Quick Reference
- Historical Dictionary of HinduismThis second edition of Historical Dictionary of Hinduism contains a chronology, an introduction and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,000 cross-referenced entries on deities, historical figures, festivals, philosophical terms and much more.
- Encyclopedia of HinduismThe Encyclopedia of Hinduism contains over 900 entries, ranging from 150-word definitions of terms and concepts to 5,000-word in-depth investigations of major topics, reflecting recent advances in scholarship.
- Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of HinduismThis work, first published in 1968, presents the fabulous world of Hinduism in its entirety in two volumes. It is the first general encyclopedia of Hinduism covering every major aspect of Hindu life and thought.
Further Reading
Hinduism: The Basics by Publication Date: 2023This book includes a range of voices - such as women and Hindus in the diaspora - which are often excluded or given short shrift in other textbooks, so that readers are provided with a more comprehensive overview of the tradition. It explores both the commonalities and differences between the various aspects of Hindu traditions to introduce students to their complexity and diversity.
The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Hinduism by Publication Date: 2022An accessible and up-to-date survey of scholarly thinking about Hinduism, perfect for courses on Hinduism or world religions. Covering main themes such as philosophy, practice, society and science, this comprehensive volume brings together a variety of approaches and perspectives in Hindu Studies to help readers better appreciate the richness, complexity and diversity of Hinduism.
Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction by Publication Date: 2016In this Very Short Introduction, Kim Knott offers a succinct and authoritative overview of this major religion, and analyses the challenges facing it in the 21st century. She discusses key preoccupations of Hinduism such as the centrality of the Veda as religious texts, the role of Brahmins, gurus, and storytellers in the transmission of divine truths, and the cultural and moral importance of epics such as the Ramayana.
Contemporary Hinduism by Publication Date: 2013Most overviews of Hindu belief and practice follow a history from the ancient Vedas to today. Such approaches privilege Brahmanical traditions and create a sense of Hinduism as a homogenous system and culture, one which is largely unchanging and based solely on sacred texts. In reality, modern Hindu faith and culture present an extraordinary range of dynamic beliefs and practices, and 'Contemporary Hinduism' aims to capture that.
Digital Hinduism by Publication Date: 2020This collection explores Digital Hinduism and consequentially studies how Hinduism is expressed in the digital sphere and how Hindus utilize digital media. Including case studies with foci on India, Asia and the global Hindu diaspora, this book features contributions from an interdisciplinary and international panel of academics. The chapters focus on specific case studies, which in summary exemplify the wide diversity of what constitutes Digital Hinduism today.
The Rigveda: A Guide by Publication Date: 2020The Rigveda is a monumental text in both world religion and world literature, yet outside a small band of specialists it is little known. Composed in the latter half of the 2nd millennium BCE, it stands as the foundational text of what would later be called Hinduism. The text consists of over a thousand hymns dedicated to various divinities, composed in sophisticated and often enigmatic verse.
Yajurveda: Sanskrit Text with English Translation by Publication Date: 1988The Yajurveda contains hymns taken from the older Rigveda and prose passages which are new. The hymns display considerable deviation from the original Rigvedic text. It has two samhitas; these are Taittiriya Samhita and Vajasaneya Samhita, popularly known as Black and White Yajur respectively. This translation is based upon Swami Dayanand's interpretation.
Sāmaveda saṁhitā: Sanskrit text with English translation by Publication Date: 2001The Samaveda, or Veda of Holy Songs, third in the usual order of enumeration of the three Vedas, ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rgveda or Veda of Recited Praise. Its Sanhita, or metrical portion, consists chiefly of hymns to be chanted by the Udgatar priests at the performance of the important sacrifices. The Collection is made up of hymns, portions of hymns and detached verses, taken mainly from the Rgveda.
Atharvavedasaṃhitā: Sanskrit Text, English Translation by Publication Date: 2002Many translations of Atharvaveda are available, but in this edition entire subject matter of Atharvaveda was translated with critical and exegetical commentary by W.D. Whitney. It was edited by Charles Rockwell Lanman in 1905, and supplanted and adapted to modern English in this edition. Also included is Bhāṣya of Sāyaṇācārya's Sanskrit commentary.
An Updated Vedic Concordance by Publication Date: 2007After 100 years, the well-known Vedic Concordance of Maurice Bloomfield has finally been updated. The first edition, published in 1906, was a complete alphabetic index of all Vedic mantras then known. Several important texts belonging to the oldest stratum of Indian literature, such as the Paippaldaāda Atharvaveda and the Jaiminīya Brahmana, have been published since. They are included in this new edition.
