Scholars tend to prefer to talk of ‘sacred texts’ rather than ‘Hindu scriptures’ as the term ‘scripture’ is misleading. ‘Scripture’ is a term best known in a Protestant Christian context and may carry with it certain connotations: that there is one fixed holy book, that it is all divine revelation, and that individuals read it in their own language on a regular basis to guide their lives. It also implies that the text is written, whereas in Hindu tradition there is a stress upon sound as divine energy and the most ancient Hindu texts, the Veda, originally transmitted orally, are recited (in Sanskrit) rather than read for religious purposes.

Hindu sacred texts are divided into two categories: shruti (‘that which is heard’; revelation) and smriti (‘that which is remembered’; tradition). Shruti refers to the Vedic texts which are believed to be eternal and to have been ‘heard by’ (or ‘revealed to’) rishis (sages) and passed on orally from teacher to pupil, whereas smriti texts are believed to have historical origins and human authors. The need for smriti can be explained by the Hindu tradition of the four ages – we are now living in the Kali Yuga or age of decline when the Veda is no longer observed or understood, and its meaning must be conveyed in simpler ways. In addition, traditionally only men from the three higher classes who had been initiated had access to the Veda, whereas smriti is available to members of both genders and all classes. So, although shruti is technically the more sacred and important, in practice smriti are better known by more people.

The term ‘Veda’ (knowledge), normally refers to four collections of texts the Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva Vedas though there are some references to three Vedic collections excluding the Atharva Veda and the title of ‘fifth Veda’ is sometimes applied to other prestigious texts such as the Mahabharata. These collections were built up in layers. The most ancient layer, dating back maybe as much as three and a half or four thousand years, is that of the Veda Samhitas (or somewhat confusingly just ‘Vedas’ for short), which are usually described as hymns or poems and contain mantras or ritual utterances. When people refer to, for example, the ‘Rig Veda’, they usually mean these ancient texts rather than the later additions. Each of the four Veda Samhitas were originally passed down through and recited by different categories of priests with different roles in the context of ritual, which included fire sacrifices. To each of these were added Brahmanas, ritual commentaries that explain why and how rituals should be performed while introducing other topics. The next layer, the Aranyakas or forest treatises, a name hinting at renunciation of everyday life, are still to some extent about ritual but start to focus more on knowledge than Brahmanas. The composition of the final layer, the Upanishads, around 600 BCE, was contemporaneous with the shramanas, not long before the time of the Buddha, and a thousand years later than the earliest Vedic texts. The Upanishads are esoteric works that concentrate upon knowledge as in knowledge of the self and the universe, and reflect the world of the ascetic renouncers more than that of ritual priests.

These different types of literature can be regarded as variations on a ritual theme beginning with the Samhitas where sacrifice is performed to obtain favours from the gods, through to the Brahmanas where the sacrifice takes on a cosmic significance as the means of sustaining the universe, and ending with the Aranyakas and the Upanishads where sacrifice is interpreted symbolically as a self-offering thereby locating the power of the ritual within the individual. While sacrifice is a thread running through the Vedic texts, there are major differences in outlook when comparing the Samhitas and the Upanishads. The Samhitas are concerned with this-worldly benefits such as the birth of heirs, the acquisition of wealth and the enjoyment of a long life before entering the realm of the ancestors. In contrast, the Upanishads are concerned with an other-worldly goal of liberation from the cycle of repeated births and deaths. Both are important since the Samhitas still feature in life-cycle rituals and the Upanishads in philosophical debate.

Although in fact what counts as Vedic is not as clear as it seems at first, the boundaries of smriti are even more questionable than those of shruti. Included in the rather ill-defined category of smriti texts are the epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Puranas, also the Samhitas (in a non-Vedic sense), the Agamas and the Tantras, and the Dharmashastras. The Ramayana relates the adventures of Prince Rama, most famously the defeat of the demon king Ravana who had abducted his wife, Sita, while the couple were in exile in the forest. The main narrative of the Mahabharata chronicles a dispute between royal cousins, the Pandavas and Kauravas, over the succession to the throne of the Kurus that leads to a great battle in which the Pandavas triumphed but at appalling cost in human life. It contains the Bhagavad-Gita, a text that claims to be an Upanishad and which has become probably the most popular of all Hindu texts, in which Krishna instructs Arjuna, the third of the Pandava brothers, when the great warrior experiences a crisis of conscience on the eve of the battle. The Puranas are compendia of mythological material, frequently dedicated to the worship of one particular deity in the context of the existence of the many other deities. The Samhitas, Agamas and Tantras have a more sectarian character, lacking the wider currency of the Puranas. The Samhitas tend to be Vaishnavite in orientation, the Agamas Shaivite and the Tantras Shakta. The Dharmashastras address the area of dharma or duty, developing from moral guides for human conduct into legal tracts.

