[Original, published in ASIANetwork Exchange XVI (1): 57–63.] During the last two decades, I have been pursuing an unorthodox way of studying cultural differences, focusing mainly on the Indian and the western…
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The sustained efforts by certain Hindu groups in the west to redefine and “correct” long existing Hindu traditions are perhaps reflective of their desire to put in place a cogent…
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[Published in Economic and Political Theory, 37(51):5142-5142] A text like my article on the secularism debate (EPW, September 28, 2002), is something more than a sequence of sentences. This is a…
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[Published in Economic and Political Weekly, 37: 4047-4053] On the Indian Debate and Its Western Origins The rise of Hindutva has often been interpreted as a threat to the secular state.…
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[Published in Economic and Political Weekly, 40(28):3048-55] The Indian debate on religious conversion has been an ongoing one for a few centuries now. However, the mutual understanding between the advocates…
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[Published in Economic and Political Weekly, 38: 4611-17] Colonial Experience of Indian Intellectuals Opposing factions in the Orientalist-Anglicist controversy in the 19th century shared a common understanding of Indian religion…
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In the last few decades, “secularism” has become the subject of caustic debate in the Indian media. The dispute about the value of this idea to contemporary India is no…
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Review of Imaging Hinduism: A Postcolonial perspective. By Sharada Sugirtharajah. Routledge, 2003. 164 pages This book is the first of its kind to bring post-colonial perspectives into a study of Hinduism. Consequently,…
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In years to come, the Indian community in the U.S. will face a major challenge from American pluralism. This is the first time a powerful community of pagans has to be accommodated…
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What is at stake in the California textbook controversy? Few would agree that it concerns only the image of Hinduism as offered to the pupils of the California state schools.…
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