The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki: The Complete English Translation by Publication Date: 2021The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki, the monumental Sanskrit epic of the life of Rama, has profoundly affected the literature, art, religions and cultures of South and Southeast Asia from antiquity to the present. Filled with thrilling battles, flying monkeys and 10-headed demons, it recounts Prince Rama's exile and his odyssey to recover his abducted wife, Sita.
The Ramayana: A Modern Translation by Publication Date: 2003Though he takes no liberties with the story, Ramesh Menon's Ramayana is a novelist's lush, imaginative rendering of the epic, rather than a scholar's translation. Yet, even if the language he uses is modern and exciting, his book remains, first and last, a work of worship, of bhakti. As he wrote and rewrote it for ten years, this was his offering to Rama.
Ramayana Stories in Modern South India by Publication Date: 2008While some religious texts may remain static over time, the Ramayana epic has been retold in a variety of ways over the centuries and across South Asia and some of the narrative's most probing and innovative retellings have appeared in print in the last 100 years. This collection brings together, for the first time, modern retellings translated from the four major South Indian languages and from genres as diverse as drama, short stories, poetry and folk song.
The Complete Mahabharata by Publication Date: 2010The Mahabharata is the more recent of India's two great epics, and by far the longer. First composed by the Maharishi Vyasa in verse, it has come down the centuries in the timeless oral tradition of guru and sishya, profoundly influencing the history, culture and art of not only the Indian subcontinent but most of south-east Asia. This new rendering brings the epic to the contemporary reader in sparkling modern prose.
The Mahabharata by Publication Date: 2015The Mahabharata is one of the greatest stories ever told. Dispute over land and kingdom may lie at the heart of this story of war between cousins, the Kouravas and Pandavas, but the Mahabharata is about conflicts of dharma and characters face them with no clear indications of what is right and what is wrong; there are no absolute answers. Thus every possible human emotion features in this epic that continues to hold sway over our imagination.
Mahabharata Unravelled: Lesser-Known Facets of a Well-Known History by Publication Date: 2021Author Ami Ganatra debunks myths, quashes popular notions and offers insights into such aspects not commonly known or erroneously known, based solely on facts as narrated in Vyasa's Mahabharata from generally accepted authentic sources. For a history of such prominence and influence as the Mahabharata, it is important to get the story right. So pick this book up, sit back and unveil the lesser-known facts and truths about the great epic.
Contemplative Studies and Hinduism: Meditation, Devotion, Prayer, and Worship by Publication Date: 2021This book is one of the first wide-ranging academic surveys of the major types and categories of Hindu contemplative praxis. It explores diverse spiritual and religious practices within the Hindu traditions and Indic hermeneutical perspectives to understand the intricate culture of meditative communion and contemplation, devotion, prayer etc.
Religious Reading and Everyday Lives in Devotional Hinduism by Publication Date: 2022Religious texts are not stable objects, passed down unchanged through generations. The way in which religious communities receive their scriptures changes over time and in different social contexts. This book considers religious reading through a study of the Pushtimarg, a Hindu community whose devotional practices and community identity have developed in close relationship with a genre of Hindi prose hagiography written during the 17th century.
Deceptive Majority: Dalits, Hinduism, and Underground Religion by Publication Date: 2021The idea that India is a Hindu majority nation rests on the assumption that the vast swath of its population stigmatized as 'untouchable' is, and always has been, in some meaningful sense, Hindu. But is that how such communities understood themselves in the past or how they understand themselves now? When and under what conditions did this assumption take shape and what truths does it conceal?
An Introduction to Swaninarayan Hinduism by Publication Date: 2019An Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism, third edition, offers a comprehensive study of a contemporary form of Hinduism. Begun as a revival and reform movement in India 200 years ago, it has now become one of the fastest growing and most prominent forms of Hinduism. The Swaminarayan Hindu transnational network of temples and institutions is expanding in India, East Africa, the UK, USA, Australasia, and in other African and Asian cities.
Modern Hinduism by Publication Date: 2019Modern 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, part two presents key developments in religious practice in modern Hinduism, and part three moves to issues of politics, ethics and law.
Journals
Web Resources
- Hindu Federation founded by Dr. Budhendra Doobay in 1999, is an amalgamation of temples of varied Hindu denominations, and other Hindu organizations in Canada.