Religion in India: a Historical Introduction
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An Ethnographic Study of Sectarian Negotiations Among Diaspora Jains in the USA Venu Vrundavan Mehta Florida International University, [email protected]
Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-29-2017 An Ethnographic Study of Sectarian Negotiations among Diaspora Jains in the USA Venu Vrundavan Mehta Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FIDC001765 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Mehta, Venu Vrundavan, "An Ethnographic Study of Sectarian Negotiations among Diaspora Jains in the USA" (2017). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3204. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3204 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF SECTARIAN NEGOTIATIONS AMONG DIASPORA JAINS IN THE USA A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in RELIGIOUS STUDIES by Venu Vrundavan Mehta 2017 To: Dean John F. Stack Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs This thesis, written by Venu Vrundavan Mehta, and entitled An Ethnographic Study of Sectarian Negotiations among Diaspora Jains in the USA, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this thesis and recommend that it be approved. ______________________________________________ Albert Kafui Wuaku ______________________________________________ Iqbal Akhtar ______________________________________________ Steven M. Vose, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 29, 2017 This thesis of Venu Vrundavan Mehta is approved. -
REL 3337 Religions in Modern India Vasudha Narayanan
1 REL 3337 Religions in Modern India Vasudha Narayanan, Distinguished Professor, Religion [email protected] (Please use email for all communications) Office hours: Wednesdays 2:00-3:00 pm and by appointment Credits: 3 credit hours Course Term: Fall 2018 Class Meeting Time: M Period 9 (4:05 PM - 4:55 PM) AND 0134 W Period 8 - 9 (3:00 PM - 4:55 PM) In this course, you will learn about the religious and cultural diversity in the sub-continent, and understand the history of religion starting with the colonial period. We will study the major religious thinkers, many of whom had an impact on the political history of India. We will study the rites-of-passage, connections between food and religion, places of worship, festivals, gurus, as well as the close connections between religion and politics in many of these traditions. The religious traditions we will examine and intellectually engage with are primarily Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, as well as Christianity and Islam in India. We will strike a balance between a historical approach and a thematic one whereby sacraments, rituals, and other issues and activities that are religiously important for a Hindu family can be explained. This will include discussion of issues that may not be found in traditional texts, and I will supplement the readings with short journal and magazine articles, videos, and slides. The larger questions indirectly addressed in the course will include the following: Are the Indian concepts of "Hinduism" and western concepts of "religion" congruent? How ha colonial scholarship and assumptions shaped our understanding of South Asian Hindus and the "minority traditions" as distinct religious and social groups, blurring regional differences? How are gender issues made manifest in rituals? How does religious identity influence political and social behavior? How do Hindus in South Asia differentiate among themselves? Course Goals When you complete this course, you will be able to: 1. -
Religious Tolerance in World Religions (West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Foundation Press, 2008), 396 Pp., ISBN 978-1-59947-136-5, $39.95
512 Book Reviews / Journal of Religion in Europe 4 (2011) 501–515 Jacob Neusner & Bruce Chilton (eds.), Religious Tolerance in World Religions (West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Foundation Press, 2008), 396 pp., ISBN 978-1-59947-136-5, $39.95 Th e term ‘tolerance’ has fallen on tough times. People who prefer intolerance, policies of ‘zero tolerance,’ or claim not to tolerate the intolerant or the intolerable are only partly responsible. Th ey share culpability with those who call for moving Beyond Tolerance (as Gustav Niebuhr and others have titled several recent books) to deeper and fuller attitudes of acceptance, affi rmation, respect, and celebration of all myriad, manner, and variety of diversity. Yet some religious and nonreligious people balk at what they see as indiscrimi- nate approbation of ideas, activities, or worship they deem false or improper. It may be diffi cult, if not impossible, to celebrate features of faiths or ideologies that perceptibly contradict or oppose one’s own. When communities have experi- enced decades, centuries, or millennia of discord, ambivalent or tolerant coexist- ence could be “as good as it gets,” at least for a time. Where affi rmation is impracticable, toleration and coexistence for adherents of diff ering or confl icting religions and ideologies should be considered indispensable in a spiritually diverse world. Jacob Neusner, Bruce Chilton, and other contributors address such dissonances in Religious Tolerance in World Religions by inspecting political, scriptural, historical, theological, and ritual resources for tolerance (and to a lesser degree, intolerance) in ancient Greece, Rome, and Israel; classical and contemporary Judaism, Christi- an ity, Mormonism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. -
