Hindu Religious Tradition

by Hopkins, Thomas J.

• ISBN13: 9780822100225
• ISBN10: 0822100223
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1971-01-01
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

This book provides a comprehensive survey of Hindu development from the Indus civilization to the present.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Preface	viii
Introduction	1	(2)
The Aryans and Early Indian Culture	3	(14)
The Indus Civilization	3	(1)
The Indus Cities	4	(1)
Indus Art	5	(3)
The Continuation of Indus Culture	8	(2)
The Coming of the Aryans	10	(1)
The Gods of the Early Aryans	11	(3)
The Aryan Fire Sacrifice	14	(3)
The Creative Power of the Sacrifice	17	(19)
Decline of the Vedic Gods	17	(1)
The Expanded Role of Agni	17	(2)
The Sounds of the Sacrifice	19	(2)
Creation and the Sacrifice	21	(4)
The Creative Power of Heat	25	(2)
Ritual Magic and the Atharva Veda	27	(1)
The Priest as Ritualist and Magician	28	(3)
Knowledge and Ritual Purity	31	(1)
The Ritual as Creator and Preserver of the Cosmos	32	(1)
The Place of Man in the Cosmos	33	(3)
The Upanishads	36	(16)
The Search for the Self of Man	36	(2)
Speculation in the Early Upanishads	38	(2)
The Teaching of Yajnavalkya	40	(3)
Being Alone Exists	43	(2)
The Final Goal of the Upanishads	45	(2)
The Religious Implications of Upanishadic Teaching	47	(2)
Asceticism and the Vedic Tradition	49	(1)
The Search for New Solutions	50	(2)
Challenges and Change	52	(12)
The Rise of Non-Vedic Movements	52	(2)
The Ajivakas and Jains	54	(1)
The Buddhist Rejection of the Vedic World View	55	(2)
The Mauryan Empire	57	(2)
Religion and Art in the Post-Mauryan Period	59	(4)
Summary: The Challenge to Brahmanical Religion	63	(1)
The New Brahmanical Synthesis	64	(23)
Yoga in the Late Upanishads	64	(3)
The Yoga of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras	67	(2)
Theism in the Late Upanishads	69	(4)
Karma and Dharma in the Brahmanical Tradition	73	(1)
The Varnasrama-Dharma System	74	(2)
Students and House-holders	76	(2)
The Importance of Marriage	78	(1)
Astrology in the Brahmanical System	79	(2)
Beyond Householdership: The Path to Release	81	(3)
The Success of the Brahmanical System	84	(3)
The Religion of the Epics and Puranas	87	(21)
Siva and Vishnu in the Epics	87	(3)
The Bhagavad Gita	90	(5)
The Origins of Puranic Theism	95	(2)
The Pasupatas and Lakulisas	97	(2)
Vaishnavite Sectarianism and the Vishnu Purana	99	(1)
Creation and the Yugas	99	(3)
Vishnu as Krishna Gopala	102	(6)
Late Puranic Religion: The Full Tradition	108	(23)
Theism under the Guptas and Their Successors	108	(2)
Puja	110	(2)
Sectarian Agamas and Tantra	112	(1)
The Standardization of Images	113	(2)
Tantric Practices in the Sectarian Agamas	115	(2)
The New Devotionalism	117	(2)
The Major Lines of Hindu Development	119	(1)
Brahmanical Orthodoxy: Sankara and the Smarta Tradition	119	(2)
Sectarian Theism: Ramanuja and the Sri-Vaishnava Sect	121	(3)
Emotional Devotion: The Bhagavata Purana and Popular Poet-Saints	124	(2)
Devi, the Saktas, and Tantra	126	(5)
The Continuing Tradition	131	(10)
Muslims and the West	131	(2)
The Movements of Hindu Reform	133	(3)
The Vitality of the Tradition	136	(5)
Outline of the Development of Vedic Writings	141	(1)
A Schematic Diagram of the Hindu Religious Tradition	142	(1)
Selected Readings	143	(7)
Index	150