"Don't miss this equivalent of a brilliant graduate course froma feisty and exhilarating teacher."
-The Washington Post
An engrossing and definitive narrative account of history and myth, The Hindus offers a new way of understanding one of the world's oldest major religions. Hinduism does not lend itself easily to a strictly chronological account. Many of its central texts cannot be reliably dated within a century; its central tenets arise at particular moments in Indian history and often differ according to gender or caste; and the differences between groups of Hindus far outnumber the commonalities. Yet the greatness of Hinduism lies precisely in many of these idiosyncratic qualities that continues to inspire debate today. This groundbreaking work elucidates the relationship between recorded history and imaginary worlds, the inner life and the social history of Hindus.
PREFACE: AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION: WORKINGWITH AVAILABLE LIGHT
CHAPTER 2 - TIME AND SPACE IN INDIA 50 Million to 50,000 BCE
CHAPTER 3 - CIVILIZATION IN THE INDUS VALLEY 50,000 to 1500 BCE
CHAPTER 4 - BETWEEN THE RUINSAND THE TEXT 2000 to 1500 BCE
CHAPTER 5 - HUMANS, ANIMALS, AND GODS IN THE RIG VEDA 1500 to 1000 BCE
CHAPTER 6 - SACRIFICE IN THE BRAHMANAS 800 to 500 BCE
CHAPTER 7 - RENUNCIATION IN THE UPANISHADS 600 to 200 BCE
CHAPTER 8 - THE THREE (OR IS IT FOUR?) AIMS OF LIFE IN THE HINDU IMAGINARY
CHAPTER 9 - WOMEN AND OGRESSES IN THE RAMAYANA 400 BCE to 200 CE
CHAPTER 10 - VIOLENCE IN THE MAHABHARATA 300 BCE to 300 CE
CHAPTER 11 - DHARMA IN THE MAHABHARATA 300 BCE to 300 CE
CHAPTER 12 - ESCAPE CLAUSES IN THE SHASTRAS 100 BCE to 400 CE
CHAPTER 13 - BHAKTI IN SOUTH INDIA 100 BCE to 900 CE
CHAPTER 14 - GODDESSES AND GODS IN THE EARLY PURANAS 300 to 600 CE
CHAPTER 15 - SECTS AND SEX IN THE TANTRIC PURANAS AND THE TANTRAS 600 to 900 CE
CHAPTER 16 - FUSION AND RIVALRY UNDER THE DELHI SULTANATE 650 to 1500 CE
CHAPTER 17 - AVATAR AND ACCIDENTAL GRACE IN THE LATER PURANAS 800 to 1500 CE
CHAPTER 18 - PHILOSOPHICAL FEUDS IN SOUTH INDIA AND KASHMIR 800 to 1300 CE
CHAPTER 19 - DIALOGUE AND TOLERANCE UNDER THE MUGHALS 1500 to 1700 CE
CHAPTER 20 - HINDUISM UNDER THE MUGHALS 1500 to 1700 CE
CHAPTER 21 - CASTE, CLASS, AND CONVERSION UNDER THE BRITISH RAJ 1600 to 1900 CE
CHAPTER 22 - SUTTEE AND REFORM IN THE TWILIGHT OF THE RAJ 1800 to 1947 CE
CHAPTER 23 - HINDUS IN AMERICA 1900 -
CHAPTER 24 - THE PAST IN THE PRESENT 1950 -
CHAPTER 25 - INCONCLUSION, OR, THE ABUSE OF HISTORY
GUIDE TO PRONUNCIATION AND SPELLINGOF WORDS IN SANSKRIT AND OTHERINDIAN
BIBLIOGRAPHY: WORKS CITED AND CONSULTED