This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
The main emphasis of the course is on identifying the historical development, concepts and practices of key features of Hindu culture. Exploring the distinctive features of Hindu culture and its beliefs and practices, it evaluates the motivating factors and impact that shaped those traditions. Combining historical, textual, doctrinal and anthropological approaches, students are given a multifaceted view of the development of Hindu thought. The course trains students to read Hindu texts in an informed and critical way. Among the themes discussed are: Vedic culture and the transition from ritual forms of religion to philosophical questions and ascetic traditions; Vedantic doctrines of the self, the divine and liberation; socio-religious ideals and ethics associated with dharma; devotional arts and movements associated with particular deities, sampradayas or tantric traditions; different conceptions of the divine; yogic and other practices. These themes will be approached through the study of historical developments and Hindu texts in translation, but attention will also be given to some Sanskrit terminology.
2 hour lecture per week and 1 hour seminar per week for 10 teaching weeks.
Also available at Level 5 (TH601)
70% Coursework
30% Exam
Indicative Reading List:
Flood, G. (1996) An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Flood, G. (2003) The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, Oxford: Blackwell
Lipner, J. (1998) Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, London: Routledge
Lopez, Donald S. (1995) Religions of India in Practice, Princeton: Princeton University Press
Lott, E. (1980) Vedantic Approaches to God, London: Palgrave Macmillan
Olivelle, P. (1998) The Early Upanisads: Annotated Text and Translation, Oxford: Oxford University Press
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes:
On successfully completing the module Level 5 students will be able to:
Understand the histories, ideas and practices of significant traditions of Hindu religious thought;
Demonstrate competence in handling the terms and concepts necessary for a critical study of Hindu religious traditions;
Appreciate the influence of historical context on the development of Hindu thought;
Demonstrate skills necessary for a critical reading of Hindu texts in translation, and their application to key themes;
Write lucid, carefully constructed analyses of Hindu concepts and movements, supported by primary and secondary textual evidence, endnotes and bibliographic sources.
In addition, on successfully completing the Level 6 module students will also be able to:
Discuss the themes of the course in an informed and systematic way, relating them to wider issues in the field of religious studies;
Develop a critical understanding of competing philosophical, theological and socio-political teachings and practices in Vedic and Vedantic, Saiva, Sakta, Vai??ava, Tantric, and other traditions within Hindu culture;
Critically appraise broader methodological approaches to the study of Hinduism, raised by scholars such as Frits Staal, Sheldon Pollock, Wendy Doniger, Jonardon Ganeri, Gavin Flood, and others;
Show sensitivity to the interaction of Hindu culture with non-Hindu cultures and with key historical changes such as the development of ascetic cultures, popular Hindu movements, or colonial rule.
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