This book is an engaging introduction to the complex religious tradition of Hinduism. Central to its focus is demonstrating the fundamental diversity within Hinduism through the multiplicity of its core beliefs and traditions.
Chapters are divided into four historical categories – Vedic, Ascetic, Classical, and Contemporary Hinduism – with each examining one deity alongside one key term, serving as a twin focal point for a more complex discussion of related key texts, ideas, social structures, religious practices, festivals, and concepts such as ritual and sacrifice, music and devotion, and engagement and renunciation. The organization of this book requires that we see deities as not simply divine individuals who preside over one part of the Hindu world, but that each deity operates as a larger cultural category whose related persons, concepts, and practices provide a vivid lens through which Hindu devotees see and continue to readapt to the world in which they live.
With study questions, glossaries, and lists of key contemporary figures, this book is an essential and comprehensive resource for students encountering the multiplicity of Hinduism for the first time.
Introduction. Multiplicity: the One, the Many, and the Multiple
1. Indra and the Vedas: ritual knowledge, royal power, and fertility in ancient India
2. Shiva and yoga: transgression and liberation on the banks of the Ganges River
3. Ram and dharma: preservation, power, and politics in the eternal city of Ayodhya
4. Krishna and bhakti: devotion, play, and performance in the twelve forests of Braj
5. Lakshmi and shri: glory, femininity, and domesticity among Hindu women
6. Durga and shakti: power, control, and sacrifice in the tantric world
7. Swaminarayan and seva: service, spirituality, and reform in the British empire
8. Amma and the guru: the dynamics of Global Hinduism
Conclusion. Kamadhenu: the Hindu cow, politics, and the environment
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Michael Baltutis is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, USA, where he teaches courses on the religions of Asia. He is the author of The Festival of Indra: Innovation, Archaism, and Revival in a South Asian Performance (2023).
"In this book, Michael Baltutis displays an impressive command of Hindu texts, practices, and history. It will serve as an excellent introduction to the complex tradition today known as Hinduism."
Jeffery Long, Elizabethtown College, USA.
