Sacred Editors

Sacred Editors: Hinduism

The Sacred Editors: Hinduism

This volume journeys through Hinduism’s vast sacred landscape, from the oral recitation of the Vedas to the digital reinterpretation of ancient texts. It traces how sacred authority emerged not just from authorship, but from recitation, ritual, commentary, and debate—and how gender, caste, colonialism, and reform have continually shaped what counts as “sacred.”

Hinduism Book Cover

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Table of Contents

  1. Introduction: Why Sacred Editing Matters in Hinduism
  2. Prologue: The Stakes of Transmission

    3. Part I: Origins — From Sound to Scripture

  3. Chapter 1: Oral Roots — The Keepers of the Veda
  4. Chapter 2: Writing Emerges — Manuscript and Memory in Ancient India
  5. Interlude A: The Lost Vedas and Forgotten Recensions
  6. Chapter 3: The Vedic Canon — Who Decided and Why?
  7. Chapter 4: Capstone – Sound, Text, and the Shaping of Early Authority

    8. Part II: Proliferation — Epics, Upaniṣads, and New Voices

  8. Chapter 5: The Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa — Epic Editing and Expansion
  9. Chapter 6: The Upaniṣads — Radical Innovation, Tradition, and Transmission
  10. Interlude B: Alternative Narratives — Jain and Buddhist Reinterpretations
  11. Chapter 7: Smriti — Dharmaśāstra, Law, and Living
  12. Chapter 8: Gender, Caste, and Margins — New Voices in Hindu Text History
  13. Chapter 9: Capstone – Fluidity and Fixity: The Expanding Universe of Hindu Tradition

    14. Part III: Challenge and Change — Sectarian Texts, Commentary, and Debate

  14. Chapter 10: The Purāṇas — Myth, History, and Authority
  15. Chapter 11: Commentary Traditions — Creating Meaning, Claiming Truth
  16. Interlude C: The Role of Women — Voices Amplified and Edited Out
  17. Chapter 12: Sectarian Canons — Tantra, Sūtras, and Devotional Texts
  18. Chapter 13: Science, Cosmology, and Knowledge in Hindu Texts
  19. Chapter 14: Capstone – Contours of Orthodoxy: What Was Left In, What Was Left Out

    20. Part IV: Modernity, Reform, and the Global Era

  20. Chapter 15: Colonial Encounters — Textualization, Translation, and the Western Gaze
  21. Chapter 16: Reformers and Radicals — Modern Hindus Edit their Past
  22. Interlude D: Forgeries, Fabrications, and the Politics of Authenticity
  23. Chapter 17: Sacred Texts in the Diaspora — Transmission and Change in a New World
  24. Chapter 18: Digital Hinduism and Scriptural Interpretation in the Modern Age
  25. Chapter 19: Capstone – Whose Scripture? Global Hinduism and Authority Today
  26. Conclusion
  27. Research Methods

    28. Appendices

  28. Appendix A: Timeline of Events
  29. Appendix B: Glossary of Key Terms
  30. Appendix C: Major Schools and Commentarial Traditions
  31. Appendix D: Brief Biographies of Key Scholars
  32. Appendix E: Significant Translations and Editions