Hinduism in the World: Migrations and Global Presence

by Knut A. Jacobsen

Overview

This book explores Hindu religion from a global perspective and investigates the presence of Hindu religious traditions and some of their diversity worldwide.

Hindu traditions are on the move and are established in many new locations around the world, and old and new traditions are continuously changing and being invented and reinvented. The chapters of the book explore these processes and some of the many forms of Hinduism found around the world due to Hindu expansions and suggest different ways of understanding these transformations. The different chapters of the book present new case studies based on historical and ethnographic research that expand on the empirical material typically used to generalize about Hinduism in the world and emphasize diversity.

A timely overview and analysis of Hinduism outside India, with a focus on the diversity of Hindu traditions and their contemporary transformation in a number of different geographical settings worldwide, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Hinduism, South Asian religion and society, Asian religions, and migration and religion in the contemporary world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367901462
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/30/2025
Pages:	212
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Knut A. Jacobsen is a professor in the study of religions at the University of Bergen, Norway. His most recent monograph published by Routledge is the Yoga in Modern Hinduism (2018), and he is also the editor of the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India (2nd edition, 2024) and the Routledge Handbook of South Asian Religions (2020).

Table of Contents

Introduction  1. The Emergence of the Worldwide Presence of Hinduism  2. Spiritual Migration and the First Indian Hindu Guru to Settle in Europe  3. The Īḻam Tamil Hindu Diaspora and the Centrality of the Temple  4. Religious Diversity and Śākta Traditions in Europe  5. Geographical Extensions and Sacred Locations  6. Homogenization, Hindu Missions, Nationalism and Migration  7. Hindu Traditions on the Move