The Hindu Religious Tradition: A New Historical, Anthropological, and Philological Approach

The Hindu Religious Tradition by Thomas J. Hopkins, originally published in 1971, provided a comprehensive survey of Hindu development from the Indus civilization to the present. This new edition incorporates up-to-date scholarship to provide a more complete history of India’s cultural and religious development, and is an invaluable resource for students in need of an introduction to the history and practice of Hinduism.

In addition to textual analysis, this book offers a new approach to the study of Hinduism that reconstructs the history of India through an examination of scientific research on geography, archaeology, genetics, art history, linguistic and inscriptions, bringing to awareness the ways that patterns of cultural development, migration, kingship, and technology impacted the synthesis and integration of a wide range beliefs and practices into what we call Hinduism today. Extending beyond the borders of present-day India, The Hindu Religious Tradition shows how Hinduism was influenced by other civilizations in modern day Greece and Iran, and how it influenced them as well. This volume will provide new students of Indian religion with a detailed understanding of Hinduism’s rich history and scriptural canons, and it will provide scholars of Hinduism with a fresh perspective rooted in historical detail, offering both a more complete picture of how the Hindu religion is a network of beliefs and practices drawn from multiple civilizations and cultures over its vast history.

Thomas J. Hopkins was Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin and Marshall College, USA.

Graham M. Schweig is Professor and Director of Studies in Religion at Christopher Newport University, Virginia, and Distinguished Teaching and Research Faculty at the Center for Dharma Studies, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, USA.