PRINCETON READINGS
IN RELIGIONS

Princeton Readings in Religions is a new series of anthologies on the religions of the world, representing the significant advances that have been made in the study of religions in the last thirty years. The sourcebooks used by the last generation of students placed a heavy emphasis on philosophy and on the religious expressions of elite groups in what were deemed the “classical” civilizations of Asia and the Middle East. Princeton Readings in Religions provides a different configuration of texts in an attempt better to represent the range of religious practices, placing particular emphasis on the ways in which texts are used in diverse contexts. The series therefore includes ritual manuals, hagiographical and autobiographical works, and folktales, as well as some ethnographic material. Many works are drawn from vernacular sources. The readings in the series are new in two senses. First, the majority of the works contained in the volumes have never have been translated into a Western language before. Second, the readings are new in the sense that each volume provides new ways to read and understand the religions of the world, breaking down the sometimes misleading stereotypes inherited from the past in an effort to provide both more expansive and more focused perspectives on the richness and diversity of religious expressions. The series is designed for use by a wide range of readers, with key terms translated and technical notes omitted. Each volume also contains a substantial introduction by a distinguished scholar in which the histories of the traditions are outlined and the significance of each of the works is explored.

Religions of India in Practice provides a particularly appropriate inaugural volume for the Princeton Readings in Religions. The thirty contributors include leading scholars of Indian religions, each of whom has provided one or more translations of key works, most of which are translated here for the first time. Each chapter in the volume begins with a substantial introduction in which the translator discusses the history and influence of the work, identifying points of particular difficulty or interest. Professor Richard Davis has provided an introduction to the entire volume, moving chronologically from the Indus Valley civilization to the modern period, identifying the place of each chapter in the currents of the religious traditions of India.

Three other volumes of the Princeton Readings in Religions are in press: Religions of China in Practice, Religions of Japan in Practice, and Buddhism in Practice. Volumes currently nearing completion are devoted to: Islam in Asia, Islamic mysticism, and the religions of Tibet. Future volumes are planned for religions of Latin America, religions of Africa, as well as on Judaism and Christianity.

Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
Series Editor