Echoes of Memory Volume 9
Echoes of Memory Volume 9 CONTENTS JACQUELINE MENDELS BIRN MICHEL MARGOSIS The Violins of Hope ...................................................2 In Transit, Spain ........................................................ 28 RUTH COHEN HARRY MARKOWICZ Life Is Good ....................................................................3 A Letter to the Late Mademoiselle Jeanne ..... 34 Sunday Lunch at Charlotte’s House ................... 36 GIDEON FRIEDER True Faith........................................................................5 ALFRED MÜNZER Days of Remembrance in Rymanow ..................40 ALBERT GARIH Reunion in Ebensee ................................................. 43 Flory ..................................................................................8 My Mother ..................................................................... 9 HALINA YASHAROFF PEABODY Lying ..............................................................................46 PETER GOROG A Gravestone for Those Who Have None .........12 ALFRED TRAUM A Three-Year-Old Saves His Mother ..................14 The S.S. Zion ...............................................................49 The Death Certificate That Saved Vienna, Chanukah 1938 ...........................................52 Our Lives ..................................................................................... 16 SUSAN WARSINGER JULIE KEEFER Bringing the Lessons Home ................................. 54 Did He Know I Was Jewish? ...................................18 Feeling Good ...............................................................55 -
Sources of Maratha History: Indian Sources
1 SOURCES OF MARATHA HISTORY: INDIAN SOURCES Unit Structure : 1.0 Objectives 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Maratha Sources 1.3 Sanskrit Sources 1.4 Hindi Sources 1.5 Persian Sources 1.6 Summary 1.7 Additional Readings 1.8 Questions 1.0 OBJECTIVES After the completion of study of this unit the student will be able to:- 1. Understand the Marathi sources of the history of Marathas. 2. Explain the matter written in all Bakhars ranging from Sabhasad Bakhar to Tanjore Bakhar. 3. Know Shakavalies as a source of Maratha history. 4. Comprehend official files and diaries as source of Maratha history. 5. Understand the Sanskrit sources of the Maratha history. 6. Explain the Hindi sources of Maratha history. 7. Know the Persian sources of Maratha history. 1.1 INTRODUCTION The history of Marathas can be best studied with the help of first hand source material like Bakhars, State papers, court Histories, Chronicles and accounts of contemporary travelers, who came to India and made observations of Maharashtra during the period of Marathas. The Maratha scholars and historians had worked hard to construct the history of the land and people of Maharashtra. Among such scholars people like Kashinath Sane, Rajwade, Khare and Parasnis were well known luminaries in this field of history writing of Maratha. Kashinath Sane published a mass of original material like Bakhars, Sanads, letters and other state papers in his journal Kavyetihas Samgraha for more eleven years during the nineteenth century. There is much more them contribution of the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhan Mandal, Pune to this regard. -
Summer Showers 1990 Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai
SUMMER SHOWERS 1990 INDIAN CULTURE AND SPIRITUALITY Discourses by BHAGAVAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA Delivered during the Summer Course MAY-JUNE 1990 © Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust All Rights Reserved First published in India Large Print Edition 1993 Book also available in Braille Printing rights granted by arrangements with the Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust, Prasanthi Nilayam, India To: Sathya Sai Baba Society and Sathya Sai Book Center of America 305 West First Street, Tustin, California, 92780-3108 Published and distributed by the Sathya Sai Book Center of America CONTENTS 1. The glory of Indian culture ..................................................................................... 1 2. Sanctify the body .......................................................................................................6 3. The moving temple ..................................................................................................12 4. Mastery of the senses...............................................................................................20 5. Road to Divinity.......................................................................................................28 6. Hold the reins...........................................................................................................35 7. Vagaries of the mind................................................................................................40 8. Buddhi the charioteer...............................................................................................45 -
