Dharma: The Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh Traditions of India

by Veena R. Howard (Editor), Rita D. Sherma (Editor)

Dharma is central to all the major religious traditions that originated on the Indian subcontinent. Such is its importance that these traditions cannot adequately be understood apart from it. Often translated as "ethics," "religion," "law," or "social order," dharma possesses elements of each of these but is not confined to any single category familiar to Western thought. Neither is it the straightforward equivalent of what many in the West might usually consider to be "a philosophy." This much-needed analysis of the history and heritage of dharma shows that it is instead a multi-faceted religious force, or paradigm, that has defined and that continues to shape the different cultures and civilizations of South Asia in a whole multitude of forms, organizing many aspects of life.

Experts in the fields of Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Sikh studies here bring fresh insights to dharma in terms both of its distinctiveness and its commonality as these are expressed across, and between, the several religions of the subcontinent. Exploring ethics, practice, history, and social and gender issues, the contributors engage critically with some prevalent and often problematic interpretations of dharma, and point to new ways of appreciating these traditions in a manner that is appropriate to and thoroughly consistent with their varied internal debates, practices and self-representations.

Genres: School

272 pages, Paperback

Published September 30, 2017

Reviews

[Nina Cast · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book for a text book, but in the end it's still a text book. Each chapter is written by a different author, with the Sikh chapter being by far the most easily readable one.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chapter on Buddhism is not an essay on the meaning of dharma in that tradition. It is a ranting polemic arguing for a perspective alien to both Asian and Western Buddhist experience of the dharma. Which makes me wonder what the opinion of Hindu, Jain, and Sikh practitioners is about the academic "World Religions" style-genre description provided in this book.