Although lacking the prestige of shruti, smriti is influential nonetheless. The Ramayana has inspired later literary compositions such as Tulsidas’ Ramcaritmanas and been performed in the popular folk drama, the Ramlila; both the Mahabharata and the Ramayana have been serialised on Indian television to mass audiences and turned into stage and film/television productions for international audiences beyond India; the Bhagavad-Gita has become a publishing phenomenon, not just in India and for Hindus, but globally for a diverse readership; the myths found in the Puranas feature in various forms of devotional art and are the staples of Hindu festivals while the Samhitas, Agamas and Tantras continue to underwrite the distinctive beliefs and practices of particular traditions; the Dharmashastras were declared by the British colonial rulers to be the basis of Hindu personal law, giving the Laws of Manu more importance and a wider application than they had previously.

Further texts may also be regarded as sacred, even if they are not usually considered to be what elsewhere would be labelled scripture. Among them are vrat kathas, the narratives that explain why a vow should be taken involving a particular form of practice to achieve a desired object. Vrats are often performed by women. One example became popular as the result of a 1975 film, which told the story of a woman, Satyavati, who prayed to a goddess called Santoshi Ma (the Mother of Satisfaction) and was granted a happy reunion with her husband. Women make simple offerings and fast on Fridays in the hope that wishes will be granted by Santoshi Ma.

Given the vast extent, varying genres and fluid boundaries of what can be counted as sacred texts in Hinduism, very few people will be familiar with all of this material. The majority of people, especially children, will be more likely to know certain well-known sections, often shortened and simplified versions, as told by parents, grandparents, priests and teachers, usually in story form. There are also many newer stories of later saints and exemplary people, or stories created to teach traditional topics to new generations. Well-known stories have many purposes. They may explain why certain customs, practices, rituals and festivals take place. They may exemplify moral behaviour, show good winning over evil, or illustrate and explain ideas and teachings. They may be enjoyed at face value or interpreted as symbolic of profound spiritual truths. Many of these stories are retold in graphic, comic book form, or inspire films and television programmes. There is a vast and rich resource of Hindu stories from the main narratives, many subplots and incidental tales of the great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, stories retold from the Puranas or Upanishads, many stories over the centuries of saints and founders of particular strands of Hindu practice, and more recent stories such as the vrat katha mentioned above, and ones created by contemporary writers of books for children and adults.

Among the very well-known stories that may be heard in temples, illustrated in Hindu art, found in books for Hindu children, or in RE textbooks are the following: the story of Rama and Sita; many stories connected with Krishna such as eating the butter or hiding the cowgirls’ clothes; stories of other avatars of Vishnu such as Narasimha, half-human half-lion, who destroyed the seemingly indestructible demon Hiranyakashipu; and many stories of goddesses (or THE Goddess) destroying evil demons. Stories about Ganesh are attractive to younger children, such as how he lost his tusk, or obtained an elephant’s head. The story in the Chandogya Upanishad of the teacher Uddalaka Aruni getting his son Shvetaketu to dissolve salt in water to illustrate how the divine can be everywhere and in everything yet invisible is a favourite. Other stories can explain how things came to be as they are, such as how the goddess Ganga became the river Ganges. Stories of saints throughout the centuries include that of the princess Mirabai devoted to Krishna, or Ramakrishna, a favourite of the followers of neo-Vedanta, who experienced visions of the divine that crossed religious boundaries. Perhaps more generally Indian than Hindu (but it is hard to make this distinction) is the collection of tales called the Pancatantra, (see list of websites) which includes many tales with morals consistent with Hindu ethics.

