India is a land of complex mixing of traditions and cultures. Through its ever continuous evolution, it has developed local flavours of religions. It has adopted practices, assimilated traditions, and even transformed the religious practices that have emerged in foreign lands to the local situations and needs. One such social institution is that of caste. [...]
Archive of posts tagged Religion
Religion and Politics
If religion is the belief in supernatural, its propriety in civilised society lies in the cognizance of conciliating the divergences to euphony, which is characterised by harmony of universe and is symbolic of the supernatural arbiter. And if religion is merely a bunch of rituals whcich remains with us for sake of tradition then the [...]
Vishwakarma Puja
Vishwakarma Puja is a big occasion of celebration in the industrial belt. This comes every year on Sept 17th. The festival celebrating the God of Industrial Craft ie. Vishwakarma is an important but less known dimension of Bengal. This time I attended one such ceremony in the main telephone exchange at Asansol. In the industrial [...]
World History: Youthful Curiosities
Questions I asked a few years back on H-World Forum » »
I would like to ask certain questions to the specialists on this forum. But before that, I would rather give a brief background. I have studied the Medieval Indian history fairly well. And my exposure to the nature of Muslim rule comes from that. [...]
Secularism and Pluralism
Secularism and pluralism are the two sides of the same coin. A society to exist needs religion – it cannot do without it. However, in todays world situation where the insularity of historical society has largely vanished, we find that every nation is not constituted by a single society, but by many societies that adhere [...]
Modern Hinduism
Modern Hinduism
© Anup Mukherjee i3pep.org
[A version of this (somewhat extended) exposition was published in the Encyclopedia of Religion and War (Routledge)]
Hinduism in modern times has undergone tremendous reformist changes and has tended to focus on peace rather than war. Though there has not been any scriptural development in Hinduism in relation to war, one stream [...]
Cultural Context and Interpretations
Culture gives meaning to our actions and ideas. Any action or idea can have meaning only in a particular cultural context. Waving the hand in a particular context may mean greeting, while in another it may mean a warning or threat. This same thing is also mediated by cultural usages and practices. Cultural difference is [...]
Sufi Movement
Sufi movement emerged during the early medieval times in India with the interaction of the Islamic culture with the Hindu culture. There were different trends of the sufi movement – some were religious and social, some were linked to the rulers and more engaged in promotion of Islam.
Establishment of Sultanate led to introduction of [...]
Religion, Food and Bengal
I find it strange of how people react to food vis-a-vis their religion. Most of this strange thing is related to methods and reasons for taking/not-taking non-veg food – though not restricted to that alone.
In India, for non-veg, Hindus prefer the ‘jhatka’, while the Muslims prefer the ‘halal’. I am told this is related [...]
Hinduism in Modern Times
Hinduism in Modern Times
© Anup Mukherjee, i3pep.org (Nov, 2003)
Hinduism in modern times is reflection of continuity and of progressive changes that occurred in its various traditions and institutions during the 19th and 20th centuries.
By eighteenth century many ills had crept into it- superstition, social obscurantism, rigid rituals, tyrannical polytheism and abominable rites like animal [...]
