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Religion and Violence in South Asia
Theory and Practice
Edited by John R. Hinnells and Richard King
Routledge 2007
Stron IX+265, format: 15,4x23,5 cm
'This is a wonderful collection combining excellent historical scholarship with incisive cultural critique. Religion and Violence in South Asia: Theory and Practice is one of the very few books in this field to illuminate the present by an undetstanding of religious traditions. It is very well written and thus a good read both for students of social sciences and humanities.' Peter van der Veer, Utrecht University
September 11, the war in Iraq, bombing in cities from Bali and Madrid to London; there has perhaps never before been a time when the study of religion and violence have been so relevant to global society. It is a topic at once sensitive, complex, potentially offensive and of major importance.
In today's increasingly polarised world, religion has been represented by some as a primary cause of social division, conflict and war, whilst others have argued that this is a distortion of the 'true' significance of religion, which when properly followed promotes peace, harmony, goodwill and social cohesion. This collection looks beyond the stereotypical images and idealised portrayals of the peaceful South Asian religious traditions, which can occlude their own violent histories, in order to analyse the diverse attitudes towards and manifestations of violence within the major religious traditions of South Asia. An international team of distinguished contributors, led by John Hinnells and Richard King, engages with issues relating to both religion and violence in their classical and contemporary South Asian formations.
The book combines case studies with theoretical discussion, relating an up-to-date overview of current issues surrounding religious violence in South Asia to new ideas and their social, critical and cultural ramifications. Part One explores violence and the classical traditions of South Asia (Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, and Islamic), while Part Two investigates religious violence in contemporary South Asia. The book concludes with three major chapters discussing the impact of globalisation and the key theoretical issues informing contemporary discussions of the relationship between religion and violence.
John R. Hinnells is Professor of Comparative Study of Religions at Liverpool Hope University, UK. His specialist research area is Zoroastrianism and the Parsis, on which he has written, among others, The Zoroastrian Diaspora (2005). He is also the editor of various works, including The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion (2005). Richard King is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Vanderbilt University, USA. He is the co-author (with Jeremy Carrette) of Selling Spirituality (Routledge 2004) and author of Orientalism and Religion (Routledge 1999), and Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Hindu and Buddhist Thought (1999).
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Contents
Notes on contributors, vii
Introduction, JOHN R. HINNELLS AND RICHARD KING, 1
PART I
Classical approaches to violence in South Asian traditions, 9
1. Telling stories about harm: an overview of early Indian narratives, LAURIE L. PATTON (EMORY UNIVERSITY, USA) 11
2 The non-violence of violence: Jain perspectives on warfare, asceticism and worship, PAUL DUNDAS (EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY, UK), 41
3 Buddhist monks, Buddhist kings, Buddhist violence: on the early Buddhist attitudes to violence, RUPERT GETHIN (BRISTOL UNIVERSITY, UK), 62
4 Crimes against God and violent punishment in al-Fatawa al-'Alamgiriyya, ROBERT GLEAVE (EXETER UNIVERSITY, UK), 83
5 Text as sword: Sikh religious violence taken for wonder, BALBINDER SINGH BHOGAL (YORK UNIVERSITY, CANADA), 107
PART 2
Religion and violence in contemporary South Asia, 137
6 Operationalizing Buddhism for political ends in a martial context in Lanka: the case of Simhalatva, PETER SCHALK (UPPSALA UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN), 139
7 Religion and violence: the historical context for conflict in Pakistan, IAN TALBOT (COVENTRY UNIVERSITY, UK), 154
8 The 2002 pogrom in Gujarat: the post-9/11 face of Hindu nationalist anti-Muslim violence, CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT (CERI, FRANCE), 173
PART 3
Theory: framing the 'religion and violence' debate, 193
9 A categorical difference: communal identity in British epistemologies, PETER GOTTSCHALK (WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, USA), 195
10 The global fiduciary: mediating the violence of'religion', ARVIND MANDAIR (UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, USA), 211
11 The association of 'religion' with violence: reflections on a modern trope, RICHARD KING (VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY, USA), 226
Index 258
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