Introducing Hinduism A Graphic Guide

Introducing Graphic Guides

by Vinay Lal

"Hinduism is said to be the world's oldest religion. Yet the word 'Hindu' is of foreign 18th-century origin. Hinduism is defined as a polytheistic religion, but Mahatma Gandhi famously declared that one can be a Hindu without believing in any god. Hinduism appears to accommodate endless contradictions. It is a religion at least as much of myth as of history - it has no historical founder, no single authoritative book, and few central doctrines." Introducing Hinduism offers a guide to this extraordinarily diverse faith. It untangles the complexities of Hinduism's gods and goddesses, its caste system and its views on sex, everyday life and asceticism. Why do Hindus revere the cow? Must Hindus be vegetarian? Introducing Hinduism explores the links with and differences from Buddhism, Jainism and other religions, and describes the resurgence of Hindu extremism, the phenomenon of Bollywood and the overseas Hindu diaspora.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Hinduism, History, Graphic Novels, Philosophy, Comics

Paperback

First published May 10, 2001

Reviews

[Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is, sadly, one of my least favorite books in this series. The problem with this book is that it is too superficial for my liking. It should have included a few more details about Hinduism. Moreover, the author should have double-checked certain information and avoided bias before entering it into this book.

Almost all the books in the Introducing series are brilliant. I think the author should have taken a little more effort in writing this book.
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[Aishwariya Laxmi · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the idea of coming up with a graphic novel on Hindusim is commendable, what I read was a very shoddy, half-hearted attempt; a badly edited book that jumped from topic to topic, attempting to cover everything under the sun relating to Hindusim and doing justice to none. What was worse was that there were numerous spelling errors, highlighting the fact that this book did not go through a round of copy-editing. Even more confusing was the author's sudden use of first-person while referring to religious or political leaders.

[Ajay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst book ever.

[Isha Varma · Rating 1 out of 5]

I decided to pick this up because I wanted to know more about Hinduism as a religion. Although, it did start on a good note, eventually, I realised that the author strategised the content extremely poorly!
He didn’t have a clarity of thought about the purpose of writing this book - which is quite evident by the way he kept jumping from one topic to another without even considering how unrelated they seemed.

Secondly, I thought this book was about giving an insight to Hinduism as a religion and culture but unfortunately, by the mid of it, the author’s personal bitterness and bias sort of started taking a toll on the subject.
To my utter surprise, by the end of the book, it wasn’t even about Hinduism anymore!

This was my second book in the Graphic guide series and by far the worst of the lot! If you’re planning to read this in order to get an insight on Hinduism as a religion in general, I’d suggest you find a better source which is not just more authentic but also well-refined in terms of writing.

Overall, it was a BADLY written book and kinda lame.

[Phoenix · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book dealt with complicated and great themes in a paragraph or two. So naturally it was not comprehensive. It is a book which tried to talk about almost all aspects of Hinduism which is commendable. However it dealt with everything in a very hurried manner and didn’t give much details (but what more can be expected from a 180 page book promising to introduce the readers to Hinduism). Most of the illustrations, I thought, were lame and not very informative.

This book was also biased. Towards the end, writings started to lean towards the author beliefs which it shouldn’t have.

Overall, it should have been more organized, more relevant and impartial. This served more like a very basic and crude book of facts, not a good introduction.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is impossible to capture the nuances of a religion or culture in one book, let alone a graphic novel of sorts. But this book never claims to be the final word on the subject. Quite the opposite: if you know nothing about Hinduism, as I did, then this is a delight.

Yes, the book does skirt the more religious aspects, but once you read it you'll understand why. Hinduism can be complicated. I also liked that the author aimed to be objective around the topics, making this an even more engrossing read.

My main complaint would be that a lot of the art is a bit shoddy and that I was hoping for a little more on the pantheon of Hindu gods. But for what it is, this is a good start if you want to learn about Hinduism.

[S.Ach · Rating 3 out of 5]

To understand any religion fully one needs to study its multiple aspects - its philosophy, mythology, rituals and customs, history, and last but not the least, its politics.
Confining the vastness of Hinduism in few pages of a graphic guide is an arduous task, and here the author does a complete mess of a job. The book lacks a structure, and the author jumps from one aspect of Hinduism to another in such rapid succession that it could leave the reader, especially the uninitiated, utterly confused.
Probably, for a westerner, completely oblivious to Hinduism, it could act as a primer, but I hope, the readers don't stop here and judge this great religion on basis of the information in this book, rather explore further.