Images (murti) play an important part in Hindu worship both in homes and temples. Although Vedic ritual did not involve image worship, it is the mainstay of devotional Hinduism. The image is understood to be one of many forms in which the formless divine manifests in order to allow the devotee to demonstrate their devotion and receive darshan (auspicious vision – note that this is the same word – darshana – as used for the six schools of philosophy). The worshipper does not regard the image in itself as divine, rather as a means of experiencing the divine presence. Hindus obviously know that images are made by human hands, as is demonstrated in the way that temporary festival images such as the famous images of Durga that occupy shrines during Durga Puja are created for the celebrations and then destroyed, usually by immersion in water. Iconic or formal images are created following strict guidelines; even so they must be ritually consecrated to make them fit for the divine presence to occupy, in a ceremony which involves completing the eyes of the image.

As well as icons of gods and goddesses, other objects can function as images such as decorated rocks and natural forms of the divine such as ammonites identified with Vishnu or the Amarnath stalagmite (ice lingam or phallic pillar) identified with Shiva, as well as sacred plants, for example, Tulsi (basil) who is revered as a goddess. There are also images of sacred animals associated with deities, including the ‘vehicles’ on which each deity rides, such as Shiva’s bull Nandi, the lion or tiger for the Goddess Durga, the swan for Brahma and Saraswati, a mouse for Ganesh, and Garuda, a mythological winged creature, on whom Vishnu rides.

Images are located in temples, though some are processional images that are paraded during festivals as in the Rathayatra (procession of chariots) celebrating Krishna as Jagannath (Lord of the Universe) together with his brother Balarama and sister Subhadra. Images feature in domestic and wayside shrines, and can be found almost anywhere from Ganesh in a school exercise book to Shiva dangling from a bus’ rear view mirror. Probably one of the most famous images is that of Shiva as Nataraja (Lord of the Dance). Within a circle of flame representing samsara (round of existence), Shiva is depicted as a four-armed dancer crushing the demon of ignorance beneath one of his feet, holding a drum to symbolise creation and a platter of fire to symbolise dissolution while the positioning of his other hands promise protection and indicate how the devotee can be released from the bonds of samsara. Caught in motion with one leg raised in blessing, Shiva’s face is calm with an expression of repose.

When Christian missionaries first came across Hindu images and image worship, many interpreted it as idolatry, worshipping an object instead of the divine, as forbidden in the Bible and Qur’an. In response, some modern Hindus such as the neo-Vedantin Vivekananda (1863-1902) argued that images were not idols but should be understood as symbolic of the deities they represented and a focus for contemplation. However, Dayananda Saraswati (1824-83) recommended doing away with image worship and returning to the practice of Vedic times when images were not used. This did not catch on, and for most Hindus, while the image may be used in meditation as suggested by Vivekananda, image worship is usually a devotional activity of love and service to the chosen deity, and a means of experiencing the presence of the divine.

The accusation of idolatry is not just historical. As late as the 1990s, the American television evangelists, Pat and Gordon Robertson, stirred up the issue by condemning Hindu idolatry which was identified as the most pressing of India’s problems and blamed as the cause of poverty, prompting a storm of protest from Hindus across the diaspora who made effective use of electronic media to campaign against the resulting portrayal of Hinduism as demonic.

As the divine permeates all things, almost anything can serve the purpose of pointing us towards it. There are many symbols used in Hindu art and ritual, which are often given multiple meanings. The images of deities are often recognisable from the symbols they carry, stand upon, or are surrounded by. For example, Vishnu holds in his four arms a lotus flower (purity among other meanings, see below), a discus (either a weapon symbolising power or the disc of the sun), a club (again a weapon against evil symbolising justice and righteousness), and a conch shell (used as a trumpet in the fight against evil, or in worship).

Deities can be represented in symbolic forms such as the ammonite for Vishnu or the lingam (pillar) for Shiva (see Images and image worship). Probably the best-known symbol is Om or ‘A U M’, the primordial sound, the sound of the universe, also used in prayers, hymns, chants and meditation (see Mantra and the power of sound).

Other commonly encountered symbols include the svastika/swastika, an ancient symbol whose meaning is not to be confused with its later adoption by the Nazis in the twentieth century. This can cause concern when first encountered in a Hindu context – it does not mean that Hindus are anti-semitic! In the Hindu tradition the swastika means good fortune, possibly originally representing the rays of the sun. The four arms can also be interpreted as the four directions (North, South, East, West), the four corners of the world, the four seasons and/or indeed anything in the tradition which comes in fours such as the four Vedic collections, and some use it as a symbol for world peace. Yantras, geometric diagrams, also called mandalas if they take a circular form, are used in tantric ritual and meditation. The best known yantra is the Shriyantra that represents the cosmic form of the supreme deity Tripurasundari (the Goddess who is beautiful in the three worlds).

