Routledge. - Studying Hinduism in Practice

General Editor: Hillary P. Rodrigues

The intent of this new series is to assemble an assortment of texts that primarily instruct by addressing two aspects of human activity. One aspect is the practice of religion, and the other is how such practice is studied. Although these books may be profitably consulted on their own, they are ideal supplements to a comprehensive introductory textbook on each of the traditions in question. This is because introductory texts are rarely able to attend adequately to the range of activities that are integral features of most religious traditions. However, religious practice is a vast field of study, and each anthology in this series makes no claim to providing a complete picture of either the religion it addresses or its rich assortment of practices. Instead, the objective in this series is to provide the reader with vignettes of religious practices within particular traditions, as viewed through the experiences of scholars engaged in the study of these religions. As such, the series offers readers a window onto both the doings of religion, and the scholarly study of those doings.

As scholars who study religion in its varied dimensions, and as instructors who teach about religion, we routinely scout for resources to enhance our students learning experience. We wish to teach them about various religions, but also to teach them about the scholarly endeavor of studying religion. Introductory textbooks, however comprehensive they might be in providing necessary factual and foundational information, are typically unable to convey the richness of religious life as experienced by practitioners. By necessity, introductory textbooks tend to favor history, intellectual developments, and teachings from written sources of and about the tradition. Even when they address religious practice, the tone in these textbooks is generally distant and explanatory, rather than descriptively engaging and evocative. Additionally, since the author's persona and presence are often excised from the accounts, these books do little to get across to students what scholars who engage in research actually do and experience. This series is designed to address some of these lacunae.

Each book in this series contains an assortment of pieces written specifically for the anthology in question by established scholars in their field. Other series that focus on practice tend to be collections of translations of religious texts about religious practices, or are anthologies of classic articles previously published in scholarly journals. Texts of the former type are actually still slanted to the textual tradition, while those of the latter type do not have novice students as their intended audience. The essays in the volumes of this series are purposely crafted differently from typical articles published in scholarly journals, chapters in edited academic volumes, or papers presented at scholarly conferences. They are even different in style from what one might find in textbooks and ethnographic anthropological literature, although recent writings from the latter category are probably closest in stylistic character. The writings in these collections derive from the memories, notes, photos, videos, and such, of scholars who were in the process of studying, and who still continue to study, some aspect of religious practice.

The sensibilities within, and tone of, these writings are partly derived from postmodern orientations that indicate that, regardless of whether one is an insider or an outsider, one's understanding of reality is always partial. A pervasive and generally erroneous belief is that insiders to a tradition (i.e., adherents) know the real meaning of what is transpiring when they engage in religious activities. However, even for religious insiders, that is, believers and participants in a religious practicesuch as a pilgrimage or rite of passagethe understanding of the phenomenon they are experiencing is always mediated by their own backgrounds, cultural familiarity, age, experience, degree of interest in their religion, and so on. They do not necessarily know the meaning of what is going on, simply because they are insiders. Each insider's understanding is partial. Nevertheless, one effective way to learn about religious practice would be to read about these activities from the perspective of insiders. But the volumes in this series are not collected writings by religious insiders about their practices, however valuable and interesting such accounts might be. Rather, these are writings by persons engaged in the academic study of religion.