The book provides an overview of Hinduism. While it is brief, it provides some useful insights. The section on the mythical stories is interesting. I think reading the Vedas might be helpful. I mildly recommend this book. ( )

Just what you would expect from this series. There must be a strong editing team to maintain such consistency over so many subjects and so many authors. ( )

As the title says, a very short introduction indeed. The book focuses on contemporary Hindu movements and Indian society, somewhat to the detriment of an historical or purely religious perspective. A good entry point for anyone who wants a quick introduction to the Hindu world. ( )

I like this series to give me a starting point on big subjects, but this isn't the best entry in the series. It may be because Hinduism is so decentralized so the author couldn't really find an area to center on. The whole thing feels a little bit like a ramble. Nevertheless, it did make some good points that were useful to my understanding.

She intentionally didn't focus on the historical development of Hinduism, which was my main interest, so she could discuss Hinduism today. She discussed the Hindu scriptures, with the Upanishads being the core and the Vedas coming later. Most Hindus have never read these, but have memorized the key passages through recitation in religious services. Also, the parts of the scriptures that you choose to emphasize can be widely different.

She ties this to the caste system, where the priests are supposed to read and interpret the scriptures for the masses. Modern times have seen a decline in the caste system which has paralleled a more populist view towards access to the scriptures. She also discusses untouchables as those with no caste and therefore unclean. They appear to have started outside of the caste system but it became a caste unto itself over centuries. This attitude has also sharply declined in the last century.

She puts a particular emphasis on women's roles, which were severely subordinate to men. That include the obligation for upper class women to commit sati when their husbands die. This has also declined in recent times but Hinduism in India still has a strong streak of male-domination.

She finishes by asking if Hinduism is a universal religion. It was originally just in India and surrounding countries, but now Indians are dispersing around the world. Can it become a world religion instead of a regional one? It doesn't seek conversions and is so tightly tied to India society that expanding it beyond Indians will be difficult, but the recent Indian diaspora may hasten it spread.

Overall, this was an interesting book that provided some insight into Hinduism but was too scattered to be very insightful. I hope there is a better introduction to Hinduism out there.

It's becoming really obvious to me that the OVSI series is handicapped a bit by the general academic climate: here's a well-written, sympathetic and reasonably objective book about Hinduism. Knott is perfectly transparent about her approach, which is to discuss Hinduism for the most part as it exists today, rather than dealing with the history. Fair enough. I prefer a more historical approach, but I understand that you can't do everything in a book that is so Very Short. Generally she does a good job.

But... as with a lot of these VSIs, a kind of knee-jerk liberalism intrudes on otherwise admirable work. I have absolutely *no* doubts that traditional Hindu social structures are repulsive and need to be destroyed; I have nothing but sympathy for the women/dalits/otherwise oppressed members of Hindu communities who want to fight against aspects of their own tradition. But this is a VSI, and what I really wanted was to better understand the actually existing social structures, the traditions and the theologies of Hinduism. After this book I feel like I have a much better understanding of post-1960s academic interpretations of British colonialism and Hindu social movements. But I still can't give good reasons for my own knee-jerk beliefs about India and Nepal's social structures, because I still can't name more than four Hindu gods, don't really get how the caste system works, and don't know why such a thing exists in the first place. That's a bit disappointing. ( )