Hinduism
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
Few subjects in the history of human civilization are as vast, ancient, and misunderstood as Hinduism, and Nirad C. Chaudhuri's landmark study cuts through centuries of Western misrepresentation to present the religion on its own profound terms. Drawing on a lifetime of scholarship and personal immersion in Bengali Hindu culture, Chaudhuri chronicles the origins, evolution, and living practice of one of the world's oldest religious traditions — from its ancient Vedic roots on the banks of the great rivers of the subcontinent to its rich and complex flowering across an entire civilization. Written with the intellectual authority of a man who stood at the crossroads of East and West, the work presents Hindu theology, mythology, and ritual not as exotic curiosities but as a coherent and sophisticated spiritual system. Chaudhuri's prose is characteristically bold, erudite, and unsparing — as willing to challenge Indian orthodoxy as it is to rebuke colonial condescension — making this a work of both rigorous scholarship and passionate advocacy. He argues that Hinduism cannot be understood in isolation from the geography, history, and social fabric that shaped it, weaving together Sanskrit texts, classical iconography, and personal testimony to illuminate the faith from the inside. Hinduism stands as one of the most courageous and intellectually daring attempts by any writer of the twentieth century to define a civilization through its religion, leaving the reader to wonder whether any single book can truly contain its infinite depths.
Author: Nirad C. Chaudhuri
Format: Hardback
Genre: Religion
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
Few subjects in the history of human civilization are as vast, ancient, and misunderstood as Hinduism, and Nirad C. Chaudhuri's landmark study cuts through centuries of Western misrepresentation to present the religion on its own profound terms. Drawing on a lifetime of scholarship and personal immersion in Bengali Hindu culture, Chaudhuri chronicles the origins, evolution, and living practice of one of the world's oldest religious traditions — from its ancient Vedic roots on the banks of the great rivers of the subcontinent to its rich and complex flowering across an entire civilization. Written with the intellectual authority of a man who stood at the crossroads of East and West, the work presents Hindu theology, mythology, and ritual not as exotic curiosities but as a coherent and sophisticated spiritual system. Chaudhuri's prose is characteristically bold, erudite, and unsparing — as willing to challenge Indian orthodoxy as it is to rebuke colonial condescension — making this a work of both rigorous scholarship and passionate advocacy. He argues that Hinduism cannot be understood in isolation from the geography, history, and social fabric that shaped it, weaving together Sanskrit texts, classical iconography, and personal testimony to illuminate the faith from the inside. Hinduism stands as one of the most courageous and intellectually daring attempts by any writer of the twentieth century to define a civilization through its religion, leaving the reader to wonder whether any single book can truly contain its infinite depths.