Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism Overview

Editor in Chief: Knut A. Jacobsen, professor in the history of religions, University of Bergen.

Associate Editors: Helene Basu, Professor of Anthropology, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster.
Angelika Malinar, Professor of Indology, University of Zürich.
Vasudha Narayanan, Professor in the Department of Religion, University of Florida.
Edited at Brill by: Senior Editor for Asian Studies: Albert Hoffstädt.

For more information or promotional material please contact marketing [at] brill [dot] com For further articles or editorial information, please contact Brill's Project Manager, ruijters [at] brill [dot] com (Jean-Louis Ruijters)

General Information
The five-volume Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism is a thematic encyclopedia, presenting the latest research on all the main aspects of the Hindu traditions in original essays written by the world’s foremost scholars on Hinduism.

The Encyclopedia explicitly adopts an interdisciplinary and pluralistic approach, and in it, the term “Hinduism” is used critically in the knowledge that most of the traditions that today make up Hinduism are much older than the term itself. The Encyclopedia aims at a balanced and even-handed view of Hinduism, recognizing the tensions inherent in the academic examination of Hinduism. It emphasizes that Hinduism is a conglomerate of regional religious traditions and at the same time a global world religion.

Hinduism is also both an ancient historical tradition and a living tradition flourishing in the contemporary world. It is an oral tradition, yet one with a huge number of sacred texts at its basis. Hinduism is both a religious identity and an object of academic scholarship.

Illustrated with maps and photographs, the Encyclopedia presents the learned philosophical and theological traditions of Hinduism as well as its many folk traditions. Covering the spread of Hinduism over the last two hundred years to all the continents as well as the interaction of Hinduism with other religions, it also portrays the various responses of Hindu traditions to a number of contemporary issues of great relevance today, such as feminism, human rights, ecology, bioethics, and so on.

Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism is part of the Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section 2: South Asia (HO2), which publishes scholarly reference works, bibliographies, and research tools pertaining to the political, economic, social, linguistic, and religious history of the Indian subcontinent.

Volume Overview
Volume I

• Regions and Regional Traditions
• Sacred Space and Time
• Gods, Goddesses and Divine Powers    

Volume I covers two main thematic fields. First it presents the regional traditions of Hinduism with articles on the Indian states and main regions of India and on historical regions outside of India. Here the reader will also find entries on sacred space and pilgrimage traditions, sacred time and festival traditions. The second thematic field concerns the various gods, goddesses and divine powers of Hinduism past and present.

Volume II

• Sacred Texts and Languages
• Ritual Traditions
• Arts
• Concepts

Volume II builds upon the first volume by examining the sacred languages of Hinduism and its major religious texts, literary genres, and scholarly traditions as well as the vernaculars. It further explores the ritual traditions, including domestic rituals, mantras, and intoxication. In addition, performance and the arts such as martial arts, dance, and film feature prominently. The last section extensively investigates the meaning, connotations, and use of some forty leading concepts like karman, the self, renunciation, asceticism, meditation, and liberation.

  Volume III

• Society
• Religious Specialists
• Religious Traditions 
• Philosophy 

Volume III: The third volume of Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism presents scholarship on the subject of Hinduism, arranged by topic, on aspects of Hindu society including caste, family, age, and gender, as well as religious specialists such as gurus, sādhus, healers, and astrologers. Religioustraditionsin alphabetical order from Aghorīs and Bāuls to Vaikhanāsa and Vārkarī Sampradāy feature prominently as one of the anchor sections. Further to this, the volume presents a thorough examination of Hindu philosophical traditions, including history, branches, and contemporary aspects.

Volume IV

•      Historical Periods
•      Philosophers, Poets, and Saints
•      Relation to Other Religions and Traditions
•      Hinduism and Contemporary Issues

Volume IV deals with the historical periods of Hinduism and has biographies on a number of philosophers, poets, and saints. It further analyzes Hinduism’s view of other religions, other religions’view of Hinduism, and their interaction, and deals with Indian politics and law. Finally, the last part discusses Hinduism’s view on some modern issues such as feminism, human rights, ecology, and bioethics.

Volume V

•  Religious Symbols
•  Hinduism and Migration: Contemporary Communities outside South Asia
•  Some Modern Religious Groups and Teachers

Volume V covers religious symbolism and deals with the missions to the West and global Hinduism, which include gurus with international success and other significant persons of modern Hinduism, religious movements as well as the many diaspora communities outside of South Asia.

Features
    * Encyclopedia thematically organized in five volumes
    * Keywords: Hinduism, gods and goddesses, sacred narratives, regional traditions, culture, history, society, geography, South and Southeast Asia, Indian religions past and present
    * Per volume approx. 75 articles, ranging from 3,000 to 20,000 words
    * Approx. 850 pages per volume with photographs, maps, diagrams, tables
    * Written by the world’s foremost scholars on Hinduism
    * Cross-references
    * Glossary
    * Bibliographies for further reading accompanying each article
    * Extensive index (in vol. V)
    * Suitable for both undergraduates and graduates