Hinduism

The volumes in the new series Religions of the World surveys religions that have had a major impact on the history of the world and that continue to play a role in relationships between nations and ethnic groups. All aspects–including roots and founding, primary beliefs and cultural activities, the way the faiths are viewed by the rest of the world, and the experience of growing up as a member of the religion–are be examined. Although the polytheistic religion of India has had a limited influence outside its native nation, it has nonetheless always been a subject of interest to both scholars and lay people alike. With its controversial caste system and its pantheon of unusual deities, Hinduism is very different from most of the faiths common in the West.