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• Title:[Hinduismus. English]
  Hinduism : past and present / Axel Michaels ; translated by Barbara Harshav.
  
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• Author/Creator:Michaels, Axel.
  
• Other Contributors/Collections:Harshav, Barbara, 1940-
  
• Published/Created:Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c2004.
  

• Holdings

  Holdings Record Display

  • Location:KOERNER LIBRARY stacks (Floor 1)Where is this?
    
  • Call Number: BL1202 .M5313 2004
    
  • Number of Items:1
    
  • Status:Available
    

   
• Library of Congress Subjects:Hinduism.
  
• Medical Subjects: Hinduism
  
• Description:xvii, 429 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
  
• Summary:Hinduism is currently followed by one-fifth of humankind. Far from a monolithic theistic tradition, the religion comprises thousands of gods, a complex caste system, and hundreds of languages and dialects. Such internal plurality inspires vastly ranging rites and practices amongst Hinduism's hundreds of millions of adherents. It is therefore not surprising that scholars have been hesitant to define universal Hindu beliefs and practices. In this book, Axel Michaels breaks this trend. He examines the traditions, beliefs, and rituals Hindus hold in common through the lens of what he deems its "identificatory habitus," a cohesive force that binds Hindu religions together and fortifies them against foreign influences. Thus, in his analysis, Michaels not only locates Hinduism's profoundly differentiating qualities, but also provides the framework for an analysis of its social and religious coherence. Michaels blends his insightful arguments and probing questions with introductions to major historical epochs, ample textual sources as well as detailed analyses of major life-cycle rituals, the caste system, forms of spiritualism, devotionalism, ritualism, and heroism. Along the way he points out that Hinduism has endured and repeatedly resisted the missionary zeal and universalist claims of Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists. He also contrasts traditional Hinduism with the religions of the West, "where the self is preferred to the not-self, and where freedom in the world is more important than liberation from the world."
  
• Notes:Originally published in 1998 in München, Germany, by Verlag C.H. Beck as: Der Hinduismus, geschichte and gegenwart.
  Includes bibliographical references (p. 381-417) and index.
  
• ISBN:0691089523
  0691089531 (pbk.)
  
• Contents:Pronunciation of Indian Words
  1. Theoretical Foundations
  2. Historical Foundations
  3. Stages of Life and Rites of Passage
  4. Social System
  5. Religiosity
  6. Religious Ideas of Space and Time
  7. Immortality in Life.