Compassion & Social Justice
COMPASSION & SOCIAL JUSTICE Edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo PUBLISHED BY Sakyadhita Yogyakarta, Indonesia © Copyright 2015 Karma Lekshe Tsomo No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the editor. CONTENTS PREFACE ix BUDDHIST WOMEN OF INDONESIA The New Space for Peranakan Chinese Woman in Late Colonial Indonesia: Tjoa Hin Hoaij in the Historiography of Buddhism 1 Yulianti Bhikkhuni Jinakumari and the Early Indonesian Buddhist Nuns 7 Medya Silvita Ibu Parvati: An Indonesian Buddhist Pioneer 13 Heru Suherman Lim Indonesian Women’s Roles in Buddhist Education 17 Bhiksuni Zong Kai Indonesian Women and Buddhist Social Service 22 Dian Pratiwi COMPASSION & INNER TRANSFORMATION The Rearranged Roles of Buddhist Nuns in the Modern Korean Sangha: A Case Study 2 of Practicing Compassion 25 Hyo Seok Sunim Vipassana and Pain: A Case Study of Taiwanese Female Buddhists Who Practice Vipassana 29 Shiou-Ding Shi Buddhist and Living with HIV: Two Life Stories from Taiwan 34 Wei-yi Cheng Teaching Dharma in Prison 43 Robina Courtin iii INDONESIAN BUDDHIST WOMEN IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Light of the Kilis: Our Javanese Bhikkhuni Foremothers 47 Bhikkhuni Tathaaloka Buddhist Women of Indonesia: Diversity and Social Justice 57 Karma Lekshe Tsomo Establishing the Bhikkhuni Sangha in Indonesia: Obstacles and -
Buddhism and Responses to Disability, Mental Disorders and Deafness in Asia
Buddhism and Responses to Disability, Mental Disorders and Deafness in Asia. A bibliography of historical and modern texts with introduction and partial annotation, and some echoes in Western countries. [This annotated bibliography of 220 items suggests the range and major themes of how Buddhism and people influenced by Buddhism have responded to disability in Asia through two millennia, with cultural background. Titles of the materials may be skimmed through in an hour, or the titles and annotations read in a day. The works listed might take half a year to find and read.] M. Miles (compiler and annotator) West Midlands, UK. November 2013 Available at: http://www.independentliving.org/miles2014a and http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/bibliography/buddhism/index.php Some terms used in this bibliography Buddhist terms and people. Buddhism, Bouddhisme, Buddhismus, suffering, compassion, caring response, loving kindness, dharma, dukkha, evil, heaven, hell, ignorance, impermanence, kamma, karma, karuna, metta, noble truths, eightfold path, rebirth, reincarnation, soul, spirit, spirituality, transcendent, self, attachment, clinging, delusion, grasping, buddha, bodhisatta, nirvana; bhikkhu, bhikksu, bhikkhuni, samgha, sangha, monastery, refuge, sutra, sutta, bonze, friar, biwa hoshi, priest, monk, nun, alms, begging; healing, therapy, mindfulness, meditation, Gautama, Gotama, Maitreya, Shakyamuni, Siddhartha, Tathagata, Amida, Amita, Amitabha, Atisha, Avalokiteshvara, Guanyin, Kannon, Kuan-yin, Kukai, Samantabhadra, Santideva, Asoka, Bhaddiya, Khujjuttara, -
Introduction
© Copyright, Princeton University Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. Introduction The Invention of an Ethnic Nationalism he Hindu nationalist movement started to monopolize the front pages of Indian newspapers in the 1990s when the political T party that represented it in the political arena, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP—which translates roughly as Indian People’s Party), rose to power. From 2 seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, the BJP increased its tally to 88 in 1989, 120 in 1991, 161 in 1996—at which time it became the largest party in that assembly—and to 178 in 1998. At that point it was in a position to form a coalition government, an achievement it repeated after the 1999 mid-term elections. For the first time in Indian history, Hindu nationalism had managed to take over power. The BJP and its allies remained in office for five full years, until 2004. The general public discovered Hindu nationalism in operation over these years. But it had of course already been active in Indian politics and society for decades; in fact, this ism is one of the oldest ideological streams in India. It took concrete shape in the 1920s and even harks back to more nascent shapes in the nineteenth century. As a movement, too, Hindu nationalism is heir to a long tradition. Its main incarnation today, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS—or the National Volunteer Corps), was founded in 1925, soon after the first Indian communist party, and before the first Indian socialist party. -