[Icon Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Introducing Hinduism" offers a guide to the key philosophical, literary, mythological and cultural traditions of this extraordinarily diverse faith. It untangles the complexities of Hinduism's gods and goddesses, its caste system and its views on sex, everyday life and asceticism. This work answers questions including: Why do Hindus revere the cow? Must Hindus be vegetarian? And much more...

[Keke Aulia · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone that learn Hindu from quiet various sources, honestly this is one of the funnest ways to learn Hindu. The book is full with fun graphics and easy-to-understand explanation. However, it lacks of the historical approach, and you need to back it up with another book (for sure) to fully understand Hindu.

[Animesh Mitra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disgusting, boring, non-informative, even Wikipedia gives more information than this nauseating and obnoxious pamphlets.

[K.T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, information-wise, this is an okay guide if you nothing more than a few pages on introductory topics. It is, however, completely in black and white. Cheaper for mass production sure but the colorfulness of Indian society/Hinduism is lost. And it’s a drag to read. There are some antiquated misogynistic assertions made (women are nothing without husbands and the same goes for goddesses, WTF?) meanwhile Krishna is praised for fucking 16,000 women. I expected way more from an Indian historian/US college professor.

[Indian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic review of a brief history of Hinduism, starting from the 1500 BC Indus Valley Civilization to the modern India.
Like most western books, it's a critic of the good as well as the nefarious aspects of the religion.
We need more and more books like these, which mentions about the super-masculinity of Swami Vivekananda's Hindusim and the Hidutva proponents of right-wing groups.
So as the atrocities meted out to the Shudras, outcastes, windowed women and other degeneration that creeps into all religion as time progress.
Many in India, grown up on the family-neighborhood-community religion lessons may find parts of this book inconvenient to grasp. (Religion is not taught in any schools text-books of modern secular India)
But I found this book very interesting with a broad canvass. It talks about Kamsutra, Khajuraho temples, ManuSrmiti as much as it does about Indian emphasis on vegetarianism, as well as the the consumption of meat allowed to the Bhramins of Kashmir,Bengal and Konkan.
A good start to begin a honest understanding of this oldest religion of humankind with all its challenges and fallacies as well some of its remarkably tolerant world-view!

[Gordon A. Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Instructive and entertaining!

I am not a Hindu nor am I well read in the subject so all I can say is that I know more than I did before reading this volume.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I’ve read bad reviews about this book, It is an amazing book in my opinion, if you try to start reading books like the Bhagavad Gita or Ramayana with absolutely no context about Hinduism, chances are you think it’s extremely difficult to understand, specially because of the amount of Sanskrit words. That’s exactly what happened to me, I tried to read a book of Lord Krishna and found myself really confused and overwhelmed, so I went to the basics: this book. It is extremely easy to read, it contains exactly what you need to acquire the necessary context for you to understand the bigger picture. If you’re interested in Hinduism, but you don’t know where to start, this piece is basically “Hinduism for dummies”, I highly recommend it as an introduction. If you’re more introduced, know a variety of gods and goddesses and you’re basically Into deeper knowledge, this book is not for you.
Ignore the negative reviews, it is great.

[Jaimit Doshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

very nicely and smartly explained. gave me interesting insights in hinduism that we assume we know but know very little of.

[D C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rate these guides highly as they are wonderful humorous introductions for someone looking to learn the basics of any of the subjects

[voulpit · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the most profane books.. Dropped it.

[Yoel ben Yehuda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very informative read

Gives a very concise overview of Hinduism in a very brief read. The illustrations are also fun to see and read.