The lotus flower, often carried by or used as the throne of some deities, symbolises purity, detachment, or liberation. Flowers, fruit, sweets, lights, incense and implements used in worship are given multiple symbolic meanings. For example, the conch shell used as a trumpet can be seen as calling the attention of God, a call to righteousness, the sound of the origin of the universe or a symbol of the feminine.

Tilaks, marks made on the forehead, can be symbolic. A mark made in the middle of the forehead can represent the ‘third eye’ or spiritual vision. Three horizontal lines denotes a worshipper of Shiva, and U shape with a dot in the middle a worshipper of Vishnu and/or Krishna.

The creative and performing arts also play an important part in Hindu worship. Their origin is traced to Brahma, the creator god, who is said to have taken different aspects of the arts from each of the four Vedas to create a fifth ‘Natyaveda’, which then formed the basis of a classical text called the Natyashastra which treats dance, drama and music as topics. Deities are sometimes portrayed as dancing. Examples include Shiva as Lord of the Dance, Vishnu who in his Mohini form used dance to defeat a demon and Krishna whose dance with Radha and the gopis (cowherd women) demonstrates the love between deity and devotee. Dance troupes re-enact the Raslila (play of love) between Krishna and Radha. Classical dance forms such as Bharatanatyam originate in temple dances performed by the devadasis (servants of God) and are still often religious in content and character.

Drama often makes use of Hindu mythology, most famously the Ramnagar staging of the Ramlila (play of Rama) in Varanasi every year, which claims to be the oldest, having taken place for two hundred years. Indeed, ‘the mythological’ became the dominant genre of early Indian cinema starting with the first feature film Raja Harishchandra (1913), the story of a legendary king who appears in several of the Puranas and other sacred texts, celebrated for his dedication to truthfulness and for giving away his kingdom and family to keep a promise. Other early films by the same producer (D.G. Phalke) were based on well-known stories from the Epics and Puranas such as Mohini Bhasmasur (1913), about Vishnu in female form, Satyavan Savitri (1914), about the exemplary love of Savitri and Satyavan, Lanka Dahan (1917) the burning of Lanka as told in the Ramayana, and Shri Krishna Janma (1918) about Krishna’s birth and childhood.

Music too is vital, echoing the significance of sound as ultimate reality which means that mantras, including the sacred syllable Om or AUM possess an intrinsic energy and efficiency. Members of ISKCON recite the Hare Krishna Mahamantra as their main form of devotional service, singing it in congregational worship and when preaching the message on the streets. Other types of music include chanting the Veda and singing bhajans (hymns) composed by saints.

The mandir (temple) is the most obvious form of Hindu architecture. At its most elaborate, the temple contains a shrine dedicated to the main deity worshipped there, located in a complex of shrines dedicated to subsidiary deities, within an enclosed compound. Of course, many temples are much simpler in plan and far more modest in scale, some just a recess with one murti (image). There are two principal styles, Nagara associated with northern India and Dravida associated with southern India. These styles can be distinguished by various features, notably the towers or spires (shikara in Nagara; vimana in Dravida) which in Nagara temples are curved and in Dravida temples resemble stepped pyramids. Further, while in Nagara temples there can be many towers or spires, in Dravida temples there is only one. Other differences include construction of the temple on a raised platform with less emphasis on external boundaries in Nagara style whereas in Dravida style there are temple tanks and walled courtyards with gates.

In the diaspora, it has not always been possible to build a traditional temple. Initially, Hindus had to manage in rented or temporary accommodation and, when they have been in a position to acquire their own premises, have often needed to convert pre-existing buildings such as schools or deconsecrated churches. The process of conversion can leave the external appearance of buildings largely unaltered but generally involves extensive internal modifications. Increasingly, though, Hindus in the diaspora have been able to build traditional temples such as the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, North West London, and the Shri Venkateshwara Temple in the West Midlands constructed in the Nagara and Dravida styles respectively. However, in diasporic settings, as well as the necessity of construction satisfying local planning and building standards, some architectural changes have been required to allow the temple to perform its spiritual and other roles for the community, for example, sufficient space for congregational worship and rooms for educational classes, cultural events and the provision of support services.

