Composed of some 900 entries ranging in length ranging from 150 to 5000 words, this encyclopedia is intended to provide an undergraduate audience with an understanding of the depth of scholarship that encompasses recent debates and discoveries alongside standard material on popular and vernacular dimensions of Hindu religious practice in India and around the world. The editors (all of Bath Spa U., UK) provide a thematic list of entries at the beginning of the volume, the headings of which may give the reader a sense of the encyclopedia's scope and contents: cast and lifestyles, central concepts, contemporary media, cosmology, deities, diaspora, ethics and contemporary issues, inter-faith and inter-religious dialogue, major movements and figures, modern and contemporary period, myth and mythical characters, philosophy and theology, politics and nationalism, sacred geography, sacred texts and languages, scholars and writers, traditional arts and sciences, women and gender, and worship and practice. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
The Encyclopedia of Hinduism contains over 900 entries reflecting recent advances in scholarship which have raised new theoretical and methodological issues as well as identifying new areas of study which have not been addressed previously. The debate over the term 'Hinduism' in the light of post-Orientalist critiques is just one example of how once standard academic frameworks have been called into question. Entries range from 150-word definitions of terms and concepts to 5,000-word in-depth investigations of major topics.
The Encyclopedia covers all aspects of Hinduism but departs from other works in including more ethnographic and contemporary material in contrast to an exclusively textual and historical approach. It includes a broad range of subject matter such as: historical developments (among them nineteenth and twentieth century reform and revival); geographical distribution (especially the diaspora); major and minor movements; philosophies and theologies; scriptures; deities; temples and sacred sites; pilgrimages; festivals; rites of passage; worship; religious arts (sculpture, architecture, music, dance, etc.); religious sciences (e.g. astrology); biographies of leading figures; local and regional traditions; caste and untouchability; feminism and women's religion; nationalism and the Hindu radical right; and new religious movements. The history of study and the role of important scholars past and present are also discussed.
Accessibility to all levels of reader has been a priority and no previous knowledge is assumed. However, the in-depth larger entries and the design of the work in line with the latest scholarly advances means that the volume will be of considerable interest to specialists.
The whole is cross-referenced and bibliographies attach to the larger entries. There is a full index.
Arvustused
'Highly Recommended' - Booklist
'Public reference libraries might well find it worth considering this book for acquisition, as should academic libraries concerned with cultural studies, comparative religion or, of course, any form of oriental studies.' - Reference Reviews
Exceptionally good mini-bibliographies at the end of each entry cite the most important scholarship in the field. - Choice
Abhinav Bharat Society; Abhinavagupta; Abortion; Aditi; Advaita;
Aesthetics; Agastya; Agni; Ahalya; Ahamkara; Ahimsa; Airavata; Aiyanar; Akhil
Bharatiya Sadhu Samaj; Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti; Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi
Parishad; Alakha; Alakshmi; Almsgiving/dana; Alvar; Amaravati; Anand Marg;
Anandamayi Ma; Anasuya; Angiras; Anna-prashana (first solid food); Annapurna;
