Updated 2025 Summer
Background Browsing
Hinduism
Overview
Families of Texts
Archive
“Hinduism (Internet Sacred Text Archive)
Sample Selections
Click the Index link to see the full table of contents.
Traditionally listed first among the canon of 108 titles.
Bhagavad Gita
Questions About the Meaning of Life on the Morning of Battle
This dialogue takes place between a legendary warrior Arjuna and the great God Krishna. A battlefield is about to erupt in war. There is a long story leading up to the scene and a long story left to go. In this interlude, the warrior questions his god about the meaning of it all.
Although the page is busy with advertisements, the translator has identified key passages in red font, which can help to guide the reading of students new to the text. The translation also has the benefit of rendering the text in more contemporary English.
This text of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, each verse has a hypertext link to the Sanskrit source text and translation notes.
Hear the chanting of the Bhagavad Gita in its original poetic Sanskrit. (Do you smell the incense?)
Gandhi
Hind Swaraj
Indian Home Rule (Revised Edition, 1938)
See: “Ch. 6: Civilization” and “Ch. 13: What is True Civilization”
See also: “Ch. 17: Passive Resistance”
Gandhi’s Gita
Commentary by Mahadev Desai (3-123); Gandhi’s Intro (124-33); Gandhi’s Translation and Commentary (134-222). During long days in prison, Gandhi translated the Gita into Gujarati. Gandhi’s secretary Desai translated Gandhi’s work into English.
Hindu Resources for Environmental Reverence
Hymn to Prithivi
From the Hymns of the Arthaveda (bk. 12, hymn 1)
Chipko
Sunderlal Bahuguna
An account of Chipko that centers the experience of Sunderlal Bahuguna
Interview with Sunderlal Bahuguna (YouTube)
Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva’s scholarly account (requires login with your library credetials)
Shiva, Vandana. “Solutions to the Food and Ecological Crisis Facing us Today TEDxMasala Talk (2012)
See: “I got involved in Chipko” [“preventing it from happening” 2:10]
Vocabulary: globalization / alter-globalization / neo-liberalism /
Further Reading
Dwivedi, O. P. and Reid, Lucy. “Women And The Sacred Earth: Hindu And Christian Ecofeminist Perspectives.” Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture & Ecology 11.3 (2007): 305-323. (Library login required)
Rasa
An introduction to Hindu esthetics, or the philosophy of beauty
Overview
Abhinavagupta
Background
Texts
The original by Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta’s Summary of the Tantrāloka
Visuvalingam, Sunthar. “Towards an Integral Appreciation of Abhinava’s aesthetics of Rasa.” svAbhinava.org.
Further Reading
Higgins, Kathleen Marie. “An Alchemy Of Emotion: ‘Rasa’ And Aesthetic Breakthroughs.” Journal Of Aesthetics And Art Criticism 65.1 (2007): 43-54. (Library login required)
“One interprets the perceived emotion as an instance of a type and recognizes its common character with one’s own remembered emotion, thereby undercutting one’s sense of personally owning one’s emotion. This breakthrough is essential for rasa to occur.” (48)
CourseLinks 