Even if in many Hindu philosophies the ultimate goal of life is moksha (release, liberation), for many people that goal is something to be achieved in a future life, or perhaps to be addressed later on in this one. Meanwhile, especially for those who are adults with responsibilities of work and family, the other purusharthas (goals of human life) are more immediate: artha (wealth, power) needed in order to look after the family and others, kama (pleasure, aesthetics), the appreciation of the many good things about embodied existence, creativity and the beauty of nature, and dharma (duty, righteousness). Although ethical action by itself will only result in a better reincarnation, the path of selfless action (karma-yoga), is distinguished by the motive for acting ethically (see Human nature and destiny). Accordingly, it may be seen as a way, or a necessary part of the way, towards the ultimate aim of moksha. So it is often understood that artha, kama, dharma and moksha, pursued together, constitute the good life in balancing this-worldly and other-worldly concerns.

Dharma is a term which is very difficult to translate in one or two words but is so fundamental to Hinduism that ‘Hindu Dharma’ is often preferred over ‘Hinduism’ as a term for the tradition as a whole. The basic meaning of Dharma is ‘that which supports or upholds’, and it has both a descriptive and prescriptive sense in describing what is and prescribing what should be. It denotes the order and harmony of the cosmos, the natural world and human society. In the moral realm, it denotes duty or righteousness as the principle with which conduct should conform. It encompasses general moral obligations incumbent on everyone (sadharanadharma, common to all, or samanyadharma, the same for all) as well as obligations specific to particular groups.

Hindu ethics are rarely absolutist, as the right thing to do often depends on context and your personal duty depends on who and where you are. The lists of general moral obligations differ in various sources but usually include such things as not lying, not stealing, not harming others, self-control, patience, and generosity as found in most religious and non-religious worldviews, uncontroversial in theory but open to interpretation in practice.

The authors are Catherine Robinson and Denise Cush.

Professional

Catherine Robinson has a BA (Hons) in Religious Studies from Stirling University and a PhD in Religious Studies from Lancaster University. She taught at Bath Spa University for nearly 30 years where her main interests included issues of gender and sexuality in religions and Indian religions (especially Hinduism and Sikhism) in the modern period. She was also a member of the local SACRE and the regional steering group of Learn, Teach, Lead RE. Together with Denise Cush, she worked on the Living Religion: Facilitating Fieldwork Placements in Theology and Religious Studies project that received the Shap Award for 2013 for its contribution to the field of the study of/education in religions. More recently, they co-authored articles on the relationship between Religious Studies and Religious Education and the role of feminist praxis in both, and a chapter on the applicability of the concept of ‘religion’ to Dharmic traditions, and the implications for religious education. She has also written an entry on ‘Hinduism and Religious Education’ for a German online dictionary. Her publications include Tradition and liberation: the Hindu tradition in the Indian women’s movement (Curzon, 1999), Interpretations of the Bhagavad-Gita and images of the Hindu tradition: the Song of the Lord (Routledge, 2006) and co-editorship of The Routledge Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Routledge, 2008) along with, for example, articles on the legacy of Edwin Arnold and religion in the Indian Army (Religions of South Asia, 2009; 2014; 2015).

Personal

Catherine grew up in a family where religion was debated as much as politics. Educated in both Catholic and non-denominational schools, as an adult she retained no religious belief or commitment. However, her fascination for religions and for Hinduism in particular remained, especially an interest in Gandhi to whose life and career she was introduced by her mother when a young child. While her main academic concerns have been with real-world implications of religious belief and practice, she feels very much ‘at home’ in Hindu settings and enjoys puja in temples as well as participating in festivals. She has visited India and is familiar with various different Hindu groups and communities in the UK where she has been made welcome. However, she has made particularly strong links with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) based at Bhaktivedanta Manor where devotees became friends over the course of decades bringing students to visit.

