Indian Religions: A Historical Reader of Spiritual Expression and Experience

Indian Religions is an expansive collection of the key written and oral texts by spiritual teachers from South Asia, covering 3500 years and all the major traditions - Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, and new Indian religions. The volume provides clear translations of extracts from original documents and texts from most of the well-known and many of the lesser-known individuals and traditions. Overlapping parts and sections each comprise a historically and thematically defined stage of a tradition. The reader is thus able to follow the chronological development of the various traditions without isolating them from one another. Each section includes a context-setting introduction which provides historical, cultural, and textual background. A general introduction lays the foundations for the text’s theoretical framework and approach.