Hindu Pasts: Women, Religion, Histories

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This book studies Hindu religious traditions, sects and histories which came to comprise the Hinduism of the nineteenth century. The essays take up Max Muller’s study of the Vedas; the building blocks of colonial knowledge formations, law-making and pedagogy, and the significance of the Banaras Sanskrit College in this; components of the Vaishnava Bhakti tradition; early vernacular novels that contributed to development of the modern Hindi novel and the history of modern Hindi literature. They focus on the interplay of women’s role and perception of women with religious traditions and emergence of narratives and histories. Referring to pre-modern and early modern chronicles, religious literature such as the hagiography termed varta by the Vallabhite (Vaishnavite) preachers, as well as folklore, they view the place of the guru in forging community; links between women, duty and sanctified space; and pilgrimage, fairs and secularisation of space as represented in modern Hindi narrative discourses.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Vasudha Dalmia

Vasudha Dalmia is Professor of Hindi and Chair of the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California at Berkeley. She has researched and published widely on Hinduism, colonial and post-colonial Hindi literature, medieval Indian religiosity, and modern Indian theatre. Her book, The Nationalization of Hindu Traditions: Bharatendu Harischandra and Nineteenth Century Banaras, examines the life and writings of a major Hindi writer of the nineteenth century as the focal point for an examination of the intricate links between politics, language, culture, religion and nationality.