RELG 013. The History, Religion, and Culture of India II: Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Dalit in North India

After a survey of premodern Hindu traditions, the course tracks the sources of Indo-Muslim culture in North India, including the development of Sufi mysticism; Sindhi, Urdu, and Tamil poetry in honor of the Prophet Muhammad; syncretism under Mughal emperor Akbar; and the consolidation of orthodoxy with Armad Sirhindi and his school in the 16th to 17th century. We then trace the rise of the Sikh tradition in the milieu of the Mughals, northern Hindu Sants and mendicant Sufis, popular goddess worship and village piety, focusing on several issues of religious experience. We then turn to the colonial and post-colonial period through the lenses of the Hindu saints, artists, and reformers (the "nationalist elite") of the Bengali Renaissance, and the political and religious thought of Mohandas Gandhi and Dalit reformer Ambedkar. We will use perspectives of various theorists and social historians, from Ashis Nandy, Partha Chatterjee, Peter van der Veer, to Veena Das and Gail Omvedt.
Humanities.

1 credit.


Eligible for ASIA ISLM
Catalog chapter: Religion  
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/religion


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