[Lloyd Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

There....I've done it again. Bought a book that promised to give me some complex subject in a nutshell so I wouldn't have to put in countless hours studying and reading about the subject. And, of course, I'm always let down. Yes. This is a nice little "graphic guide" where pictures/cartoons are used to try and encapsulate complex ideas. And I've recently read another "Very Short introduction to Hinduism"...which was very different but also in its own way, unsatisfying.
One thing that I did pick up from the current book is that Hinduism has thousands of variants and literally thousands of gods. And one reason that buddhism died in India was that it was simply absorbed into the panoply of gods and belief systems within Hinduism. So you could be Hindu and Buddhist at the same time.
The previous book that I read about Hinduism was written by an academic who (apparently) was not Hindu herself but she was more interested in the diaspora of the Hindu faith than how it appeared at home in India. This current book is more embedded in the faith at home. (Though it it written by an Indian academic based in California). And, I must say, that I wonder about the real ability of either type of author to give man objective and unbiased account of the religion. If you are a believer, one has to suspect bias. And if you are an unbeliever, one has also to expect bias. But, of the two books, I think I prefer this one.
I might also digress to comment on the illustrator. I've actually scripted a graphic book a bit like this many years ago and I recall the delicate dance I had with the illustrator who brought their own ideas and preconceptions to the task. And sometimes, I simply went along with the illustrator although he had not quite captured what I wanted, because, on the whole he was doing a great job and i didn't want to disrupt the relationship. So I wonder how much of this happened in the current book? I must say, I found the guys with back packs, throughout, a little unnecessary and strange.
One thing that came though very clearly for me was the historical background (invasions and take-overs) to the caste system and the great advantage that gave to the Muslims who (notionally anyway) rejected the caste system. And I rather enjoyed the injection of the graphics ..with all their complexity into the narrative. It gave a much better "picture' of the complexity of Hinduism. And I found myself wondering if the current breed of "muscular" Christianity in the USA would ever make inroads into a religion like Hinduism. I don't think so. Even after hundreds of years of Christian missionary activity in India they seem to have had very minor success ...and that.... with the untouchable class....for obvious reasons.
I also found myself wondering about universal human values which seemed to shine through all the complexity of Hinduism: basically being about fairness. The "good guys" were fair and honest. (Though as I think more about it we still have the caste system and the "roles" assigned to people ......such as Brahmin or Dalit....which you couldn't break out of).
Yes a complex little book. I was about to send to off to the charity for recycling but think I will keep it....with the fond idea that I may revisit it and reread it. (most unlikely at my stage of life) but certainly worth four stars.

[Harsh VS · Rating 2 out of 5]

1 star for the effort put into writing and illustration. 1 star for the bitter realities, some of them general and some specific, which have been mentioned here. I think the series is meant, for people who aren't familiar with the themes and subject of respective volume, to be an entry point into the vast literature. Sadly, this book fails on many levels. It's very short; jumps to topics and issues without delving in details sufficiently; and at places comes out as outright biased.

Any introductory text on a religion will probably delve first into its philosophy, important teachings etc. in the opening pages. Here, by that logic is Caste System. The singular defining characteristic of Hinduism.
No objection, however, can be raised to the content that has been given under the 'Caste System'.

If there is a criticism that students of many non-Indian school systems only know India/Hinduism in terms of caste system, then this book only strengthens that notion.
The book should have delved deeper into varied ascpects of Hindu worldview, notions of time, and philosophies etc.

Sections on the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are good, but same problem persists that complex issues and ideas have been oversimplified, and multiple interpretative models ignored.

One example of this can be the mention of terms 'great culture' and 'lesser culture'.
Though terms are now being debated, the problem here is that, even the lesser culture has not been dealt with properly. It can be inferred here that first, Hinduism is Brahminism, and then, there are other trends here too, but that are not important, and so no need to explore those, instead focus on Brahminism, and so continue to paint everything with same colour, and thus instead of offering of a nuanced, balanced text, respecting a faith and belief system of millions, instead be hyper-critical.

The volume on Islam in this series, as that is the only other volume on religion that I have read in the series (as is available on Kindle Prime) can be compared for all the things that make this book seem like a half-hearted, agenda driven work.

One point of contrast that can be mentioned is the number of pages. Islam one takes more than 300 pages to introduce Islam, and this one is able to cover the theme under study in less than 200 pages.

(Haven't completed the Islam one yet, first 100 pages only, so some points may be added later.)

[Sara Cornelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este es el 3er libro que leo de la serie, y el primer contacto que tengo con el hinduismo asi que no poseo la capacidad para juzgar el contenido del libro de una manera adecuada, porque pues todo para mi era nuevo. Pero lo que si puedo comentar, es la manera en la que se brinda el contenido.

Y si bien es un libro introductorio, la verdad lo encontré un tanto dificil de seguir, simplemente por lo denso del tema. Y lo peor es que siento que el libro tocó el tema de una manera superficial. Y esto no es critica del libro en sí mismo, sino solo un comentario sobre el tema del hinduismo, un tema demaciado extenso como para abordarlo todo en un solo libro. Entonces entiendo un poco que el autor hizo lo que pudo para resumirlo y explicarlo de la mejor manera posible. Sin embargo, de todas formas me pareció un poco menos accesible que los otros libros que he leído de la serie.

