Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices
Hinduism is a vastly complex phenomenon, a world religion with a history of over three thousand years. It has produced men and women who have made outstanding contributions across the range of civilised human behaviour, and played a crucial part in the rise of two other great religions - Buddhism and Sikhism. Julius Lipner was born and raised in India and is able to draw on his own experience of Hindu beliefs and practices to explain what it means to be Hindu in a changing world. Hindus...
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Julius Lipner’s Hindus is widely recognised as essential reading for everyone wishing to understand one of the world’s great religious traditions. Hinduism comprises the religion and culture of the great majority of the people of India, a country tipped to become a world superpower politically, economically and culturally in the course of the present century. The vast array of diverse beliefs and practices usually described as ‘Hindu’ has been notoriously difficult to corral under a single regulating theme. Julius Lipner provides not only a wide-ranging introduction to Hindu religious and cultural diversity but also suggests a way to characterize Hinduism as a distinct tradition that has survived and adapted to changing circumstances from ancient times to the present day. Lipner is a recognised authority on Hinduism's polycentric emphasis, and his book is based on a lifetime of research and personal experience of his subject.In this thoroughly revised and substantially enlarged second edition, students of Hinduism will find more coverage of the debate about Hindu origins, the nature and practice of Hindu worship, the role of women, the scope of dharma and morality, Hindu philosophical thought and the use of reason, and the way caste functions.
PrefaceList of abbreviations1About 'Hindu', Hinduism and this book1Pt. IGuiding voices2The voice of scripture as Veda253The voice of scripture as Veda and 'Veda'554The voice of tradition: Varnasrama dharma745The voice of tradition: 'Caste' and narrative1086The voice of tradition: Folklore and the intellectual heritage1467The voice of experience165Pt. IIReason and morality8A story with a tail1979Morality and the person223Pt. IIIImages of time, space and eternity10Modes of reckoning time and 'progress'25111The sacred and its forms27512Means, ways and ends295Notes325Select glossary359Select bibliography362Index372
