Invitation to World Religions

Contents xi

VOICES: An Interview with Jayashree Venkatesan 118 Hindu Sacred Texts 118 The Sects of Hinduism 124

THE HISTORY OF HINDUISM 126 The Indus Valley Civilization 126 Who Are the Aryans? 128 The Vedic Period 129 The Age of the Guptas 130 The Development of Bhakti 130 Tantra 131

Hindus and Muslims During the Mughal Dynasty 132 Colonial Critique and the Hindu Reformers 133 Gandhi and the Struggle for Indian Independence 135

Hindutva and Hindu Nationalism 136 Hindu Nationalism and Violence 137 GLOBAL SNAPSHOT: From India to Iowa: Hinduism in the Heartland 138 HINDUISM AS A WAY OF LIFE 139

Temples and Icons 139 Forms of Worship 140 Rites of Passage 142 Pilgrimage 144

Festivals and Holidays 145 Performance Traditions 146 Personal Identity and Gender Roles 148 Hindu Environmentalism 149 HINDUISM IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY 150 CONCLUSION 151

5 Mahayana Tradition 179 Buddhism in India 183 Buddhism Beyond India 183 PROPERTY OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Buddhism 157 THE TEACHINGS OF BUDDHISM 159 The Life of the Buddha 159 What Did the Buddha Teach? 162 VOICES: An Interview with Katherine Sei 166 THE HISTORY OF BUDDHISM 167 The Period of the Buddhist Councils 168 Theravada Buddhism: The Way of the Elders 169 Mahayana Buddhism: The Great Vehicle 170 Vajrayana Buddhism: Tantric Buddhism in the