Tathagata-Garbha Sutra
Tathagata-garbha Sutra (Tripitaka No. 0666) Translated during the East-JIN Dynasty by Tripitaka Master Buddhabhadra from India Thus I heard one time: The Bhagavan was staying on Grdhra-kuta near Raja-grha in the lecture hall of a many-tiered pavilion built of fragrant sandalwood. He had attained buddhahood ten years previously and was accompanied by an assembly of hundred thousands of great bhikshus and a throng of bodhisattvas and great beings sixty times the number of sands in the Ganga. All had perfected their zeal and had formerly made offerings to hundred thousands of myriad legions of Buddhas. All could turn the Irreversible Dharma Wheel. If a being were to hear their names, he would become irreversible in the unsurpassed path. Their names were Bodhisattva Dharma-mati, Bodhisattva Simha-mati, Bodhisattva Vajra-mati, Bodhisattva Harmoniously Minded, bodhisattva Shri-mati, Bodhisattva Candra- prabha, Bodhisattva Ratna-prabha, Bodhisattva Purna-candra, Bodhisattva Vikrama, Bodhisattva Ananta-vikramin, Bodhisattva Trailokya-vikramin, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, Bodhisattva Maha-sthama-prapta, Bodhisattva Gandha-hastin, Bodhisattva Sugandha, Bodhisattva Surpassing Sublime Fragrance, Bodhisattva Supreme matrix, Bodhisattva Surya-garbha, Bodhisattva Ensign Adornment, Bodhisattva Great Arrayed Banner, Bodhisattva Vimala-ketu, Bodhisattva Boundless Light, Bodhisattva Light Giver, Bodhisattva Vimala-prabha, Bodhisattva Pramudita-raja, Bodhisattva Sada-pramudita, Bodhisattva Ratna-pani, Bodhisattva Akasha-garbha, Bodhisattva King of the Light -
5 Facts About Religion in India | Pew Research Center
5 facts about religion in India | Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/29/5-facts-about-re... MAIN MORE NEWS IN THE NUMBERS JUNE 29, 2018 5 facts about religion in India BY SAMIRAH MAJUMDAR Graffiti on a Mumbai wall. (Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images) India is home to 1.4 billion people – almost one-sixth of the world’s population – who belong to a variety of ethnicities and religions. While 94% of the world’s Hindus live in India, there also are substantial populations of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and adherents of folk religions. For most Indians, faith is important: In a 2015 Pew Research Center survey, eight-in-ten Indians said religion is very important in their lives. Here are five facts about religion in India: 1 1 of 7 11/4/20, 2:51 PM 5 facts about religion in India | Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/29/5-facts-about-re... India’s massive population includes not only the vast majority of the world’s Hindus, but also the second-largest group of Muslims within a single country, behind only Indonesia. By 2050, India’s Muslim population will grow to 311 million, making it the largest Muslim population in the world, according to Pew Research Center projections. Still, Indian Muslims are projected to remain a minority in their country, making up about 18% of the total population at midcentury, while Hindus figure to remain a majority (about 77%). India is a religiously pluralistic and multiethnic democracy – the largest 2 in the world. -
1 X 56 Or 1 X 74
1 x 56 or 1 x 74 In this fascinating documentary, historian Bettany Hughes travels to the seven wonders of the Buddhist world and offers a unique insight into one of the most ancient belief systems still practiced today. Buddhism began 2,500 years ago when one man had an amazing inter- nal revelation underneath a peepul tree in India. Today it is practiced by over 350 million people worldwide, with numbers continuing to grow year after year. In an attempt to gain a better understanding of the different beliefs and 1 x 56 or 1 x 74 practices that form the core of the Buddhist philosophy, and investigate how Buddhism started and where it travelled to, Hughes visits some of the most CONTACT spectacular monuments built by Buddhists across the globe. Tom Koch, Vice President PBS International Her journey begins at the Mahabodhi Temple in India, where Buddhism 10 Guest Street was born; here Hughes examines the foundations of the belief system—the Boston, MA 02135 USA three jewels. TEL: +1-617-208-0735 At Nepal’s Boudhanath Stupa, she looks deeper into the concept of FAX: +1-617-208-0783 dharma—the teaching of Buddha, and at the Temple of the Tooth in Sri [email protected] pbsinternational.org Lanka, Bettany explores karma, the idea that our intentional acts will be mir- rored in the future. At Wat Pho Temple in Thailand, Hughes explores samsara, the endless cycle of birth and death that Buddhists seek to end by achieving enlighten- ment, before travelling to Angkor Wat in Cambodia to learn more about the practice of meditation.