New Books in Indian Religions

With the plurality of Hinduism in mind, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Hindu Ethics focuses on the human, sociological and situational ethical framework underpinning Hindu ethics. Chapters go beyond the traditional classical sources-such as the Vedas, epics, mythological narratives and Dharmasastra texts-to include lesser known vernacular based moral texts, as well as contemporary sources from organizations, intellectuals and movements of religious, social and political nature.Going beyond only theological and philosophical discussions, this handbook presents a truly multidisciplinary approach to Hindu ethics. This book will benefit not only scholars and students within religious studies and philosophy, but also those from sociology, history, theology, law, anthropology and literature.
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Tamil Buddhism and Brahminism in Modern India: Deep Resistance Against Caste (Oxford University Press, 2026) explores
Tamil Buddhism in modern India, focusing on its emergence
as a response to caste-based oppression during the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. Central to this movement was Pandit Iyothee
Thass (1845–1914), a pioneering intellectual who reinterpreted India’s
Buddhist past to challenge brahminical dominance. Thass reasoned that it
was because many Indians followed Buddhist cultural and material
traditions in ancient times, that they were oppressed as untouchables
and lower castes by self-privileging-caste groups, such as brahmins.
Thus, Thass challenged brahminism/casteism
in India by reconstructing and mobilizing a reading public about the
casteless Buddhist history of Indians who were prone to caste
oppression. His writings, petitions, and archives reveal the
castelessness of Tamil Buddhists and their commitment to
a radical political transformation in modern India. Key aspects of the
Tamil Buddhist movement include public mobilization for caste-free
societies, self-representation of oppressed communities, economic
redistribution through affirmative action, and a feminist critique of
caste and patriarchy. Through interdisciplinary methods drawn
from Critical Caste Studies, this monograph uncovers the intellectual
history of Tamil Buddhism and its radical call for vernacular
emancipation. It highlights how Indigenous, Tamil/Indian communities
used Buddhist foundations to resist caste and envision a modern,
casteless future.
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Tamil Śiva Temples, Āgamas, and Śivabrāhmaṇas/Ādiśaivas addresses the issue of whether members of all castes can become priests in Tamil Śiva temples. The history of the Śivabrāhmaṇas or Ādiśaivas as priests in Tamil Śiva temples is described using the epigraphic corpus as well as other Śaiva texts in Tamil along with information from the Śaiva studies of the likes of Richard Davis, Alexis Sanderson, Dominic Goodall, and Michael Gollner.

Find the open access PDF here
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Unruly Monuments: Disrupting the State at Delhi's Islamic Architecture (Cambridge University Press, 2025) examines
how Delhi's Sultanate and Mughal architecture, dating from the twelfth
to the seventeenth centuries, became modern monuments and were
assimilated and ordered into public consciousness as spaces for tourism,
leisure, and intellectual contemplation during the colonial and early
postcolonial eras (1828-1963). It examines the resistance that
challenges this ordering, rendering monuments unruly and unassimilable
despite state efforts to control their narrative. This exposes the
nation's contradictory claims of inclusivity while marginalizing
subaltern groups. It guides readers through picturesque landscapes,
museums, imperial displays, postcards, travel experiences, Partition
refugee camps, and cinema. Analyzing these forms reveals how the archive
of Indo-Islamic monuments was shaped through presences and absences.
Each chapter examines everyday life, untangles knowable public
transcripts, illuminates strategic excisions and hidden transcripts,
juxtaposes evidence that has not yet been analyzed in conjunction, reads
archival material against the grain, and finds archival layers in
unfamiliar places.

NBN Host: Sohini Majumdar

Sohini teaches history at University of San Francisco and Santa Clara University.
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Why has the Catholic Church in India become so engaged in environmental initiatives? And what does the wider Indian political context defined by an assertive Hindu nationalism mean for the ability of church actors to pursue environmental agendas? In this episode, we are joined by Kenneth Bo Nielsen and Nihar Gokhale who have examined these questions in the Indian state of Goa, focusing on church activities and outreach in the domain of sustainable agriculture and agroecology.

You can read more about their research on the relationship between Christian environmentalism, agroecology and the rise of Hindu majoritarianism in the edited volume Religion and Ecological Crisis: Responses from Asia, published by Leiden University Press.

Kenneth Bo Nielsen is a Social Anthropologist at the University of Oslo in Norway.

Nihar Gokhale is a DPhil student in International Development at the Oxford Department of International Development.

Mette Halskov Hansen, your host, is a Professor of China Studies at the University of Oslo.
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