Colonial Hinduism

“This is an insightful, informative, and carefully-worded book that will be a resource for a long time to come for describing and defining a historical period that led to the making of the modern political entity that is India. I cannot praise it highly enough.” – Julius Lipner, professor emeritus of Hinduism and the comparative study of religion, University of Cambridge
“Colonial Hinduism is an important contribution to our better understanding of a fervent period of change and challenge that decisively shaped the face of contemporary Hinduism. The style is accessible and the material admirably organised, with helpful summaries and discussion questions. Ideal for courses on Hindu traditions.” – Anantanand Rambachan, professor emeritus of religion, Saint Olaf College
“This is an excellent introductory book narrating the story of Hinduism as it evolved in response to the intellectual challenges thrown at it by colonial modernity … Informed by recent research, it provides a comprehensive and lucid overview of an important aspect of India’s religious history.” – Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, FRSNZ, emeritus professor of history, Victoria University of Wellington
“It would be difficult to find a scholar better qualified than Professor Amiya P. Sen to undertake the challenging task of creating an accessible introduction to the beliefs of Hindus in British India. Colonial Hinduism weaves together an overview of the period with examples from different regions of India, suggested supplementary reading, questions to stimulate reflection, and a fascinating concluding chapter on the legacy of colonial Hinduism. The book should prove invaluable to students and teachers alike.” – Gwilym Beckerlegge, professor emeritus, department of religious studies, the Open University, UK

“To understand contemporary Hindu religious worldviews and their intersections with political movements, it is vital to understand how diverse notions of Hinduism were projected or recalibrated during British colonial rule. Amiya Sen’s Colonial Hinduism is a magisterial survey of these conceptual imaginations and social processes. Across seven lucidly written chapters, Sen skillfully takes the beginner on an intellectual exploration of the emergence of multiple Hindu modernities at dynamic confluences between Indic and European idioms.” – Ankur Barua, university senior lecturer in Hindu studies, faculty of divinity, University of Cambridge

Amiya P. Sen is a historian with an interest in the intellectual and cultural history of modern India. To date, he has authored and edited sixteen books. Professor Sen has been an Agatha Harrison Fellow at the University of Oxford, a Shivdasani Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Heinrich Zimmer Chair at the University of Heidelberg, and a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, and the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi. He has served the Universities of Delhi, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan, and Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies is an academy for the study of Hindu cultures, societies, philosophies, religions, and languages. The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies Mandala Publishing Series offers authoritative yet accessible introductions to a wide range of subjects in Hindu Studies. Each book in the series aims to present its subject matter in a form that is engaging and readily comprehensible to persons of all backgrounds – academic or otherwise – without compromising scholarly rigour. The series thus bridges the divide between academic and popular writing by preserving and utilising the best elements of both.

General Editor: Lucian Wong Editorial Board: John Brockington, Avni Chag, James Madaio, and Valters Negribs

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