Religion in India

Oxford in India Readings in Sociology and Social Anthropology have been carefully planned to suit and needs of the general reader, students, teachers, as well as scholars from other disciplines. Problems have been posed in general theoretical terms, but Indian enthnography has been used as far as possible to illustrate them. Each volume is devoted to a core areas in sociology and social anthropology and brings within one cover important writings, some of which are very difficult to find. In this way it serves the useful purpose of short-circuiting the vast body of writing in a discipline, and at the same time presenting the current state of art in it.
Religion in India attempts to capture the great diversity of religious phnomena in India. All the great religions of the world - Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Zoroastrianism are found within the geographical confines of the country, affecting the lives of its people in a vital way.
Religion is a central concern in sociological and anthropological investigations and this volume tries to cover all the major theoretical approaches to its study evolutionary, functionalist, structuralist, cultural analytical, phenomenological and hermeneutic.
The readings have been organized under five sections: Sacred Knowledge, Sacred Space, Sacred Time, Sacred Person and Reorientations to the Sacred. They offer the best of recent work as well as some celebrated classical writings in the field.
The volume editor has a long introduction followed by short section introduction explaining the ratioanale behind his selections in each section. He also intervenes explain the text when he feels it to be necessary in the form of editiorial notes. This paperback edition has an additional article.
Each section ends with an annoted biblography of additional readings and there is an exhaustive bibliography at the end of the book.

T. N. Madan, Professor of Sociology at the Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi.