Is asceticism—and in particular its relation to rationality—the right category around which to frame the history of Hinduism in the…
The skull that begs
Hinduism
Scholar or retailer of import goods? Reza Aslan, his guru, and his critics
![By Ken Wieland [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://ssrc-static.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/12155304/Ahilya_Ghat_by_the_Ganges_Varanasi-e1494618784878.jpg)
“I came to Varanasi India to do a show about Hinduism, about karma, reincarnation, the caste system, and a little…
The complicated case of Narendra Modi’s visa
Monday, May 12th, marked the ninth and final phase of India's general elections, and the results announced in coming hours…
Judge rules yoga not a threat to separation of church and state
A judge in California ruled on Monday that teaching yoga in public schools does not violate the U.S. Constitution's separation…
Religious freedom as crisis claims
Adopted in 1950, Article 17 of the Indian Constitution legally abolished untouchability---the ancient Hindu system of social discrimination---forbade its practice…
The problem of translation: A view from India
What is the politics of religious freedom? For the past decade and more, those who would like to see the…
Whose Yoga?
NPR's Margot Adler reports on the current popularity of yoga in the United States, and its disassociation with Hinduism. She…
Axial axioms
The word “magisterial” in publishers’ blurbs usually means little more than “too long,” and indeed Religion in Human Evolution is…
A blast from the past: lessons in eastern religion and philosophy
Fifty years ago, Alan Watts popularized ideas of eastern philosophy and religion. Open Culture shares a relic of the past.
Hinduism, prosperity, and India’s rising middle class
The tendency in recent years of some U.S. evangelical and Pentecostal Christian preachers to celebrate immense wealth, rather than critique…