Antah-karana; Antal or Andal; Antyeshti (funeral); Apasmara; Apsaras;
Aranyakas; Aranyakas; Architecture; Ardhanishvara; Arjuna; Arnold, E.; Art;
Artha; Arthashastra; Artha-vada?; Arti; Arundhati; Arya Samaj; Aryabhata;
Aryaman; Asana ; Asceticism/tapas; Ashram; ashramas [ general entry]; Ashtanga
Yoga; Ashvalayana; Ashvins; Asiatick Researches; Asiatick Society of
Bengal/Royal Asiatic Society; Astika/nastika; Astika/nastika; Asuniti; Asura;
Atman; Atmaram Panderung; Atri; Aurobindo Ghose/Shri Aurobindo; Auroville;
authority e.g. scriptures, gurus, priests, scholars, tradition etc. [ general
entry]; Avatara (Ten, Twenty-Four, Thrity-Nine) including Matsya, Ekasringa,
Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna and Kalki, as
well as amshavatara and purnavatara; Ayodhya; Ayurveda; Badarayana;
Badarayana; Bal Gangadhar Tilak; Bal Thackeray; Balak Das; Balambika;
Balarama; Balarama; Bali; Ban on widow remarriage; Bankim Chandra Chatterjee;
Basava; Basham, A.L.; Bauls; Besant, Annie; Bhagavad-Gita; Bhagavatas;
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh/Osho; Bhajan; Bhakti (as path); Bhakti movement;
Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati; Bharat Dharma Mahamandala; Bharati; Bharati, A.;
Bharatiya Janata Party; Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan; Bhasa; Bhatrihari; Bhattaji
Dikshita; Bhavagupta; Bhedabheda/Dvaitadvaita; Bhikshu; Bhima; Bhima Bhoi;
Bhimrao Ram Ambedkar; Bhishma; Bhuta; Biardeau, M.; Bijoy Krishna Goswami;
Bindu; Bir Devi; Blavatsky, Madame Helena; Blood sacrifice; Books, comics,
newspapers & magazines; Brahm Shankar Misra; Brahma; Brahma Kumaris; Brahma
Sutras; Brahmacarya; Brahman; Brahman; Brahmanas; Brahmanas; Brahman-atman;
Brahmanism; Brahmo Samaj; Brihaspati; Brockington, J.; Buddhism's
Relationship with Hinduism; Buhler, G.; Burnouf, E.; Caitanya; Calendar
including seasons (ritu) & months (masa); Candidas; caste [ general entry];
Castration & eunuchs; Celibacy; Chandas; Chaudhuri, N.; Child marriage;
Chittrai; Chuda Karana (tonsure); Coeurdoux, G.L.; Consecration (abhimantara,
abhisheka); Contemporary Movements ???; Contraception; Conversion;
Coomaraswamy, A.; cosmogony [ general entry]; cosmology including the world
egg and other models of the universe, worlds, heavens, netherworlds & hells
[ general entry]; Courtesans; Dada Lekhraj; Dadoba Panderung; Dakini; Daksha;
Dalits/oucastes/untouchables/pancama/ harijans; Dance; Darshana; Dasarajna;
Dasgupta, S.; Dashahra/Dussehra; Dasharatha; Dattatreya; Day of Brahma; de
Nobili, R.; Debendranath Tagore; Deccan Educational Society; deities, gods
and goddesses [ general entry]; Deussen, P.; Deutsche Morgenländische
Gesellschaft; Dev Samaj; Devadasis; Devaki; Devi Mahatmya; Dhanurveda;
Dharma; Dharmashastras; Dhenu; Dhonde Kehav Karve; Dikpalas; Diksha; Divali;
Divination; Divine Light Mission/Premis; Divorce; Domestic altars (worship
at); domestic and family deities; Doniger, W.; Dow, A.; Dowry; Dowry death;
Drama; Draupadi; Drona; Dubois, J.A.; Dumont, L.; Duperron, A.; Durga/Amba;
Durgapuja/Navratri; Dvaita; Dvaraka; Dvija/dvijati/twice-born; Dyaus Pitar;
Eck, D.; Edgerton, F.; Education; Eidlitz, W.; Elements/bhutas (prithivi,
apas, vayu, agni, akasha); Eliade, M.; Emerson, R.W.; ethics [ general entry];
Euthanasia; Farquhar, J.N.; Fasting; Feminism; festivals/utsava [ general
entry]; Fillozat, J.; Film; Fire/Homa /Agnihotra; Foeticide ; Food (cf.
festivals, caste etc.); Forms of marriage (or of getting a wife): Brahma;
Arsha; Daiva; Gandharva; Asura; Rakshasa; Paishaca; Asura; Frauwallner, E.;
Gana; Ganapatyas; Gandhari; Gandharva; Gandharvaveda; Gandhi Jayanti;
Ganesha; Ganeshacaturthi; Ganga; Ganga Dasahara; Gangesha Upadhyaya;
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