Religion in India: a Historical Introduction

297 Pages·2007·2.968 MB·English

by  Clothey, Fred W

Religion in India
Religion in Indiais an ideal first introduction to India’s fascinating and varied
religious history. Fred W. Clothey surveys the religions of India from
prehistory through the modern period. Exploring the interactions between
different religious movements over time, and engaging with some of the
liveliest debates in religious studies, he examines the rituals, mythologies,
arts, ethics, and social and cultural contexts of religion as lived in the past
and present on the subcontinent.
Key topics discussed include:
• Hinduism, its origins, context and development over time
• Other religions (such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism,
Zoroastrianism, Jainism, and Buddhism) and their interactions with
Hinduism
• The influences of colonialism on Indian religion
• The spread of Indian religions in the rest of the world
• The practice of religion in everyday life, including case studies of
pilgrimages, festivals, temples, and rituals, and the role of women
Written by an experienced teacher, this student-friendly textbook is full
of clear, lively discussion and vivid examples. Complete with maps and
illustrations, and useful pedagogical features, including timelines, a
comprehensive glossary, and recommended further reading specific to each
chapter, this is an invaluable resource for students beginning their studies
of Indian religions.
Fred W. Clotheyis Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the University
of Pittsburgh. He is author and co-editor of numerous books and articles.
He is the co-founder of the Journal of Ritual Studiesand is also a documentary
filmmaker.

Religion in India
A Historical Introduction
Fred W. Clothey
First published in the USA and Canada 2006
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 100016
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon. OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2006 Fred W. Clothey
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage
or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Clothey, Fred W.
Religion in India : an historical introduction / Fred Clothey.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978–0–415–94023–8 (hardback : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0–415–94023–0 (hardback : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978–0–415–94024–5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0–415–94024–9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. India--Religion. I. Title.
BL2001.3.C56 2006
200.954–dc22
2006017656
ISBN 0-203-96783-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0–415–94023–0 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–94024–9 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–96783–6 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–94023–8 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–94024–5 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–96783–6 (ebk)
Contents
Preface ix
List of illustrations and maps xiii
1 On Wearing Good Lenses 1
Lenses used through the years 2
Pejorative putdown 2
Romanticism 4
“Noble savage” 6
Interpretation by imposition 7
“Benign neglect” 9
On understanding the “nature” of religion 10
Recommended reading 12
2 Sources of Indian Religion 14
Hunting communities 15
Agricultural communities 16
The “Indo-European” influence 20
The Vedic period 21
The ritual system 23
Hymns and commentaries 26
Recommended reading 28
3 The Early Urban Period 30
TheUpanis.ads 31
The “heterodoxies” 36
Jainism 37
Early Buddhism 41
Recommended reading 48
Timeline of Chapters 2 and 3 50
vi Contents
4 The Urban Period 51
The context 52
Kingship and artha 56
Theism: Buddhist and vaidika 56
Devotionalism 60
Articulation of an “urban” ethic 61
The household 63
The role of women 63
Ja¯tior caste 66
The symbolism of food 67
Yoga 68
Summary 69
The epics 69
Aesthetics and the arts 72
Religious life at the popular level 76
Developments in Buddhism 78
Kingship 79
Ethics 79
Attitude toward city-state 79
Pantheon 79
Iconography 80
Sacred spaces 80
Recommended reading 84
Timeline of Chapter 4 86
5 The Post-classical Period 87
South India 87
Bhakti 90
The emergence of temples 93
The Co¯las 96
¯
Deities as reflections of cultural history 100
Philosophical developments 102
S´aiva Siddha¯nta 102
Veda¯nta 103
North India 107
Temple construction 108
Tantrism 109
The rise of the goddesses to “high deity” status 111
Buddhism and Jainism 114
Recommended reading 116
Timeline of Chapter 5 120
Contents vii
6 The Coming of Islam 122
The origins of Islam 123
Sunnı¯s and Shı¯‘¯ıs 124
Islam in India 125
The political context 127
Diversity of Islam in India 131
Sunnı¯s 131
Shı¯‘¯ıs 132
Su¯f¯ısm 133
Recommended reading 136
7 Developments in the Late Medieval Period 137
Orthopraxy 137
Hindu polities 138
Devotionalism 141
Mara¯thı¯ 142
Benga¯lı¯ 144
Hindı¯ 145
Accommodation and appropriation 150
Conversion 152
Syncretism 154
Sikhism 156
Recommended reading 159
Timeline of Chapters 6 and 7 161
8 Streams from the “West” and their Aftermath 162
Religious minorities 163
Jewish communities 163
“Cochin Jews” 163
Bene Israel 165
Syrian Christians 166
Zoroastrians or Pa¯rsı¯s 168
The “colonial impact” 171
The Portuguese, British and other Europeans 171
The Indian response 175
Stage one 176
Stage two 178
Neo-bhakti 179
Muslim responses to coloniality 181
Inter-religious relations: conciliation and confrontation 183
Pre-independence India 186
Recommended reading 189
viii Contents
9 Religion in Contemporary India 193
The context 193
The practice of religion 197
Pilgrimages and festivals 197
Va¯ra¯n.as¯ı 198
Palani, Tamil Nadu 200
¯
Festivals 201
Makara Vilakku, Sabaramala, Kerala 201
Bonalu, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 202
Festivals in other religious communities 205
The shrine or temple as the focus of religious expression 206
Ritual in other religious communities 209
Religious innovation, hybridization, and reinterpretation 210
The changing faces of deities 210
Conversions of another kind 212
Gurus and their movements 214
The Brahma¯kumarı¯s 214
The Satya Sai Baba movement 216
The resurgent right 217
Recommended reading 221
10 India’s Global Reach 224
Greater India in Asia 224
The westward impetus 228
Early contacts 228
The colonial period 230
The modern era 232
The emigration of South Asians 236
Recommended reading 245
Glossary 248
Notes 260
Index 275
Preface
“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Nowhere is this old adage more
appropriate than in the development of this volume. The study of religion
in India has become the work of a vast array of specialists who have carved
the subcontinent into sub-regions or eras. Theories have come and gone as
to how Indian religion should be studied. Indeed, to attempt to put into a
single brief volume a “history” of Indian religion that will be accessible to
the beginning student has proven to be an enterprise that cannot possibly
do justice to the complex developments in South Asia or to the scholars who
study them.
Nonetheless, this book has emerged out of years of teaching and listening
– listening, on the one hand, to the concerns of undergraduates beginning
the process of understanding Indian religions, but also, on the other hand,
listening to scholars, Indian savants, and hundreds of regular folks in the
villages and cities of the Indian subcontinent. My intention in these pages
is to provide a skeletal panorama of the development of India’s rich religious
heritage, starting from its prehistory and working into the present.
Certain themes and concerns that have engaged me for some years spiral
their way through these pages. I have become convinced, for example, that
one of the most fundamental ways religious persons in India have expressed
their identities, passed on their “traditions,” and made manifest their
religious orientations is through their ritual life. So, time and again, the
reader will find reference to religion that is enacted and embodied, perhaps
more than to the religion expressed in conceptual terms. Another concern
has been to reflect the transnational character of India’s religious landscape
– to suggest how the subcontinent has been informed by currents, both
indigenous and external, and, how in turn, the subcontinent has impacted
the rest of the globe.
Yet another concern has been to depict something of the enormous
diversity and plurality in India’s religious experience, and especially how
religious minorities have been transplanted to and grow in India, as well as
spawned therein. The interactions between these communities teach us
much about the way people do or can interact with those with alternative
commitments. I have also tried on occasion to weave in the voices of those