Professional

Denise Cush is Emeritus Professor of Religion and Education at Bath Spa University, having retired after 29 years there in 2015. Her roles during this time included leading and teaching Study of Religions and Philosophies and Ethics, teaching within Education Studies, and teacher training for both primary and secondary RE. Before that she taught Religious Studies (including Hinduism at A/O level) as well as Religious Education for nine years at St. Mary’s RC Sixth-form College in Middlesbrough. She has an MA in Theology from Oxford University, a PGCE in RE with Science as second subject from Westminster College, Oxford, an MA in Religious Studies from the University of Lancaster, a PhD in Religious Education from the University of Warwick, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Uppsala. She was a member of the Commission on Religious Education 2017-18, and Deputy Editor of the British Journal of Religious Education from 2011-2018. Publications include Buddhism, a still much-used textbook (Hodder, 1994), Celebrating Planet Earth, a Pagan/Christian Conversation (Moon, 2015) and many others on religious education. She has collaborated with her colleague Catherine Robinson on a number of publications, notably in co-editing The Routledge Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Routledge, 2008).

Personal

Denise was brought up within a Roman Catholic family and attended Catholic maintained schools in the North East. She identified as Catholic (of a liberal, post Vatican II, ‘preferential option for the poor’, ‘justice and peace’ tendency) for the first 30 years of her life, including teaching in a Catholic Sixth-form college. Since then she has resisted labels, and identifies as non-binary in relation to the religious/non-religious construct, though has sometimes called herself a ‘positive pluralist’, acknowledging the influence of several religious and non-religious worldviews on her personal worldview. The factors affecting her interpretations of Hinduism include visits to India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, visits to Hindu temples/communities elsewhere such as in Australia and South Africa as well as many visits to Hindu temples and interactions with Hindu communities and individuals in the UK. She first decided to study Hinduism (and Buddhism) at MA level, mainly because of the contrast with the Christianity of her upbringing and Theology degree, and probably also because of the positive image ‘Eastern’ religions had in 1960s/70s alternative youth culture. Any attempt to summarise the complexity and diversity to which the label Hinduism or Hindu Dharma or Sanatan Dharma is applied is bound to be partial and flawed, but, we hope, of some help.

Even if you do not know much about Hinduism, also refered to as Hindu Dharma or Sanatan Dharma, you are bound to have some preconceptions. It is worth stopping to think what these are and from where they have come. Various images may be conjured up: hippies in the 1960s when the Beatles travelled to India to meet the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi; International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) devotees wearing saffron and dancing in the streets, chanting ‘Hare Krishna’; the Indian nationalist M.K. Gandhi, known as the Mahatma (‘great self/soul’), in his round glasses, wearing a dhoti and striding out with a walking stick for support; the exotic colour and warmth of numerous books and films inspired by India and the British experience of the subcontinent. The presence of a diverse Hindu community in this country and greater opportunities to visit India may have already challenged some of these stereotypes even if the engagement with Hinduism may be selective in favouring a particular region or tradition or superficial as pre-packaged for tourists.

In previous generations, Christian attacks on idolatry, denouncing the numerous statues of deities swathed in incense and bedecked in garlands by their worshippers, and the Romantic notion of the ‘Spiritual East’, evoking renouncers seated cross-legged in meditation achieving a higher state of consciousness, may have been more influential in shaping attitudes towards Hinduism though neither has disappeared. Even quality newspapers can be found referring to Hindu ‘idols’ and the idea that somehow ‘Eastern’ religions are more ‘spiritual’ is still quite common.

One of the complicating factors is the difficulty of distinguishing between Hinduism and more general features of Indian, South Asian, or even Oriental, life and culture. To some degree, this can be attributed to the nature of Hinduism as a catch-all category or umbrella term, but also to the dissemination of the Indian worldview throughout Asia where it is not always possible, for example, to make a clear distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism on the ground.

Another factor is the history of colonialism whereby Britain’s role as the imperial power has been a distorting lens through which to view India leading, among other things, to the self-interested over-simplified claim that Hindus and Muslims constituted two mutually antagonistic groups or ‘nations’.

An additional factor is the legacy of earlier Western scholarship that often subscribed to a Sanskritic textual model of Hinduism, idealising the distant past of the ancient texts at the expense of a supposedly corrupt present. In marginalising contemporary, vernacular, popular and ritual traditions, this approach has been criticised for rendering Hinduism unrecognisable to many Hindus though, of course, this is a far from uncommon experience among members of religious communities encountering an academic version of their religions. However, some Hindus have also put forward accounts of Hinduism that favour particular ways of understanding the tradition which ignore the voice and experience of other Hindus such as women and members of lower castes.