• ISBN13: 9788126922826
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: Religion and Philosophy
• Publisher: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Ltd
• Publisher Imprint: Atlantic
• Publication Date: May 20, 2016
• Pages: 278
• Original Price: INR 495.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 490 grams
• BISAC Subject(s): Classics

The book gives an account of the life of the Hindus, which is largely the result of the worship of their deities. Having lived for many years in India, and met with all classes of the community in the cities and in the villages, and having conversed with them in their own language, the author has learned much that is not to be found in books written on this most interesting subject. He has read the accounts of Europeans and Bengalis concerning the faiths and practices of the people and conversed with priests and pundits and tested the accuracy of many of the statements made in these works, so that what is found in these pages may be received with confidence as a trustworthy account of the religious life of the Hindu community. Instead of commenting on the character of these practices, the author has assumed the role of a chronicler rather than a preacher.

William J. Wilkins (1843-1902) was a well-known historian of the colonial period. His other important works include Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic; Daily Life and Work in India, and Hindu Gods and Goddesses.

• LIFE AND WORSHIP
• I. Birth and its Ceremonies
• II. The Home
• III. The Guru, and Initiation into Hinduism
• IV. Worship:
• How Sustained, and Objects Sought through it
• V. Worship in the Home and in the Temples
• VI. Festivals
• VII. Pilgrimages
• VIII. Religious Ideas Expressed in Worship
• MORALS
• WOMAN
• I. The Position of Woman, as Taught in the Sāstras
• II. The Present Position of Woman
• III. Widows
• CASTE
• I. Origin of Caste
• II. The Growth of Caste
• III. Caste as it Now Exists
• IV. Kulinism and Polygamy
• HINDU SECTS
• I. General Remarks on the Hindu Sects
• II. Vedantism, or Orthodox Hinduism
• III. The Vaishnava Sects
• Those in which Vishnu is Regarded as the Supreme
• IV. The Saivite Sects
• Those who Regard Siva as the Supreme Deity
• V. The Saktas
• Those Devoted to the Worship of the Female Deities
• VI. Miscellaneous Sects
• VII. Modern Deistic Sects
• DEATH, SHRĀDHA, AND THE FUTURE LIFE
• I. Death and its Attendant Ceremonies
• II. The Shrādha, or Religious Ceremonies for the Benefit of the Dead
• III. Judgment
• Rewards and Punishment
• INDEX