Cultural History and the Study of Religious Change: Hinduism in South Asia and Globally

This Roundtable reflects on the publication, A Cultural History of Hinduism, a six-volume study of Hinduism engaging 55 scholars from South Asian studies published this year by Bloomsbury Academic. The Roundtable brings together a group of volume editors and contributors from the publication and a critic who has not been involved with the project to discuss strategies and challenges in writing today about Hinduism and its histories in multireligious contexts past and present. The aim is to open new directions for considering the diversity of Hinduism and South Asian religious traditions and the complexity of religion as a category in relation to them. The discussion explores the multivocality emphasized in cultural history via topics such as the construction of classicality; empire’s facilitation of cultural interaction; the role of interpretation in religious ideology; practices that shape the global dissemination and consumption of Hinduism; and academic topics suggested by the audience.