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| Preface | |
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| List of illustrations and maps | |
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| On Wearing Good Lenses | |
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| Lenses used through the years | |
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| Pejorative putdown | |
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| Romanticism | |
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| "Noble savage" | |
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| Interpretation by imposition | |
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| "Benign neglect" | |
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| On understanding the "nature" of religion | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Sources of Indian Religion | |
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| Hunting communities | |
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| Agricultural communities | |
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| The "Indo-European" influence | |
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| The Vedic period | |
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| The ritual system | |
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| Hymns and commentaries | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| The Early Urban Period | |
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| The Upanisads | |
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| The "heterodoxies" | |
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| Jainism | |
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| Early Buddhism | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Timeline of Chapters 2 and 3 | |
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| The Urban Period | |
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| The context | |
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| Kingship and artha | |
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| Theism: Buddhist and vaidika | |
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| Devotionalism | |
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| Articulation of an "urban" ethic | |
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| The household | |
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| The role of women | |
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| Jati or caste | |
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| The symbolism of food | |
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| Yoga | |
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| Summary | |
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| The epics | |
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| Aesthetics and the arts | |
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| Religious life at the popular level | |
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| Developments in Buddhism | |
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| Kingship | |
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| Ethics | |
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| Attitude toward city-state | |
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| Pantheon | |
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| Iconography | |
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| Sacred spaces | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Timeline of Chapter 4 | |
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| The Post-classical Period | |
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| South India | |
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| Bhakti | |
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| The emergence of temples | |
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| The Colas | |
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| Deities as reflections of cultural history | |
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| Philosophical developments | |
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| Saiva Siddhanta | |
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| Vedanta | |
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| North India | |
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| Temple construction | |
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| Tantrism | |
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| The rise of the goddesses to "high deity" status | |
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| Buddhism and Jainism | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Timeline of Chapter 5 | |
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| The Coming of Islam | |
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| The origins of Islam | |
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| Sunnis and Shi'is | |
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| Islam in India | |
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| The political context | |
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| Diversity of Islam in India | |
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| Sunnis | |
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| Shi'is | |
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| Sufism | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Developments in the Late Medieval Period | |
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| Orthopraxy | |
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| Hindu polities | |
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| Devotionalism | |
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| Marathi | |
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| Bengali | |
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| Hindi | |
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| Accommodation and appropriation | |
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| Conversion | |
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| Syncretism | |
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| Sikhism | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Timeline of Chapters 6 and 7 | |
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| Streams from the "West" and their Aftermath | |
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| Religious minorities | |
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| Jewish communities | |
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| "Cochin Jews" | |
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| Bene Israel | |
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| Syrian Christians | |
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| Zoroastrians or Parsis | |
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| The "colonial impact" | |
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| The Portuguese, British and other Europeans | |
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| The Indian response | |
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| Stage one | |
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| Stage two | |
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| Neo-bhakti | |
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| Muslim responses to coloniality | |
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| Inter-religious relations: conciliation and confrontation | |
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| Pre-independence India | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Religion in Contemporary India | |
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| The context | |
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| The practice of religion | |
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| Pilgrimages and festivals | |
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| Varanasi | |
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| Palani, Tamil Nadu | |
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| Festivals | |
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| Makara Vilakku, Sabaramala, Kerala | |
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| Bonalu, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh | |
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| Festivals in other religious communities | |
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| The shrine or temple as the focus of religious expression | |
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| Ritual in other religious communities | |
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| Religious innovation, hybridization, and reinterpretation | |
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| The changing faces of deities | |
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| Conversions of another kind | |
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| Gurus and their movements | |
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| The Brahmakumaris | |
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| The Satya Sai Baba movement | |
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| The resurgent right | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| India's Global Reach | |
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| Greater India in Asia | |
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| The westward impetus | |
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| Early contacts | |
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| The colonial period | |
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| The modern era | |
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| The emigration of South Asians | |
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| Recommended reading | |
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| Glossary | |
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| Notes | |
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| Index | |