Hinduism, Kim Knott
Hinduism, Kim Knott
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Hinduism
A Very Short Introduction, 2nd Edition

Author: Kim Knott

Narrator: Sunny Patel

Unabridged: 3 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/17/2021


Synopsis

Hinduism is practiced by nearly eighty percent of India's population, and by some seventy million people outside India. In this Very Short Introduction, Kim Knott offers a succinct and authoritative overview of this major religion, and analyzes the challenges facing it in the twenty-first century. She discusses key preoccupations of Hinduism such as the centrality of the Veda as religious texts, the role of Brahmins, gurus, and storytellers in the transmission of divine truths, and the cultural and moral importance of epics such as the Ramayana.

In this second edition Knott considers the impact of changes in technology and the flourishing of social media on Hinduism, and looks at the presence of Hinduism in popular culture, considering pieces such as Sita Sings the Blues. She also analyzes recent developments in India, and the impact issues such as Hindu nationalism and the politicization of Hinduism have on Hindus worldwide.

About Kim Knott

Kim Knott is professor of religious and secular studies. Previously at the University of Leeds but now at Lancaster University, she teaches the study of religions, including Hinduism, and researches religious/secular controversies and religion in public life, focusing on the media, conflict, and security. She has authored and edited a number of books, including Media Portrayals of Religion and the Secular Sacred with Elizabeth Poole and Teemu Taira, Diasporas: Concepts, Intersections, Identities with Sean McLoughlin, and The Location of Religion: A Spatial Analysis. She has also produced a website for young people and teachers of global education, citizenship, history, and geography called Moving People, Changing Places.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Justin on December 30, 2011

It's becoming really obvious to me that the OVSI series is handicapped a bit by the general academic climate: here's a well-written, sympathetic and reasonably objective book about Hinduism. Knott is perfectly transparent about her approach, which is to discuss Hinduism for the most part as it exist......more

Goodreads review by mwr on January 26, 2014

I understand the constraints that writing a 100 page introduction to something as complex as Hinduism poses, but I don't think there can be any cogent rationale given for the emphasis here. Far too much on colonialism, sexism, diasporism (much without any real discussion so that it seemed oddly form......more

Goodreads review by Choonghwan on April 28, 2012

I picked this book last year. The title was much engaging and enticing. When I was in India in late 1990s for a business trip, Indian people and their living were very shocking to a ignorant foreigner like me. Economic disparity and social division was too great. I have been in need of something whi......more