Disenchanting India
Organized Rationalism and Criticism of Religion in India
1st Edition
Published on 15. December 2011
Book
Hardback
380 pages
978-0-19-981260-8 (ISBN)
Description
India is frequently represented as the quintessential land of religion. Johannes Quack challenges this representation through an examination of the contemporary Indian rationalist organizations: groups who affirm the values and attitudes of atheism, humanism, or free-thinking.
Quack shows the rationalists' emphasis on maintaining links to atheism and materialism in ancient India and outlines their strong ties to the intellectual currents of modern European history. At the heart of Disenchanting India is an ethnographic study of the organization ''Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti'' (Organization for the Eradication of Superstition), based in the Indian State of Maharashtra. Quack gives a nuanced account of the Organization's specific "mode of unbelief. " He describes the group's efforts to encourage a scientific temper and to combat beliefs and practices that it regards as superstitious. Quack also shows the role played by rationalism in the day-to-day lives of the Organization's members, as well as the Organization's controversial position within Indian society.
Disenchanting India contributes crucial insight into the nature of rationalism in the intellectual life and cultural politics of India.
Quack shows the rationalists' emphasis on maintaining links to atheism and materialism in ancient India and outlines their strong ties to the intellectual currents of modern European history. At the heart of Disenchanting India is an ethnographic study of the organization ''Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti'' (Organization for the Eradication of Superstition), based in the Indian State of Maharashtra. Quack gives a nuanced account of the Organization's specific "mode of unbelief. " He describes the group's efforts to encourage a scientific temper and to combat beliefs and practices that it regards as superstitious. Quack also shows the role played by rationalism in the day-to-day lives of the Organization's members, as well as the Organization's controversial position within Indian society.
Disenchanting India contributes crucial insight into the nature of rationalism in the intellectual life and cultural politics of India.
Reviews / Votes
Johannes Quack has ventured into new territory in his close study of the Indian rationalist movement, particularly its manifestations in early twenty-first century Maharashtra. He has combined ethnographic analysis, social theory, and a deep knowledge of Indian history with reflections on secularism, religious belief, rationality, enchantment, and disenchantment. The result is a vivid depiction of India in the throes of modernity, in which class, gender, nationalism, and ideological and discursive strategies are contesting for the very future of India. This excellent volume must be examined by anyone interested in modern and contemporary India because it addresses in a most illuminating way a desperately understudied topic. * Frederick M. Smith, Professor of Sanskrit and Classical Indian Religions, University of Iowa * The book is a rich source of information...It provides the reader with food for thought on complex questions...The narrative is engaging and full of ethnographic detail about personal dilemmas, doctrinal conicts, and rationalist performances. Disenchanting India is a major contribution to and entry point for the study of complex and long-standing problems of Indian society. * H-Net Reviews *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Students and scholars interested in religion in society, Indian culture, rationalist movements
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
737 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-981260-8 (9780199812608)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
12/2011
1st Edition
Oxford University Press Inc
€59.80
Shipment within 15-20 days
E-Book
11/2011
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€24.99
Available for download
Person
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Heidelberg University
Content
Acknowledgments ; Prologue ; Introduction ; Part I: Object of Inquiry: Indian Rationalists, Modes of Unbelief & Disenchantment ; 1. Indian Rationalists ; 2. Modes of Unbelief ; 3. Rationalization and Disenchantment ; 4. Methodological Remarks and Research Setting ; Part II: History: Roots of Organized Rationalism in India ; 5. "Narrative" of the Indian Roots of Rationalism ; 6. Evolution of Rationalism in Colonial India ; 7. Influence of the English Rationalist Movement ; 8. Organized Rationalism in 20th Century India ; 9. Recent History of Organized Rationalism in Maharashtra ; Part III: Ethnography: Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (ANiS) ; 10. ANiS in Action: The Science-Van ; 11. Organizational Structure and Set-Up of ANiS ; 12. Profile and Agenda of ANiS ; 13. Individual Interpretations and Applications of Rationalism ; 14. Rationalism as a Way of Life ; 15. ANiS in Context ; 16. Impact of ANiS ; Part IV Theory: The Mode of Unbelief of ANiS ; Bibliography ; Appendix