(no subject)
As introductory books go, What Do Hindus Believe is fair to middling, but it contained a couple of eye-opening remarks about the relationship between the West, and the huge and various collection of traditions and practices called Hinduism, which particularly interested me in the light of militant atheism.
Firstly, there was a reference to attempts to "formalize" Hinduism, specifically, to "semitize" it: "that is, giving it the formal features of Abrahamic religion" (p 69). There's a parallel, I think, with trying to jam the promiscuous Germanic mess of the English language into the crisp, rigid Romance grammar of Classical Latin. You may shed some light, but much of what you'll come up with will be nonsensical or downright misleading.
Secondly, and similarly:"Western ideas of secularism, which evolved where Christianity was regarded as the only religion and where it had a particular historical relationship with the state, are not necessarily relevant to India. There is no need to stigmatize Hindu religious belief and practice as forms of cultural chauvinism; they can be incorporated into a politics of Indian secularism which centres on the traditional value of equal respect for all religions."
Firstly, there was a reference to attempts to "formalize" Hinduism, specifically, to "semitize" it: "that is, giving it the formal features of Abrahamic religion" (p 69). There's a parallel, I think, with trying to jam the promiscuous Germanic mess of the English language into the crisp, rigid Romance grammar of Classical Latin. You may shed some light, but much of what you'll come up with will be nonsensical or downright misleading.
Secondly, and similarly:"Western ideas of secularism, which evolved where Christianity was regarded as the only religion and where it had a particular historical relationship with the state, are not necessarily relevant to India. There is no need to stigmatize Hindu religious belief and practice as forms of cultural chauvinism; they can be incorporated into a politics of Indian secularism which centres on the traditional value of equal respect for all religions."