Was Hinduism Invented?: Britons, Indians, and the Colonial Construction of Religion

Drawing on a large body of previously untapped literature, including documents from the Church Missionary Society and Bengali newspapers, Brian Pennington offers a fascinating portrait of the process by which Hinduism came into being. He argues against the common idea that the modern construction of religion in colonial India was simply a fabrication of Western Orientalists and missionaries. Rather, he says, it involved the active agency and engagement of Indian authors as well, who interacted, argued, and responded to British authors over key religious issues such as image-worship, sati, tolerance, and conversion.


Author: Brian K. Pennington
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 10/01/2007
Pages: 260
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.55d
ISBN: 9780195326000

About the Author

Brian K. Pennington is Associate Professor of Religion at Maryville College in Tennessee.

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