A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. The Emergence of Modern Hinduism argues for the importance of regional, vernacular innovation in processes of Hindu modernization. Scholars usually trace the emergence of modern Hinduism to cosmopolitan reform movements, producing accounts that overemphasize the centrality of elite religion and the influence of Western ideas and models. In this study, the author considers religious change on the margins of colonialism by looking at an important local figure, the Tamil Shaiva poet and mystic Ramalinga Swami (1823–1874). Weiss narrates a history of Hindu modernization that demonstrates the transformative role of Hindu ideas, models, and institutions, making this text essential for scholarly audiences of South Asian history, religious studies, Hindu studies, and South Asian studies.

This edited volume seeks to build a scholarly discourse about how Hinduism is being defined, reformed, and rearticulated in the digital era and how these changes are impacting the way Hindus view their own religious identities. It seeks to interrogate how digital Hinduism has been shaped in response to the dominant framing of the religion, which has often relied on postcolonial narratives devoid of context and an overemphasis on the geopolitics of the Indian subcontinent post-partition. From this perspective, this volume challenges previous frameworks of how Hinduism has been studied, particularly in the West, where Marxist and Orientalist approaches are often ill-fitting paradigms to understanding Hinduism. This volume engages with and critiques some of these approaches while also enriching existing models of research within media studies, ethnography, cultural studies, and religion.

The news of Sruthi, belonging to a Havyaka Brahmin family in Kasaragod, converting into Islam as Rahmat had become highly controversial. This school teacher was amongst those thousands who had converted due to deception. By the grace of god, this young lady had the good fortune of coming to Aarsha Vidya Samajam and learning Sanatana Dharma. Having realized the folly of converting, she returned to Sanatana Dharma and resolved to be a full-time volunteer with Aarsha Vidya Samajam. She has played a pivotal role in bringing back a thousand others like her. Her video on YouTube has garnered more than 4M views. Through this book, she discusses the real causes behind religious conversions and their solutions. Sruthi hopes that no one else must face the agony and humiliation that her parents had to go through and that no one else must convert falling prey to misconceptions.