Pero en general fue un libro que me gustó, lo encontré informativo y en general, de no saber absolutamente nada sobre el hiduismo, ahora al menos tengo una idea sobre lo que va, que era lo que buscaba. Además las imagenes como siempre, ayudaron a hacer el libro más digerible de lo que hubiera sido sin estas.

[Aman · Rating 1 out of 5]

So much hate and baised against Hinduism in this book. The writer ziauddin sardar is a Pakistani immigrant in UK. Most Pakistanis don't like indian specially Hinduism. I guess where this hate again Hinduism came from. Book could have been much better like other part of the introduction series. In many aspact it phrases Britishers for abolish some bad practices against woman in Hinduism but didn't mention what Britishers used to do with womans in India and what they did to all communities and region in India - Divide and rule. Also, book is incorrect in many sources. It mentioned that god shiva was not mentioned in Ramayana, however, Ravana was bhakt of Shiva. The research for this book was baised and lost a lot of potential.

[Sheelie Kittee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be surprisingly helpful and informative despite having been raised and surrounded by Hinduism my life. It is easy to take what we grow up and have surrounded ourselves by, for granted or to assume we know so much, yet we may hardly know anything at all.

I do feel more confident in my beliefs in terms of religion and spirituality although I am not entirely sure if I would call myself a part of any organized religion. I surely believe in a higher spirit or deity (deities perhaps) and prefer to see my religion as that of the Integral Yoga, however I guess that is still a sub-set of Hinduism itself.

[Ramesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best part of the book is at the end where the author suggests a set of books that can help understand Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma. The book should have stuck at exploring a bit more on hinduism rather than finding faults about it. Seems to be written by a so called secular communist. There are pieces of important information and there is some good distillation of certain points that is allowed by the format of the book, wish the author would have used the minimum available space about the upanishads, vedas, festivals, rituals etc instead went about Hindutva, Sati, Caste and the usual stuff that grabs western eyes. An opportunity lost.

[Andrew Noselli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two synchronicities arose in reading this text: the 'stiff upper lip' of the colonizing Englishman was featured, which I had just encountered in definitive form when reading Yeats volume of Celtic folklore yesterday, as a British sea-captain awoke to find his ship was going down, recommended to his subaltern to fix this expression on his face; also noted was the Indian Mughal ruler of the 18th century, Aurangzeb, a devout Muslim who surely served as the inspiration for Dryden's play of the same name, which I read earlier this week.

[John Parle · Rating 4 out of 5]

After just a few hours of page-turning, I have a much better appreciation for this topic. My main take-away was the amazing versatility and diversity within Hinduism; it is both deeply ancient and consistently dynamic, by turns repulsive and attractive, abstract and practical, and somehow both polytheistic and monotheistic. A great introduction that will leave you with the appetite and the directions to go and find out more. The author takes a commendable stance against modern right-wing Hindu extremism in the final pages, which I think might explain a lot of the negative reviews.

[Hemani · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

The book covered the cultural, evolutionary, religious aspects of Hinduism and other influential personalities associated with it, which was what I was looking for - a brief overview, to better understand the culture, tradition and the popular mythological stories we keep on hearing on a day-to-day basis. It did a decent job of summarising that, but there were quite a lot of typos, grammatical mistakes and incorrect translations, and a lot of topics needed more in-depth explanation. Plus, there was no sequence to the topics. I did find it quite informative though.

[Sandeep Gautam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty decent overview of Hinduism with all its nuances and subtleties. The author does a good job of addressing complexities in a small space; the illustrations are good and for someone not familiar with Hinduism, this would be pretty useful.
However, in the end, his rants about VHP/ bajrang dal etc seem out of place and uncalled for. By focusing and highlighting one part of ramjanmbhoomi dispute, the author vilifies the entire contemporary Hindutva movement.

[Anish Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Your time wouldn't be wasted i promise

I liked the concept of sharing knowledge through comics. The language used is fabulous except some phrases. The graphic content could be improved and it should talk the content related to it.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I learnt from this book is that Hinduism is many things to many people. I guess I would have to decide for myself what it is to me... In the end, I feel less bad about not really understanding all of the traditions, because there are so so many.