Samnyasin in the Hindu Tradition: Changing Perspectives

The present book, “Samnyasins in the Hindu Tradition: Changing Perspectives”, covers a wide territory, trying to look at the samnyasins and the samnyasarama in their long existence from the times of Sankara to the present day. This book traverses a slightly different trajectory from the usual book on samnyasins as it attempts an overview of the samnyasin and the institution over a long period from Vedic to post-Independence times and speculates on the future of the institutions as well. Samnyasins and scholars not only from India, but from countries as diverse as Canada, South Africa, UK and USA also figure in this collection. The samnyasaramas covered also range from the traditional Advaita, Visistadvaita and Dvaita to include many more later asrams such as the Vira Saiva (Lingayat), Dharmapuram Adheenam, Arya Samaj, Shivananda Ashram, Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Narayan and many others. Another departure from other books on the subject is that it also compares institutions like the Ramakrishna Misssion for instance, as they function in India and in foreign countries where they have established asrams. In the midst of varied opinions regarding the samnyasin and the samnyasarama this book will throw light on the how scholars, common people, as well as the samnyasins themselves view their roles, both as individual personalities and as persons living in an institution relating to society as a whole.