This lecture series provides some basic material for Theology FHS Paper 20, ‘Hinduism 1: Brahminism’. These lectures offer a thematic and historical introduction to the sources and early development of ‘Hindu’ traditions from their early formation to the early medieval period. We will explore the formation of Hindu traditions through textual sources, such as the Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, along with the practices and social institutions that formed classical Hindu traditions. The course will include an introduction to Hindu philosophy. A detailed reading list will be supplied at the start of the lectures which will be based loosely around Gavin Flood’s Introduction to Hinduism (CUP 1996).
Lecture tag: Hinduism
Hinduism 1: Session Eight (MT13)
This lecture series provides some basic material for Theology FHS Paper 20, ‘Hinduism 1: Brahminism’. These lectures offer a thematic and historical introduction to the sources and early development of ‘Hindu’ traditions from their early formation to the early medieval period. We will explore the formation of Hindu traditions through textual sources, such as the Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, along with the practices and social institutions that formed classical Hindu traditions. The course will include an introduction to Hindu philosophy. A detailed reading list will be supplied at the start of the lectures which will be based loosely around Gavin Flood’s Introduction to Hinduism (CUP 1996).
Hinduism 1: Session Four (MT13)
This lecture series provides some basic material for Theology FHS Paper 20, ‘Hinduism 1: Brahminism.’ These lectures offer a thematic and historical introduction to the sources and early development of ‘Hindu’ traditions from their early formation to the early medieval period. We will explore the formation of Hindu traditions through textual sources, such as the Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, along with the practices and social institutions that formed classical Hindu traditions. The course will include an introduction to Hindu philosophy. A detailed reading list will be supplied at the start of the lectures which will be based loosely around Gavin Flood’s Introduction to Hinduism (CUP 1996).
Hinduism 1: Session Two (MT13)
This lecture series provides some basic material for Theology FHS Paper 20, “Hinduism 1: Brahminism.’ These lectures offer a thematic and historical introduction to the sources and early development of ‘Hindu’ traditions from their early formation to the early medieval period. We will explore the formation of Hindu traditions through textual sources, such as the Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, along with the practices and social institutions that formed classical Hindu traditions. The course will include an introduction to Hindu philosophy. A detailed reading list will be supplied at the start of the lectures which will be based loosely around Gavin Flood’s Introduction to Hinduism (CUP 1996).
Hinduism 1: Session Three (MT13)
This lecture series provides some basic material for Theology FHS Paper 20, “Hinduism 1: Brahminism.’ These lectures offer a thematic and historical introduction to the sources and early development of ‘Hindu’ traditions from their early formation to the early medieval period. We will explore the formation of Hindu traditions through textual sources, such as the Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, along with the practices and social institutions that formed classical Hindu traditions. The course will include an introduction to Hindu philosophy. A detailed reading list will be supplied at the start of the lectures which will be based loosely around Gavin Flood’s Introduction to Hinduism (CUP 1996).
Suffering
This seminar will explore the idea of suffering in Hindu traditions and the proposed remedies for its termination.
Hinduism in Bengal and Bali (TT13)
In terms of layering, while Bengali Saktism has folk, yogic-tantric and bhakti layers, Balinese Hinduism has folk religion, agama tirtha, and agama hindu dharma. From the perspective of mysticism, while Bengali sadhus and sadhikas have visions of Kali and union through both emotion and yogic expanded consciousness, Balinese pedandas have daily ritual union with Shiva/Surya to create holy water and link the religion in exile with both the gods and the homeland of India, creating Ganges water. From a political perspective, whereas the Bengali goddess has been linked to patriotism, defense of the land and concern for the oppressed (including women). In Bali, the religion has developed into a monotheism that protects it from Islamic concerns with idolatry, and hints that the Hindu god has legitimacy as one of the hidden names of Allah. Balinese forms of religion strongly emphasize dharma (as one pedanda said, the island is too small for renunciation- there is no place to go to be alone!) In these and other ways we will explore the contrast between their understandings of dharma, and roles of religious experience, renunciation, and society in Hinduism.
Cosmopolitan visions of the homeland. How Hindus in the diaspora are renegotiating multiple identities
Hindus in Britain are undergoing an interesting shift in their understanding of place within society at large. From multicultural parodies of ghettos, to the current appreciable cosmopolitan ethos within many Hindu communities in Britain, this paper shall evaluate some key elements that could explain why homeland inclinations may be evolving in the next generation. Cosmopolitanism is now increasingly being raised to avoid the drawbacks of essentialism or some kind of zero-sum, all-or-nothing understanding of identity issues within a nation-state framework (Clifford 1998). It is amongst the backdrop of an emerging cosmopolitan that we can attempt to find ways in which Hindus have been negotiating the public, private, and religious spaces within which identity creation has been occurring. By using the framework of cosmopolitanism, we can attempt to understand the emerging new rhetoric of identity creation, and how these identities have been evolving over the course of multiple generations (Amin 2012). Temple building has served as one pillar, amongst many, that have served in performing this renegotiation of identities. They have served as a response to the diasporic longings of a transnational community, but most importantly, in a way that is ‘recognised’ and ‘accepted’ by their host community (Kim 2007). Hindus, raised in the ‘West’, whom are encultured into the ‘Western’ notions of religion and identity, are often caught in the middle between their ‘Eastern’ transnational linkages, beliefs, and understandings, and their daily lived reality. This paper seeks to investigate this hybrid space between the West and East in the minds and lived realities of the Hindus in Britain.
Hinduism 1: Session One (MT13)
This lecture series provides some basic material for Theology FHS Paper 20, “Hinduism 1: Brahminism.’ These lectures offer a thematic and historical introduction to the sources and early development of ‘Hindu’ traditions from their early formation to the early medieval period. We will explore the formation of Hindu traditions through textual sources, such as the Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, along with the practices and social institutions that formed classical Hindu traditions. The course will include an introduction to Hindu philosophy. A detailed reading list will be supplied at the start of the lectures which will be based loosely around Gavin Flood’s Introduction to Hinduism (CUP 1996).
Hinduism 2, Hindu Traditions (Paper 21)
Beginning with the early medieval period, this paper traces the development of Hinduism in devotional (bhakti) and tantric traditions. The paper examines the development of Śaiva, Śākta, and Vaiṣṇava traditions along with ideas about liberation, ritual, asceticism, yoga and devotion. There will be some exploration of Hinduism and Modernity and there may also be reference to major schools of Hindu philosophy such as Vedānta.