• ISBN13: 9780198929772
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: N/A
• Publisher: Oxford UP
• Publisher Imprint: Oxford UP
• Publication Date: September 15, 2024
• Pages: 448
• Original Price: INR 995.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 500 grams

Hindu Diasporas presents the histories and religious traditions of Hindus with a South Asian ancestral background living outside of South Asia. Hinduism is a global religion with a significant presence in many countries throughout the world. The most important cause of this global expansion is migration. This book presents and analyses the most important of the geographies, migration histories, religious traditions and developments, rituals, places, institutions, and representations of Hinduism in the diasporas, capturing some of the great plurality of Hindu religious traditions. The first part of the book concentrates on the major regions in the world in which Hindu diasporas are found. The main focus is the modern period, but the book discusses also the possibility of premodern Hindu diasporas in Southeast Asia. The second part focuses on specific central themes such as Vaishnava, Shaiva, and Shakta traditions in diasporas, temples, and traditions of sacred sites and pilgrimage outside of South Asia, Hindutva organizations and the diaspora, as well as relations between Hindu diasporas and new followers of Hindu traditions. The chapters in this book show some of the global presence of the Hindu diasporas and some of the dynamic developments in multiple geographical spaces. Analysing specific spaces and themes, the chapters of the book offer a foundation for understanding the Hindu traditions in its most important global diasporic contexts and the dynamic developments around the world.

Knut A. Jacobsen is a Professor in the Study of Religions at the University of Bergen, Norway. His main fields of research include Samkhya and Yoga theory and practice, Hindu sacred geography and pilgrimage, transnational Hinduism, and religion and public space in South Asia and the diasporas. He is the author of Prakriti in Samkhya-Yoga (1999), Kapila: Founder of Samkhya and Avatara of Vishnu (2008), Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition (2013), and Yoga in Modern Hinduism (2018), and editor of a number of books, including The Routledge Handbook of South Asian Religions (2021) and The Handbook of Hinduism in Europe (2020). He is also the founding editor in chief of Brill's six volume Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2009-2015).