REL 208
Hinduism

Bharatmata and Gandhi

Dr. Robert Stephens
robert.stephens@ua.edu

Office: Manly 202
Class: TR, 2:00-3:15
Location: Manly 207
Office Hours: Wednesday, 1:00-2:00 or by appointment

About Online Readings:

Some course readings are posted on this page in Portable Document Format (PDF). These files are stored on the Department's "secure" folder, which means that only students can access them by clicking the links below and then entering their Bama Username and Password.

If you have forgotten your Bama ID, but know your Campus Wide ID (CWID) or your Social Security number, then please go here to acquire your Bama ID.

If you wish to download Adobe Acrobat Reader (this software is free), to open these files, then go here.

If you have difficulty accessing these readings, contact the instructor by email.

The course on Hinduism will seek to acquaint students with the Indus Valley Civilization; to discuss the Aryan settlement of India; to read selections in translation from the Rig-Veda, the Upanishads, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad-Gita; to introduce students to the religion of Shiva, Vishnu, and goddess traditions of the Indian subcontinent through slide presentations and documentary videos; to discuss the Sankhya-Yoga philosophy, the classical Vedanta of Shankara and later developments in Vedanta philosophy, to introduce the basics of Jainism; and to cover some important modern Indian philosophers such as Aurobindo, Radhakrishnan, Vivekananda, Gandhi, and Ambedkar.

Spring 2006 Syllabus (PDF)

Books

Ainslie T. Embree, The Hindu Tradition: Readings in Oriental Thought (Vintage, 1972).

Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge University Press, 1996).

R.K. Narayan, The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic (Penguin, 1972).

R.K. Narayan, The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic (University of Chicago Press, 1978).

Barbara Stoler-Miller, The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna's Counsel in Time of War (Bantam, 1986).

Course Readings

On-line assignment 1: Arvind Sharma, Religion in Modern India (PDF)

On-line assignment 2: Boyd Wilson, Religion in Modern India (PDF)

On-line assignment 3: Robert Minor, Religion in Modern India (PDF)

On-line assignment 4: Robert Stephens, Contemporary Hinduism (PDF)