{"title":"Early Modern Hinduism","authors":"Adrian Plau","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780198790839.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198790839.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter gives an overview of the transformations that combined to give early modern Hinduism its distinct characteristics. New practices of bhakti devotionalism reshaped the relationship between devotee and deity; new modes of organization, both within religious lineages and between religious agents and imperial courts, brought ideas of identity into heightened focus; and the rise of a vernacular language was followed by the emergence of broadly popular devotional literatures that still define the period in the historical imagination. By detailing the dynamics of these transformations across the lives of several key figures of the early modern period, the chapter argues that the circulation of ideas, impulses, and practices across languages and religious traditions contributed to a new set of modes of delineating Hindu identities and, consequently, that debates on the concept of ‘Hinduism’ itself should not overlook the early modern period.","PeriodicalId":186182,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford History of Hinduism: Modern Hinduism","volume":"879 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123029983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hindu Pilgrimage and Modern Tourism","authors":"K. Aukland","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780198790839.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198790839.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"Tourism as we know it is a product of modernity, but what happens when tourism meets the ancient Hindu tradition of pilgrimage? This chapter shows how Indian modernity has stimulated Hindu pilgrimage in multiple ways and how modern tourism has helped it grow in popularity. The tourism industry has introduced travel agencies, hotels, tourist guides, and guidebooks to the pilgrimage sites and routes, and these have to some extent caused a decrease in the demand for traditional ritual services. Pilgrims spend less time at one particular site and often expect to combine pilgrimage with other types of travel, such as sightseeing or visiting theme parks. In the face of these changes, some priests have adapted by collaborating with tourist agencies and drivers, joining the tourism trade and catering to foreign tourists. A modern literary genre has emerged combining elements of the traditional pilgrimage texts with modern tourist information. The Indian state is a major player in shaping the operation of Hindu pilgrimage under the banner of tourism development.","PeriodicalId":186182,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford History of Hinduism: Modern Hinduism","volume":"130 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133041625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The History of Hindu Nationalism in India","authors":"K. Manjari","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780198790839.003.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198790839.003.0012","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter presents the history of Hindu nationalism, starting in the early twentieth century. It goes into the Hindutva ideology of Savarkar, Golwalkar, and other ideologues, and gives a history of key organizations such as the Hindu Mahasabha, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and the political party associated with them, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The chapter gives a broad background to some of the most difficult debates about Hindu identity today—that is, debates about ethno-religious chauvinism, and about the prospects for peaceful coexistence of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and other groups in India.","PeriodicalId":186182,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford History of Hinduism: Modern Hinduism","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133077971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introduction Modernity and Hinduism","authors":"T. Brekke","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780198790839.003.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198790839.003.0001","url":null,"abstract":"The introduction presents some of the most important conceptual and historical questions related to the study of modern Hinduism. It explains the historical limitations used in this volume and why we exclude a number of movements, ideas, and practices in Hinduism in order to keep the focus on what is new. It discusses the argument that Hinduism is an entity created by colonial scholarship rather than an indigenous category and it looks at the role of some important Hindu leaders and organizations in the development of a modern concept of Hinduism as a world religion. It also presents a discussion of how modernity standardizes culture, language, and religion and what this means for the study of modern Hinduism. Finally, the introduction briefly presents the main argument of each of the chapters in this volume.","PeriodicalId":186182,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford History of Hinduism: Modern Hinduism","volume":"102 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126826512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Caste and Contemporary Hindu Society","authors":"V. Divya, Datta Ankur","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780198790839.003.0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198790839.003.0013","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter investigates the complex issue of caste and its relationship to modern Hinduism. It starts by drawing up a broad canvas of classical theories about caste from sociology and anthropology, considering caste in relation to the Sanskritic concepts of varna and jati. The authors then move on to the emergence of caste in its modern form in the colonial period and post-colonial period. The chapter’s discussion of the emergence of a modern conception of caste in the colonial period converges with what has been discussed concerning the ‘invention’ or ‘standardization’ of Hinduism. The chapter also discusses caste in relation to post-colonial politics, and to work and occupation, tracing the transformation of caste in the face of contemporary socio-economic and political change. Hence the chapter also considers the relationship of caste with Modern Hinduism and Hindu society with reference to law and the state, Dalit politics, affirmative action, violence, and the economy.","PeriodicalId":186182,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford History of Hinduism: Modern Hinduism","volume":"157 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132186373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay and Modern Hinduism","authors":"Hans Harder","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780198790839.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198790839.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter looks at the contributions of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay (1838–94), an important Bengali intellectual and writer, and discusses his key writings relevant to modern Hinduism. Bankimchandra was primarily an author—and not an organization-builder—and it was through his writings that he influenced younger generations of Hindu reformers and Indian nationalists. Bankimchandra merits a chapter in this volume not least because of his early and sophisticated attempts to define Hinduism, and, as Harder highlights, his reinterpretation of dharma as both equivalent and counter-concept to ‘religion’, as well as his claim of inherent spirituality and tolerance being distinctive features of Hinduism.","PeriodicalId":186182,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford History of Hinduism: Modern Hinduism","volume":"2011 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131352362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}