Sacred India

by Lonely Planet, Sarina Singh

Documents the four major religions in India, along with six minor religions through text as well as photographs

Genres: Travel

166 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

OUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.

Reviews

[Jeff Clay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is it a small coffee table book or is it a comprehensive survey of India's religious landscape? Sacred India tries to be both and as such is mostly successful. It is beautifully put together with sections on both major and minor religions of India. This is of course supported by text, photographs and a few diagrams of holy places that are quite well done. The photos -- some quite striking and others fairly prosaic -- do a pretty good job adding visual context to the text. The Basic principles of the religions are laid out with perhaps a little history and then supported in primarily an anecdotal manner via interviews. These individual personal stories are probably the strongest part of the book. As a secular person I am always amazed by the depth of belief of some peoples. The cultural diversity and visual expressions of these religions are of most interest to me. Sacred India does a good job of highlighting both the differences and similarities between the religions of this vast human landscape. If one wanted an introduction to that topic this would be a good place to start.

[Jackie Berke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good basic information. Beautiful photos

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I thought the photos included in this book were fascinating, I was disappointed that some of the religions in this book did not get a bit more attention to them.

[Angelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book from start to finish. As it's a "Lonely Planet" book, the pictures are beautiful and evocative.

[P.D.R. Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful photos, good basic information about the different religious beliefs in India. Good for research but also a charming coffee table book.