What started as a small religious community and reform movement in 19th century northwestern India is now one of the fastest growing devotional (bhakti) Hindu communities in the world. The story of the Swaminarayan community’s growth is one of literary and performative innovation, colonial interaction, and architectural revolution. This edited volume presents perspectives on this popular religious community’s growth and cultural adaptation over the past two centuries. The volume is unique in that it includes studies by twenty scholars from different disciplines–religion, sociology, history, architecture, philosophy, literature–both insiders and outsiders, scholars who established research and those who will shape academic study of Swaminarayan Hinduism in the future. More information on the volume is available here. 

Join us for the release of the first such comprehensive edited volume on this global Hindu tradition. The program consists of a conversation with the editors, Raymond Brady Williams (Wabash College), Yogi Trivedi (Columbia University) and contributing scholar, Adam Hardy (Cardiff University)

The conversation will be followed by a performance of the poetry and song from the volume by Yogi Trivedi (Columbia University). The event will be hosted and presided over by Diwakar Acharya, Spalding Professor of Hindu Studies, All Souls College. The event will be moderated by Shaunaka Rishi Das (OCHS). Refreshments will be served.

This event is co-sponsored by the Oxford University Press, the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, and the Oxford Theological Society.