindu god)

Ramayana

Ramcaritmanas

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

Rastafarian

Rebirth

Reform

Reifying

Religion

as a human construct

as primordial

as sui generis

defining

scholars of

Religious education

Religious studies

Renunciation

Revival

Reservations

Rig Veda

Riot